ARLINGTON, Va. - The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) is now accepting nominations for its 2007 ACCA Contractor Excellence Awards. Nominations, including self-nominations, are open for the ACCA Residential Excellence Award, the ACCA Commercial Excellence Award, and the Jeff Forker Award for Excellence in Training. The winners will be announced at ACCA’s Annual Conference and Indoor Air Expo in Orlando, Fla., scheduled for March 6-8, 2007.

Nominees must be contractor members in good standing of ACCA. Instructions on completing a nomination package may be downloaded at www.acca.org/inside/awards/. The deadline is Jan. 20, 2007.

Residential Excellence and Commercial Excellence
These two awards are each given to ACCA contractor members who have demonstrated significant and exemplary achievement/success in managing their residential or commercial HVACR business and who:

• Are properly licensed by the state, city, and/or local municipality in which they operate;
• Have been a member of ACCA for three or more years;
• Are committed to quality, ethical standards, sound business practices, and improving the HVACR industry;
• Are dedicated to skills training and professional development for all employees, especially in NATE certification of technicians for residential contractors;
• Educate customers about efficiency, quality, and safety of products and services;
• Advocate safety in the workplace; and
• Are active in the local community through donation of time, money, and/or services.

Jeff Forker Award for Excellence in Training
The Jeff Forker Award for Excellence in Training is awarded to an ACCA member who has championed education and training initiatives and who has made outstanding progress in raising the HVACR industry’s professional standard by:

• Making a formal management commitment to the training process for all employees, such as marketing, sales, or customer service training;
• Implementing in-house management and training programs for technicians, or employing 75 percent NATE certified technicians;
• Conducting an ongoing process of continuous quality review and improvement for the training/education programs;
• Recognizing/rewarding those employees who are personally committed to continuing education and training; and/or
• Developing new training methods.

For more information on the awards and how to submit nominations, visit www.acca.org or contact Colleen De Jong at colleen.dejong@acca.org.

Publication date: 12/11/2006