Talbot Gee said the idea for the meeting came from the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, which holds a similar, contractor-focused event at its annual conference.

As part of its Oct. 23-26 annual convention, the Heating, Air-conditioning, Refrigeration Distributors International held its first distributor town hall meeting.

Moderated by HARDI President Bud Mingledorff, immediate past president Richard Cook and association Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Talbot Gee, 70 distribution company executives met to discuss issues such as eroding professional relationships and profit problems.

Gee said the idea for the meeting came from the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, which holds a similar, contractor-focused event at its annual conference.

“We are very proud of our culture at HARDI of open meetings where any member and invited guests can attend, however the downside has been that we have very few venues for distributor-only discussions on industry trends, policy strategies, and the general direction and performance of their industry association,” said Gee. “This first-ever distributor town hall was extremely well received so I fully expect it to be a mainstay of future HARDI annual conferences for years to come, and thank you to our friends at ACCA for giving us the idea.”