JAN/FEB 2026 RETA Breeze

Gary Struhar, CMS Retired Nate Torres, CARO Resource Compliance Harrison Travis, CM Retired

FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

COMMITTEE CHAIRS Certification: Lee Pyle, CARO SCS Engineers Education: Don Tragethon, CIRO, CRST, RAI Retired Education Co-Chair: Jayson Goff, CMS CoolSys C.I.S. Marketing: Mark Allen Turner Fisher Refrigeration, Inc. Membership: Jason Daniell, CIRO APSM National Conference: Jodie Rukamp SCS Engineers Publications: Victor Dearman, Jr., CIRO, CRST JBS Foods RINAA: Kenny Williams Retired As a non-profit association, RETA is governed by a board elected by its members. RETA was pleased to announce the 2025-2026 Officers and Board of Directors at the Annual Business Meeting, held at the National Conference in Grapevine, Texas. RETA board members serve a 3-year term and volunteer their time and energy to directly impact our community and association. The 16-member board and 5-member executive committee aim for both diversity of perspective and depth of expertise. There is a strength with our staggered terms and the Board is always changing. RETA Executive Director Vern M. Sanderson congratulates and welcomes all new members to the board. We thank our outgoing members and welcome new members, as well as extend a heartfelt thanks to Directors past, present, and future for their contributions and dedication to RETA’s mission.

We are at the beginning of a very exciting new year. There are so many things happening, with something for everyone, whatever your HVACR interest might be. The Certification Committee is diligently working on the develop ment of the certification exam for Book 1: Introduction to HVACR , which was released late last year. This exam will be a benchmark for all HVACR ANAB certification exams. We will have more materials released in the Spanish language than we have had in any other time in our organization’s history. Articles are being developed in Spanish for our magazines, and a Spanish-translated Technical Report is in production. By the time this issue is published, the first beta course utilizing our newest Industrial Refrigeration Course 1 (IR-1) Spanish book, will be scheduled to occur at our HQ Central facility. I hope everyone has been engaging with our social media blasts and receiving our surveys. They are a lot of fun. I’m still waiting for the debate on the greatest jeweler in refrigeration history. Maybe next month. Preparation for the 2026 RETA-RSES Conference is underway. There will be several improvements over last year’s family reunion.

All our Committees are starting the year off strong. The Education Com mittee has a multitude of book projects underway. The Membership Committee is developing additional member benefits. The Publication Committee is under new leadership and has a multitude of articles in development. The Marketing Commit tee has some very interesting projects as well, some of which you have seen promoted on our very active social media pages. We expect 2026 to be a great year for our Chapters, too. Many are planning additional activities for the coming year. The Speaker’s Bureau will be expanding shortly. We hope to have more activities for our students and our trade school partners. There are many options for traditional students to join our family through trade schools. While there is a lot of “new” in 2026, there is also a lot of “tradition al.” Our traditional education materi als are being updated, and new formats are being reviewed. While a lot of things change, the core elements of HVACR remain the same. It is vital that our educational materials continue to lay the foun dation of our processes while incorporating new information.

6 RETA.com

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026