ASHRAE Journal - August 2014 - 15

presidential address

As it turns out, that statement is an old Zen philosophy,
and I have never forgotten that moment. It has always
stuck with me, and I have measured any success since
then by looking at the day-to-day improvements in my
life. We are one day away from the start of a new ASHRAE
year. How will we measure the success of that year?
The answer is simple and is the same answer that
Grand Master Han was looking for from me. One year
from now, June 2015-when I leave the office of presidency, ASHRAE will be better than we are today.
So how do we achieve this success? By focusing our
efforts and resources in three key areas.

effort or doing anything outside of going to work. The
truth is, however, that is just an excuse. People, of all
ages and all professions, will always make time for
something they perceive to be valuable.
So, how do we engage our members? How can we use
our volunteers more efficiently and respect their volunteer time? What are we going to do to demonstrate that
participating in ASHRAE activities is a valuable use of
their time?
In a recent Board of Directors' survey, more efficient use of volunteer time ranked as one of the most
important issues facing the Society. Volunteers drive
ASHRAE, and we must make sure volunteer time is used
People
as efficiently as possible. There are 3,000+ volunteers
It's universally recognized, and often said, that
who work at the Society level, and another 7,000 or so
ASHRAE's greatest asset is our volunteers. We have
that work within our chapters. If we can earn a small
54,000 members around the world.
percentage gain in the productivity, motivation and recSome people join ASHRAE to get the
ognition of these people who work so hard for
Handbook and the Journal for free. Or to
the Society, we will make a huge impact on our
get a discount on standards or meetings
overall productivity.
fees. And that's fine-we count those people
Implementing ASHRAE's new strategic plan
as members, and we're glad to have them.
will require the creation of a number of ad hoc
However, the members who have the
committees. One of these committees we will
greatest impact for us are our volunorganize this year will look at ways to improve
teers-those of you who become part of our
volunteer participation. As an example, part
ASHRAE family. The ones who invest their
of that study will include a review and analytime and talent into making ASHRAE a presis of the format for our Winter and Annual
THOMAS H. PHOENIx, P.E.
mier engineering organization.
Conferences. The time that is required to parASHRAE PRESIDENT, 2014 -15
Our family is the people who will build
ticipate at these meetings has been identified
the Society into a stronger, more viable, more innovative
as one of the main reasons that many of our good volunorganization in the future. These people are you. Now, we teers do not want to advance into leadership positions at
need to find a way to see how many others we can bring
ASHRAE. We need to look at this issue, and several othinto our family.
ers, to make sure we are using our volunteers effectively,
At first glance, this might seem like a daunting task.
and there are no hurdles to attracting the best future
Volunteerism everywhere is down, and disengagement,
leaders.
even at the corporate level, is at epidemic proportions
My friend and former ASHRAE vice president, Larry
around the globe. Statistics show that 70% of employees
Staples, often says we need to be "ASHRAE Evangelists."
are moderately to fully disengaged. Why is that? How
"An ASHRAE evangelist," he says, "is a person who
can we do better than that?
believes in ASHRAE completely, a person who actively
You hear a lot these days about how people today are
contributes to Society goals at the chapter, regional, and
very selfish with their free time, and how they don't
national level, and who is a passionate advocate of and for
care. They are not interested in putting in any extra
the Society."
Thomas H. Phoenix, P.E., is principal and vice president, Moser Mayer Phoenix Associates, Greensboro, N.C. His presidential theme is, "People, Passion and Performance." Phoenix
started his career in HVAC more than 30 years ago as an engineer with the Division of Plant Operation of the North Carolina State Board of Education. After a few years he had an
opportunity to enter the design and consulting field of the HVAC business and has been working in that discipline ever since. In 1989 Phoenix established the engineering department, and became a partner, in the architectural/engineering firm of Moser Mayer Phoenix Associates. Phoenix's design portfolio includes schools, research and testing laboratories, industrial manufacturing facilities and classroom, residence hall and food service projects for colleges and universities. He is a recipient of an Exceptional Service Award, a
Presidential Award of Excellence, the Region IV Rudy Ferguson Award and a Regional Award of Merit.
Au g ust 2014

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