As the top elected official, he heads a trade association extensively involved in ongoing training for contractors and service technicians.

In his acceptance speech, Marchese, the son of a refrigeration contractor, proclaimed, “RSES is a great organization. But we can be better. We will be better.”

His priorities while in office include developing more Web-based training, expanding webinars for members, and continued support of local chapters because “face-to-face interaction is still important as we are a family of technicians.”

Joining to Learn

The training aspect was emphasized by Mark Lowry, RSES executive vice president, who told those at the society’s annual business meeting that “the No. 1 reason a person joins RSES is for the training. That’s why we started making solid technical content available, at no additional charge, to every member willing to use a computer.”

Lowry said RSES’ monthly webinars can be viewed live during the last Wednesday of the month, or at any time through the organization’s online archives. Arrangements for earning continuing education credits for viewing the archived webinars and taking a test related to the presentation are also being developed, he said.

Lowry also spoke of RSES now offering a contractor corporate membership, which allows contracting business owners the opportunity to purchase memberships and disperse to employees. The memberships are transferrable to other individuals, in case someone opts to leave the company. Pricing is based on the volume of memberships held.

Regarding training available to the entire industry, Lowry noted an articulation agreement with the Pennsylvania College of Technology in which RSES training courses can be used for college credit.

For many years, RSES also has been offering a wide range of training courses for all those in the industry. According to Roger Hensley, chairman of the RSES Educational and Examining Board, some 480 tests were taken from mid-2012 through mid-2013. Courses consist of six refrigeration and air conditioning units, five electricity units, six heating units, five controls units, and a unit on heat pumps.

Honors Given

Awards were given out at the conference to Andy Schoen, manager of sales and marketing technical services for Tecumseh Products Co., who was selected as MSAC Member of the Year in the RSES Manufacturers’ Service Advisory Council; Jayson Goff, branch manager at T&O Refrigeration, Nashville, Tenn., was named Speaker of the Year; and Stan Hollander of Brooklyn, N.Y., a retired RAC specialist for the New York City board of education, was selected as the RSES Member of the Year.

Publication date: 12/16/2013 

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