MCLEAN, VA — North American Technician Excellence (NATE) is celebrating a milestone. In April, Jack Dahms of North Wales, PA, became the testing organization’s 10,000th technician to be certified.

Dahms has more than 15 years of experience in the hvacr industry and is currently a Trane field representa-tive serving more than 200 contractors in the area.

“I had no idea I was the 10,000th technician certified,” said Dahms. “The first I heard of it was when NATE called, and later I had a call from Trane, and several other people told me they’d seen my name on the NATE website. I was excited — I’d never won anything before.”

Also in April, NATE reached another milestone with more than 600 tests sold, doubling the previous month’s figures.

Rex Boynton, NATE president, credits the enhanced quality of the Air-Conditioning Excellence exams for the upward trend. Recently, the organization’s technical committee reviewed and improved the exams. “The 1.1 version of the test appears more user friendly,” he said. “We are seeing average test grades rise because the test has been upgraded.”

With the 10,000th technician certified, NATE has certified technicians in every state, in Canada, and in seven international countries.

Publication date: 05/21/2001