ARLINGTON, Va. - The Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) has named Stephen R. Yurek as president of the association. Yurek previously served as chief operating officer and general counsel of ARI.

Yurek joined ARI in 2002 as general counsel. He was promoted in 2006 to the newly created position of chief operating officer.

Yurek came to ARI from the education community, having served as vice president of business development and public affairs for CompassLearning Inc. and, previously, as general counsel and chief operating officer at the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

“We are excited to have a person of Steve Yurek’s character, vision, and experience leading our association during a challenging time,” said Robert Wilkins, ARI chairman. “Steve’s knowledge of the industry and his state and federal policy and regulatory experience made him the obvious choice to communicate to policy makers our positive message of ‘Improving Life and the Environment.’ I and all members of ARI’s board of directors look forward to working with Steve to keep ARI a forward-looking, dynamic association.”

The Executive Committee also named Mark Menzer as executive vice president, reporting to the president. Formerly senior vice president, Menzer has been with ARI for 15 years, and currently oversees the engineering, research, and statistics departments of ARI.

Publication date: 02/12/2007