Events

Sponsors

    Platinum
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Bronze
  • Partners
  • Produced by

* Speakers list is subject to change (latest update: 24 May 2019)

Pilar Aleu



Business Development Manager, shecco

Pilar holds an Executive MBA from ESADE Business School (Spain) and a double-degree in Economics from the Public University of Navarra (Spain) and University of Abertay Dundee (UK) in European Economics and Management. She complemented her education and working experince in the US and India.

Pilar has been working at shecco for over five years, during which time she has contributed to the market development of natural refrigerants based technologies through the ATMOsphere conferences and has strenghted shecco's relations with customers and other stakeholders globally, with a special focus on Europe and America.

Curt Alverson



Capital Projects Engineering , Roche Diagnostics Regional Engineering America

Curt Alverson is a manager in the Regional Engineering Americas group for Roche, where he manages capital projects across the North and South American region.   He has worked on multiple projects that involve converting Roche's sites from man made refrigerants to natural refrigerants.

Ammi Amarnath



Senior Technical Executive in the Energy Utilization Research Area, Electric Power Research Institute EPRI

He leads a team of engineers and scientists in the research, development, deployment and market transformation of Energy Efficiency & Demand Responsive (EE/DR) technologies. Some of the technologies demonstrated include: advanced space conditioning systems for residential and commercial buildings, heat pump water heaters, advanced end-use smart technologies that integrate with the smart grid, and industrial process efficiency improvements. He also manages RD&D activities focused on advanced demand response (DR) applications in Energy-Water Nexus area & renewables integration, and technologies such as OpenADR and SEP. His focus also includes utility analytical techniques, such as energy meter data disaggregation, impact of energy efficiency on emissions etc, so as to make energy efficiency and demand response programs successful around the world.
In his prior tenure at EPRI, Amarnath was a Senior Project Manager within the Industrial and Distributed Generation programs. His activities included the collaborative RD&D of efficient industrial technologies, advanced fuel cells and other distributed generation technologies.
Amarnath received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in chemical engineering from India and a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Houston.

Rob Arthur



Principal, CTA Architects Engineers

Co-director of CTA’s retail design team and principal-in-charge of refrigeration engineering, Rob Arthur has dedicated his career to high-efficiency, low-emission refrigeration solutions for retail and grocery spaces. With a personal and professional goal of helping the grocery industry transition to more technologically advanced, sustainable refrigeration systems, Rob works to provide high-quality designs for facilities across the United States and internationally. He and his team design responsible, long-term systems. 

Rob is a licensed professional engineering 28 U.S. states, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Puerto Rico and a LEED-accredited professional. When he’s not engineering cutting-edge refrigeration solutions, Rob can be found coaching youth sports in his home state of Montana.

John Austin-Davies



Natural refrigeration expert, Independent consultant

John studied Mechanical Engineering at The University of Wales, before joining the refrigeration industry with a compressor manufacturer, then moving to George Barker.

He has worked for many years in the Epta Group, with an international responsibility for key product areas, and led the Epta CO2 Competence Team during the period when the first applications were introduced in Europe.

He has been responsible for several innovations in retail refrigeration during roles that have included pack and system design, in particular the move to more environment friendly refrigerants working with customers to find energy optimised solutions.

John has had responsibility as President of the British Refrigeration Association, Chairman of FETA, and currently is a Trustee of the Institute of Refrigeration.

Although retired from the full-time employment, he continues to play a play a key role with Epta, sharing his experience of the implementation of the innovative solutions developed by Epta to allow CO2 refrigeration to be energy efficient and reliable in all climates of the world.

Andy Baker



Project Manager, YourCleanEnergy

Andy is a registered professional engineer in Alaska and owner of YourCleanEnergy consulting in Anchorage. He has significant experience in the financial evaluation and design of renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements. He has lived and worked in Alaska since 1998 and has focused for the past fourteen years on identifying and designing cost effective renewable energy systems for commercial, municipal, and community clients. Andy is a graduate in environmental engineering from Penn State University and worked previously as a project engineer for Buchart-Horn in Pennsylvania; Black & Veatch in San Diego, Lusaka, and Boston; and for HDR Alaska.

Andy’s work focus since 2008 has been on ocean source heat pump systems for large facilities, and for ocean source district heating in coastal Alaska. He has worked with the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward for the past nine years to evaluate, design and monitor a large sea water heat pump system that has now effectively replaced 98% of local fossil fuel use with ocean source heat pumps.  This effort includes the design in 2014 of an 80 ton trans-critical CO2 heat pump system with heat recovery to offset an existing 500 KW electric boiler used for space, domestic hot water, and outdoor slab heat.  Andy is currently leading the design of a 120 ton ground source trans-critical CO2 heat pump system with heat recovery that will provide district heating to the Library, City Hall, Fire Hall and Annex for the City of Seward, Alaska.

Bryan Beitler



Vice President, Chief Engineer, CoolSys

Mr. Beitler’s career includes 38+ years of experience in refrigeration and HVAC design, sales, energy and operations support for businesses focused on grocery retailers, cold storage, process refrigeration and other mission critical systems. His current and most recent experience is with Source Refrigeration and HVAC. Mr. Beitler started his career with Scott Polar Corp. of Twin Falls Idaho, then later transferred to sister company Kimmel Motz Refrigeration of Los Angeles, and most recently Edison Source and Source Refrigeration and HVAC, of which CoolSys is the parent company.

Mr. Beitler’s responsibilities over the years have been highly technical, managing engineering services, manufacturing of refrigeration equipment, providing direct sales support to select customers, as well as operations and Energy Optimization Services support. He holds a degree in Engineering Technology with emphasis on refrigeration and HVAC from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Ca. Mr. Beitler participates in industry organizations such as ASHRAE, RETA & FMI. He is a contractor’s license qualifier, and holds 40+ licenses in various states and regions, and recently was a co-author of an ASHRAE sponsored Commissioning Guide for Commercial and Industrial refrigeration systems. He is currently the President and CEO of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a non-profit organization focused on the acceleration of natural refrigerants into the marketplace.

Akash Bhatia



Director of Systems Engineering North America, Tecumseh Products Company

Akash Bhatia is the Director of Systems Engineering North America for Tecumseh Products Company. He brings over 25 years of global R&D and product development experience to our team. Since joining Tecumseh 5 years ago, he has been an instrumental part of the Company’s development focus in natural refrigerants, including R290 and CO2.

Paul Burd



Manager Refrigeration Engineering, Weis Markets

Paul has been working for Weis Market for 35 years. During this period he has taken on different roles, includng Refrigeration Technician, Refrigeration Service Supervisor, Refrigeration Service Manager and currently Manager of Refrigeration Engineering for the past 10 years. He earned an associate's degree in heating, air conditioning and refrigeration technology.

Julie Cerqueira



Executive Director, U.S. Climate Alliance

Julie Cerqueira serves as the U.S. Climate Alliance’s inaugural Executive Director, where she is helping to advance the climate and clean energy policy priorities of the Alliance’s Governors and their offices. Ms. Cerqueira most recently served as a Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy for Climate Change, at the U.S. Department of State. In this role, she led U.S. engagement in strategic partnerships, such as the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, helped launch high profile climate deliverables for North America and the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, and led the Department’s engagement with sub-national governments on climate change, amongst other priorities.

Prior to her work in the federal government, Ms. Cerqueira worked with developing countries on designing and implementing sectoral climate policies at a climate think tank, and spent four years in Southeast Asia working with local communities, governments and the private sector on environmental projects and promoting policy reforms, including as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer.

Ignacio Chaparro



Business development manager, Kysor Warren

Ignacio Chaparro is Kysor Warren new business development manager. He has been working in refrigeration for the past 20 years and with Kysor for last 13 years. 

Ignacio has been member of Kysor’s CO2 development group since 2008. He was the Design Lead engineer for CO2 low temperature liquid overfeed systems, Piggly Wiggly ammonia/CO2 cascade and Kysor Warren CO2 transcritical systems. Last year Ignacio was the Lead Engineer for design and implementation of CO2 Transcritical System for Casa Ley in México.

Marc Chasserot



CEO, shecco

Marc Chasserot is a specialist in natural refrigeration with over 15 years of experience in the HVAC&R sector, starting as the Marketing Manager for the Norsk Hydro business unit specialised in CO2 transcritical refrigeration and heating. He worked closely with several Japanese manufacturers selling the market innovative "CO2 Ecocute heatpumps".

In 2006 Marc founded the industry leading website for CO2 cooling and heating experts worldwide, called www.R744.com. This was followed by three additional industry resources for hydrocarbons, water and ammonia (namely: www.hydrocarbons21.com, www.R718.com and www.ammonia21.com).

Marc is co-founder and CEO of shecco, an independent market development company specialised in bringing Natural Refrigerants 'faster to market', working with numerous companies worldwide. Marc has chaired and organised several international workshops bringing together leading policy and industry experts to discuss 'how to bring natural refrigerants' faster to market, known as 'ATMOsphere'. He is also an active member of ASHRAE.

Peter Comeau



Consultant, RECCO and American Refrigeration Company (ARC)

Peter received his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.  His entire career has been focused on industrial refrigeration beginning in 1972 to current day, and he has been active serving in roles of Director, Trustee, and President of local Mechanical Contracting organizations and national directorships for national organizations including MCAA and ACCA.  A longtime member of IIAR and ASHRAE, Peter purchased RECCO in 1995 after working there from 1977, and recently merged RECCO into American Refrigeration Company, the largest refrigeration contractor in the Northeast US.

Over his career, Peter has designed and installed refrigeration systems throughout the Northeastern USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Morocco.  These projects include food processing facilities, cold storages, large environmental test chambers, ice plants and ice rinks.  Peter is currently active in engineering, client relations and mentoring for RECCO and ARC.

Gary Cooper



Director of Refrigeration, Lowe's Market

Gary has been involved in grocery store refrigeration for 29 years, the last 22 have been with Lowe’s.
His responsibilities include oversight of all service both refrigeration and HVAC for 153 sites with his 27 employee dept., also design, build, install and commission of custom designed rack systems in house.

Paul Delaney



Senior Engineer, Southern California Edison

Paul Delaney has been an energy and energy efficiency professional for 38 years, and is currently a Senior Engineer at Southern California Edison. He is responsible for the evaluation of new technologies that can reduce demand and energy consumption for Edison industrial, large commercial, manufacturing and agriculture customers. Paul is an experienced speaker, panelist and recognized utility expert in natural and alternative refrigerants for refrigeration applications. Mr. Delaney was a former Vice President for the American Utility Network, National Account manager for Edison Source and Senior Energy engineer for the United States Navy. Mr. Delaney holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA, and is a member of ASHRAE, ASME and SME.

Jan Dusek



Business Development Manager APAC, shecco

Jan holds a Doctor of Engineering degree in System Design from Hosei University in Tokyo and a Master’s degree from the Czech Technical University in Prague. During his studies, and research undertaken in the USA, Europe and Japan, Jan has centered his academic focus on environmental technologies and marketing strategies. Having lived in Japan for over 8 years, Jan communicates fluently in Japanese and has a rich experience cooperating with Japanese industry. Jan is currently based in Tokyo, responsible for business development activities and monitoring Asian markets on behalf of shecco Japan.

Tim Figge



CEO, Hussmann Corporation

Tim Figge is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Hussmann Corporation, a Panasonic company. As CEO, Figge is responsible for leading the company’s delivery of the Hussmann Promise – a strategy based on providing customer-focused solutions in the food retailing industry.  Prior to being named CEO, Figge served as president overseeing manufacturing, sales, engineering, marketing and business development operations.  He joined Hussmann in 2002, and held positions in finance, sales operations and branch operations with increasing responsibilities. Figge was later appointed chief financial officer for Hussmann and led the business’s divestiture from Ingersoll Rand. In addition to his time at Hussmann, Figge previously spent nine years with Arthur Andersen as an auditor, consultant and advisor on mergers and acquisitions.

Glenn Gallagher



Air Pollution Specialist, California Air Resources Board (CARB)

Glenn has been working on F-gas management strategies for more than 25 years, and currently develops regulations to reduce emissions of high-global warming refrigerants in California. Glenn also serves as a technical advisor to the U.S. Climate Alliance Short-Lived Climate Pollutant (SLCP) Strategy team.

John Gallaher



Business Development Manager for Commercial Applications, Güntner US

John Gallaher is the Business Development Manager for Commercial Applications for Güntner US, a world leader in heat exchanger technology. He joined Güntner US in June of 2018 after spending over 25 years in a variety of positions including engineering, refrigeration systems R&D, and sales leadership in the refrigeration compressor systems industry for major North America OEM’s.  During his time in the refrigeration industry, John has been involved in the development and introduction of various CO2 technologies for commercial applications and expanding the use of these technologies to the refrigerated processing and storage industry. John is a member of technical committees at IIAR, the Global Cold Chain Alliance, and ASHRAE.

Ricardo García



Project Director, Frialsa

Ricardo García is an industrial engineer with 25 years experience in the industrial and commercial refrigeration. He has done several industrial refrigeration courses at Lanier Technical College (GA), York (PA) and the University of Oklahoma. Ricardo has worked for 25 years at Frialsa and he is currently the project director. He has been involved in the design and construction of more than 25 distribution centers in Mexico and one in Peru (10 of those are NH3/ CO2 systems).

Michael Garry



Editor, shecco

Michael Garry is a business journalist with a 30-year track record. Most recently, he ledthe coverage of sustainability, technology and logistics at Supermarket News for more than 11 years. He is well known among retailers, suppliers, technology vendors and trade groups throughout the North American food retailing and consumer goods industries. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of M.I.T. with a degree in political science, he has written his first book, “Game of My Life – New York Mets,” in which 25 baseball players recall their most memorable game.

Vicente Guilabert



R&D and Technology Director, Huayi Compressor Barcelona, S.L

Vicente Guilabert is currently the Vice General Manager leading R&D and Quality at Huayi Compressor Barcelona, S.L. He has an Industrial Engineer degree from the “Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya” and a PDD from the IESE Business School. He has made an extensive professional career within the HVAC&R sector. Mr. Guilabert is currently the head of the R&D team at Huayi Compressor Group for light commercial refrigeration compressors. He has an outstanding knowledge of the hermetic compressor technologies, combined with great expertise in light commercial refrigeration market trends. He has also participated as a speaker in international conferences.

Before joining Huayi Compressor Barcelona 15 years ago, he worked for Hitachi Air Conditioning for 5 years as the Technical Customer Service Centre Manager. His responsibilities were linked to the technical assistance of customers worldwide.

Harrison Horning



Director of Maintenance – Hannaford, Retail Business Services, LLC

Harrison Horning is Director of Maintenance for Retail Business Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize.  His role is focused on supporting Hannaford Supermarkets, with 181 stores in five northeastern US states.  His current work includes collaborative efforts to address sustainability and climate impacts.  He has over 25 years of experience in the field of facilities and energy management, encompassing a wide range of commercial, industrial and institutional facilities. 

Pega Hrnjak



Res. Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Science and Engineering & President, CTS Inc., University of Illinois

Professor Hrnjak is Co-Director of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center (ACRC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, an NSF founded university–industry cooperative research center. Pega is also a founder and President of R&D company CTS, which bridges ACRC activities (precompetitive research in function of education) and industry. He is an active member or fellow of ASME, ASHRAE, IIR, SAE and IIAR, and an editor or member of the boards of several professional scientific journals. He is a recipient of Gustav Lorentzen, J&E Hall and Rittinger medals among other awards.

Stacy Kauk



Head of the Ozone Layer Protection Program, Environmental and Climate Change Canada

Stacy is the Head of the Ozone Layer Protection Program at Environmental and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). Stacy holds a Master’s in Public Administration, specializing in strategic management, as well as a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering from Carleton University. Stacy started her career as a consulting engineer completing designs to mitigate environmental impacts for large construction projects and industrial sites. In 2010, she joined ECCC and has held various policy and regulatory positions within both domestic and International programs related to chemicals management. Over her career, Stacy was involved in the development and implementation of three regulatory programs. In her current position, Stacy oversees the risk management instruments that protect the ozone layer and allow Canada to meet its international obligations under the Montreal Protocol. As such, Stacy is responsible for the development and implementation of international and domestic actions related to ozone-depleting substances and halocarbon alternatives including HFCs.

Peter Klint



Program Manager Emerging Technologies, Eversource Energy

Peter Klint’s career has spanned the start-up community to a major electric and gas utility with a passion for assessing, developing and implementing emerging technology. Currently as Program Manager Emerging Technologies at Eversource Energy, Peter is responsible for building a long term view of how new technology will help to support the energy efficiency goals of Eversource in the future. 

Previously Peter’s experience has included a combination of technical and business roles at two leading research institutions, a financial services firm and a several entrepreneurial ventures.  Peterholds a Mechanical Engineering degree from Northeastern University.

Michael Lau



Vice President, Yosemite Foods

Dr. Michael Lau is the Vice President of Yosemite Foods Inc. in Stockton, CA and is overseeing the expansion of the family business to a new facility 200,000 SF state-of-the-art meat processing facility. His family has been in the meat processing business for over 36 years and Michael spent much of his childhood learning the ins and outs of the meat industry. Michael has a BS in Agribusiness from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and PhD from Texas A&M University in Agricultural Economics. Michael has expertise in risk analysis, project management, and simulation modeling.

Tony Leo



CEO, RLS Logistics

Tony Leo is CEO/President, Warehousing Group of RLS Logistics, a third-generation family owned temperature-controlled logistics service provider. In his role, Tony oversees the cold storage, packaging, and real estate divisions of the company. 

In 1988 at the age of 13, when his father built the company’s first cold storage facility, Tony would work every day after school and on weekends. During those early years and through the early 1990’s, he learned the business by working in all aspects of the operation. While attending college full time, Tony held various roles within the company and gained experience in multiple departments, including floor operations, business development, accounting, and customer service.

After graduating college in 1997, he started his full-time career at RLS Logistics and by the early 2000’s Tony was responsible for all day to day operations of the warehousing business. 

For the past two decades, Tony, along with Russell Leo, the company’s CEO/President, Transportation Group, expanded the business through organic growth, new lines of business, and acquisitions. Today, the Northeast US based company employs over 200 people and offers a comprehensive list of cold chain solutions from its four GFSI certified facilities and two transportation offices.

Tony has a BA in Economics from Rutgers University, New Brunswick and an MBA from Rutgers School of Business, Camden. He is an active member of various industry associations, and is on the board of the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW). Tony lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters. His contact information is available on his company’s website at www.rlslogistics.com.

Robert Leonard



Business Development Office, Key Mechanical

Rob is responsible for the business development at Key Mechanical, a commercial mechanical contracting firm that specializes in HVAC and refrigeration. Rob has been employed at Key for six years and is involved with many projects that utilize natural refrigerants and use the latest energy management technology. Rob earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Prior to that, he earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Redlands.

Peter Lepschat



Corporate Manager of Engineering Services, Henningsen Cold Storage Co.

A native of Oregon, Peter Lepschat has been involved with ammonia refrigeration for over 25 years. He currently serves as Corporate Manager of Engineering Services at Henningsen Cold Storage Co., where he is involved in the design and construction of new facilities as well as continuous improvement at the twelve existing HCS locations. Peter serves on the National Board of directors for RETA, and has written and presented white papers and articles for both RETA and the IIAR.

Kurt Liebendorfer



Vice President, Evapco

Kurt is Vice President of Evapco and is located at its corporate headquarters in Taneytown, MD. He is leading the development and market introduction of the new EvapCold family of products, which are complete Packaged Low Charge Ammonia Refrigeration Systems.

Kurt has been in the industrial refrigeration, process cooling and construction industry for 30 years and has also worked for Johnson Controls/Frick, Stellar and GEA/FES.

Kurt received an Executive MBA from Jacksonville University and a Bachelor of Science - Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

Kurt has served on the Board of Directors of the International District Energy Association, Past President of the Jacksonville chapter of ASHRAE, Past Chair & President of the Turbine Inlet Cooling Association and is an active member of IIAR, serving on the Government Affairs committee & Compliance Guidelines committee, and the Global Cold Chain Alliance serving on the Refrigeration & Energy committee and the Construction Codes committee.

Brandon Marshall



Application Manager, CAREL

Brandon Marshall is a refrigeration expert with over 12 years of experience in the design and implementation of high-efficiency systems utilizing a wide variety of today’s natural refrigerant offering and advanced control technology. Brandon has a Bachelor of Science from Pennsylvania College of technology, an affiliate school of Penn State.

In his current role, Brandon is responsible for the management and implementation of CAREL's energy saving solutions in the food service and retail manufacturing sector. Recently, Brandon has focused on assisting manufacturers in successfully incorporating natural refrigerants into their product lines.

Scott Martin



Director, Business Development and Industry Relations, Hillphoenix

Scott Martin currently serves as Director, Business Development and Industry Relations for Hillphoenix, a Dover Company, located in Conyers, Georgia. A third generation Refrigeration Engineer, Scott received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Polytechnic State University in 1985.

Scott has held a wide variety of industry roles including Product Manager, Director of R&D, Engineering, and most recently Director of Sustainable Technologies. Today, Scott’s focus reflects a strong Hillphoenix commitment to providing product and technology answers that help retailers supply higher quality food products while advancing efforts toward environmental stewardship.

Lydia Matthäus-Wiltink



Global Events Manager, shecco

Lydia has a strong background in hospitality management, including events planning, sales, customer service and reception. Having had an active interest in sustainable business already for several years, Lydia joined shecco in 2016 to strengthen the expansion of the ATMOsphere community globally. With the globally growing demand in natural technology solutions, Lydia is responsible for shecco’s event management around the world, including all ATMOsphere conferences and events.

Rafael Francisco Navarro



Senior Maintenance Manager, Casa Ley

Rafael is Casa Ley's maintenance manager, being in charge of the stores maintenance as well as several engineerigng projects. Casa Ley is one of the major food retailers in Northwest Mexico operateing more than 250 stores.

Rafael worked before for the meat processing company SUKARNE as site technical manager and then as mechancial design manager in the engineering and projects area.

Asad Omar



Global Director Investments and Technical Solutions, METRO AG

Asad has stewardship of METRO AG global Investment portfolio along with responsibility for Technical Solutions (Energy, Procurement, Engineering). He is a member of METRO AG Sustainability committee and is co-chair of CGF Refrigeration working group. Asad is a graduate of Balliol College, University of Oxford.

John Prall



Technical Support Engineer, Embraco North America

John Prall studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. In 2012, Prall accepted his current position with Embraco, working as a Technical Support Engineer for the United States and Canada. At Embraco, Prall’s responsibilities include providing engineering technical support for commercial and aftermarket customers, including assisting customers with the selection and application of hermetic compressors. Prall also trains customers on compressor technology and market trends through customer visits, trade show presentations and webinar activities. Prall has over 14 years of experience in the commercial refrigeration industry. Prior to his role at Embraco, he held several different roles ranging from engineering to product management at Hussmann Corporation.

Jürgen Süß



CEO, Efficient Energy

Jürgen joined Efficient Energy in December 2013 and is currently the CEO of the company. From early 2011, he served as Managing Director and CEO at Cofely Refrigeration in Lindau, Germany. This company is part of the GDF Suez Group and manufactures products and solutions for the industrial refrigeration segment. Previously, Jürgen had a 13-year assignment at Danfoss A/S in Denmark, where his last role was Vice President R&D of controls and line components for all kinds of refrigeration equipment. Before this, he held various management positions within technology and business development at Danfoss. Jürgen has a Ph.D. in Refrigeration from Hannover University and is active in the IIR, ASHRAE, and other scientific committees and associations.


Darryl Schaefermeyer



Special Project Director Emeritus, Alaska SeaLife Center

Starting as a Project Administrator in 1993 for the Seward Association for the Advancement of Marine Science, Darryl Schaefermeyer was highly instrumental in creating a marine research, wildlife rehabilitation, and public education institution in Seward, Alaska. He supported this vision through establishing strategic and beneficial partnerships, identifying and securing funding, management of design and construction contracting, and ultimately supporting all aspects of operations of Alaska’s premier public aquarium,the Alaska SeaLife Center. He has given over 25 years of commitment and dedicated service to the Center and has held multiple critical roles including General Manager. While there have been many, one of Darryl’s most notable contributions has been the installation of the Alaska SeaLife Center’s innovative heat pump systems, which use saltwater from the icy waters of Resurrection Bay to heat the 120,000 square foot facility, and in his words, “illustrates the broad and tangible ways in which our day-to-day work can contribute to the long-term health and sustainability of our city, our state, and the global community.” Under Darryl’s leadership, the Center acquired grant funds from the State of Alaska in 2014 to design and install an 80 ton trans-critical CO2 heat pump system with heat recovery to offset 95% usage of an existing 500KW electric boiler for space, domestic hot water, and outdoor sidewalk heating.

Darryl formerly worked as staff assistant to United States Senator Ted Stevens and as City Manager of Seward, Alaska. He holds a BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University.

Yoram Shabtay



Heat Exchanger Designer veteran, Heat Transfer Technologies LLC

With 20 years of experience, Yoram Shabtay is a Heat Exchanger Designer veteran with a Master’s degree in Heat and Mass Transfer. Shabtay is the head of consulting firm Heat Transfer Technologies LLC (HTT) and as a licensed HVAC engineer, provides designs for current and new condenser and evaporator coils. HTT is also the official Technical Advisor to the International Copper Association, providing guidance and designs for all types of HVAC and refrigeration systems. He regularly speaks at conferences about new upcoming heat-exchanger technologies and related development work. HTT also works with industry leaders providing prototype heat-exchanger service for evaluation.

Paul Sindoni



President and CEO, Dover Food Retail’s Hillphoenix

Paul Sindoni is President and CEO of Dover Food Retail’s Hillphoenix. As CEO, Paul is responsible for delivering on the Hillphoenix purpose to advance the future of retail refrigeration through customer collaboration and responsible innovation. Paul began his career at General Electric and joined Hillphoenix in 1995. With Hillphoenix he has served in a variety of leadership roles including Operations, Sales, and General Management. In addition to his time at Hillphoenix, Sindoni spent 3 years as President of Datamax-O’Neil, a former Dover Company that served the Digital Printing Industry.

Eric Smith



Vice President and Technical Director, International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR)

Eric Smith is the Vice President and the Technical Director for IIAR.  He manages the development of IIAR standards, research projects, safety and compliance publications, and technical program development.  He is also involved with advocacy, outreach, education, and member services.  Eric was a refrigeration designer for 18 years, and was a service technician for several years prior to that.  Eric is a registered professional engineer in over 30 states and holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Daryl Stauffer



Product Manager, Johnson Controls

Daryl is Product Manager for compression and vessel products at the Frick Industrial Refrigeration brand of Johnson Controls. He leads the strategy and development of Frick screw compressors and packages for Food & Beverage and Process System markets. Recent development activities include expansion of HPS – high pressure screw compressors for ammonia heat pumps, CO2 compressor development, and Frick Low Charge Central System support.

Daryl has 20 years of global and regional product management & development, application engineering, and technical support experience in refrigeration and air conditioning markets working directly with contractors, OEMs and end users. Previously he was the mechanics engineering manager at CAREL USA. 

Daryl holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Penn State University. He participates in various industry organizations such as ASHRAE, IIAR, and RETA, and has held various handbook and leadership roles for technical committees within those groups.

Lois Stirewalt



Natural refrigeration advocate and workforce development program director, RETA and GCCA

Lois Stirewalt is a nationally recognized natural refrigeration and cold chain advocate and workforce development program creator for both RETA (Refrigerating Engineers and Technicians Association) and GCCA (The Global Cold Chain Alliance). As the former Executive Director of the Ammonia Refrigeration Foundation (ARF) she fell in love with this exciting and ever changing industry. While there, she formed an industry trade alliance to establish a nationally approved Department of Labor Apprenticeship for the occupation of ammonia refrigeration operator and technician, and continues to foster and encourage the industry to embrace this opportunity.  

She also created the #REDWHITEANDCOOL initiatives and is carrying this program forward with their blessing. Recently forming a partnership with the Department of Defense, the concept of this program is to recruit, train, and hire transitioning military personnel/veterans/families into the amazing world of natural refrigeration. Stirewalt is also one of the original members of WiNR (Women in Natural Refrigeration). She has a Master's in Public Administration from The George Washington University and her undergraduate degree from Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina. She resides in Alexandria, Va.

John Stuit



Chief of Design and Construction, Defense Commissary Agency

John Stuit has 33 years of experience as an engineer in the supermarket industry. He is currently chief of design and construction at the Defense Commissary Agency which operates a chain of 240 supermarkets on military bases worldwide. Mr. Stuit has enjoyed working with manufactures to place very low GWP refrigeration solutions into place including several transcritical CO2 systems in a variety of climates in the United States and an ammonia/CO2 cascade system. Mr. Stuit has a degree in mechanical engineering from Dordt College.

Art Sutherland



President, Accent Refrigeration Systems

Art Sutherland is the Founder and President of Accent Refrigeration Systems of Victoria, BC, Canada. Art graduated from the Nova Scotia Technical College with the highest marks in the province and an honors diploma in Refrigeration Technology in 1976. Since that time he has specialized in the refrigeration and energy recovery industry, and has completed hundreds of projects around the world. In 2015, Art was presented the ASHRAE International first place award for the energy efficient design of a public facility.

Pradeep Vitta



Energy End-Use R&D Manager, Southern Company

Mr. Pradeep Vitta is Energy End-Use R&D Manager at Southern Company’s Research and Development group, located in Birmingham, Alabama.

Pradeep has been employed by Southern Company since 1988 and has held several significant positions as a research engineer and progressed with increased responsibility of managing the Energy End-Use R&D group. Pradeep’s current responsibilities include developing R&D strategy and overseeing the energy end-use R&D program area.  This included execution of research projects with a primary focus on evaluation of energy efficient end-use technologies applicable to residential, commercial, industrial, and electric transportation sectors.  This area of research includes product identification and demonstration of emerging industrial process, smart building technologies, distributed renewable, end-use power quality, indoor agriculture and electric transportation technologies. Pradeep is also responsible for coordinating and overseeing the Southern Company’s participation in the EPRI Energy Utilization research program.

Prior to joining Southern Company, Pradeep worked five years as an HVAC Consulting Engineer at a company in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

Pradeep earned a BS Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mysore, Manipal, India and an MS Degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Ryan Welty



VP of Sales & Operations, South-Town Refrigeration & Mechanical

Ryan Welty is the VP of Sales & Operations for South-Town Refrigeration & Mechanical. He started 8 years ago as a full-time warehouse support person and has gradually made his way up through the company to his current role. Today, he oversees all operations and sales. Ryan enjoys using his creativity to solve problems with customers.

Charles Wernette



Principal Engineer, H-E-B

Charlie has 31 years of design and manufacturing experience in commercial refrigeration systems and display cases. As an H-E-B principal engineer, he is responsible for setting the strategic direction and inovation for all mechanical systems and controls used in the 400 H-E-B stores. He has a Mechanical Engineering degree from The University of Texas in Austin and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

Ali White



VEIC Energy Consultant, Efficiency Vermont

Ali White is a VEIC Energy Consultant for Efficiency Vermont's commercial and industrial customers. Through that energy efficiency utility, she develops innovative energy-saving solutions tailored to their business models and strategies. She conducts technical and financial analyses to confirm the value of these solutions. Ali specializes in refrigeration energy efficiency measures and system design for grocery stores, breweries, and industrial processes. She holds a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Vermont.

Danielle Wright



Executive Director, North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC)

Danielle Wright is the Executive Director of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a nonprofit that is taking action to eliminate the unique barriers that are slowing the progress of natural refrigerants in North American markets, such as first costs and economies of scale, outdated codes and standards, and the availability of trained service technicians. Wright has brought together over 100 organizations in just over three years, including equipment manufacturers, service contractors, and over 22,000 supermarket locations in North America. She leads a board of directors made up of H-E-B, Whole Foods, Walmart, HillPhoenix, True Manufacturing, Source Refrigeration, KW Refrigerant Management Strategy, Parker/Sporlan/Micro Thermo, Bitzer, Danfoss, and Carter Retail Equipment.

Prior to her role at NASRC, Danielle oversaw the EnergySmart Grocer program, a third party energy efficiency program serving the grocery sector in the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) territory. Under her management, the program saved over 100 million kWh from energy efficiency retrofits primarily in refrigeration.

Damon Wyatt



Vice President and General Manager, Kysor Warren

Damon Wyatt, the Vice President and General Manager of Kysor Warren, has over 10 years of experience with natural refrigerants. This comes from his prior roles within: Güntner serving food retail and cold storage applications with CO2 and ammonia, with Heatcraft communicating customer needs within food service to develop natural refrigerant condensing units and with Kysor Warren de Mexico, as their General Manager, to develop the commercialization and training for natural refrigerants in foreign markets, such as Mexico and Central America.

Marek Zgliczynski



Director, Fellow Researcher of R&D , Embraco

Marek Zgliczynski studied at the Turin Politechnic in Italy where he earned his degree in mechanical engineering. In 1979, after completing his degree, Marek began his career as a researcher and project leader of new product development at Aspera Spa. 

A few years later, Marek transitioned to Embraco, becoming the Manager of Compressor Design. His successful efforts led to many promotions, including European Commercial Product and Technology Manager, Commercial Refrigeration Product Corporate Director and Corporate Fellow Researcher for the Commercial Refrigeration Segment. 

His main responsibility includes the development of household and light commercial refrigeration products. He also provides technical assistance to the sales team in order to promote Embraco products that align with customer feedback. 

Throughout his career, Marek has earned three U.S. patents and Gold Whirlpool Quality Team Award and he has published several pieces of literature for international conferences and events about refrigeration technology. In 2016, he was elected to a Chair of the IEC/SC61C Committee, in charge of the development of international product safety standards for refrigeration segment. He is also member in several other standardization bodies like ISO TC86/SC1/WG1, CEN TC182WG6 and WG12, IEC SC61DWG16 and UL STP471, Ashrae Member. 

Klara Zolcer Skacanova



Market Development Manager, shecco

With a background in public affairs and economics Klára joined shecco in 2011. She leads the company’s market development team focusing on market research, policy analysis, funding projects and specialised campaigns with the objective of accelerating the adoption of climate friendly technologies across different world regions. She has co-authored several extensive market and policy publications focusing on the current use and future potential of natural refrigerants. Prior to joining shecco she worked at the European Commission and a European association for small and medium-sized businesses.