President's Message

Dear Nebraska ASHRAE Members,

Welcome to the 2017-2018 Year! It is truly an honor for me to serve as your Chapter President this year. To be alongside such names as Jenkins, Hoffman, Gartner, Kautch, Cooper, Wentz, Meyersick, Cowman, and Poursharafeddin, just to name a few, is quite humbling. I am joined on the Board of Governors by Shaun Nienhueser (President Elect), Chris Hawk (Secretary), Chris Beatty (Treasurer), Jake Kopocis (1ST Board Member), and Aaron Rasell (2nd Board Member). We are very fortunate to have several of our committee chairs returning and previous co-chairs moving up into the chair position. All these people are supremely talented. I’m fortunate to be able to serve with this team. 

The Chapter Regional Conference (CRC) was held in Kansas City, MO the first week of August. As usual the Nebraska Chapter hauled in many awards. The Research Promotion Team headed by Chair Dave Kros again had an amazing year. $23,193.00 was raised for ASHRAE Research! This garnered the RP Team the High Five Award, Bronze Treasury Ribbon, Full Circle Chevron, and Research Endowment Chevron. Our Chapter received the Special Citation and the Honor Roll awards. Our Chapter President for 2016-17, Jessica Errett, received the Presidential Award of Excellence! Congratulations and thank you for your hard work! 

In the 2017 Design Competition, our student chapter team of received a third place in the HVAC System Selection category.  Another student chapter team took third place in the Applied Engineering challenge. More information can be in the Student Updates page. A big thank you to all who helped advise and inform our teams in this process. Congratulations to all!  We are always looking for future leaders in our chapter to serve as chairs, co-chairs, or in support roles for special chapter events. These are great opportunities to join and learn from a committed and dedicated team of highly talented individuals.  These roles also give the opportunity to learn leadership skills and make lasting relationships while serving our members. I can’t stress enough the satisfaction you receive from serving. If you would like to be a part of these teams, please contact me at tglewis@oppd.com. If you have shown interest and we haven’t found a place for you, PLEASE contact me so we can talk.  

I’m really excited about our upcoming year. Your Chapter Technology Transfer Committees for Omaha and Lincoln have already met multiple times in July to plan the meetings for the upcoming year. Please see our program schedule at the end of this issue. Also, please remember to fill out the Program evaluations after the meetings. I’m personally committed to reading all the comments. We are here to serve you. Let us know your thoughts and any ideas for future meetings you might like to see. You are always welcome to contact me at tglewis@oppd.com or 402-636-3734.

Tom Lewis