RETA Breeze Sept/Oct 2025

Mike Missall, CARO Summit Refrigeration Group Jodie Rukamp SCS Tracer Environmental Gary Struhar, CMS Retired Harrison Travis, CM Sanden Vendo America, Inc

FROM THE DESK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

COMMITTEE CHAIRS Certification: Lee Pyle, CARO SCS Engineers National Conference: Jim Kovarik Gamma Graphics Services Education: Don Tragethon, CIRO, CRST, RAI Retired Publications: Vern Sanderson, CIRO, CRST, RAI Schwan’s Company Marketing: Jodie Rukamp SCS Engineers Membership: Jason Daniell, CIRO APSM As a non-profit association, RETA is governed by a board elected by its members. RETA was pleased to announce the 2024/2025 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, Jim Barron 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.

As the Executive Director of RETA RSES, I’m copied on a lot of Associa tion emails. It gives me a window into RETA that few people get to look through. I’m going to tell you what I see, because it’s a picture worth talking about. I see people of purpose—the thou sands of members worldwide who are the foundation of RETA-RSES. I see them working together to improve our industry; to create safe environ ments for their workplace and community; to build a stronger, more meaningful Association. I see them doing this in partnership with man agement, local municipalities, govern ment agencies, and with partner associations, and with each other, one-on-one, together. This got me thinking about the importance of the one-on-one part. Today, we all know there are plenty of ways to communicate with each other that do not entail face-to-face interac tion—email, voicemail, phone, text messaging and, still in use by some of

us, the US mail. There are times when we use these types of communica tions to avoid a face-to-face meeting. Admit it … we’ve all done that! We think we’re too busy to take the time to have that one-on-one conversation. But when we choose not to make or take this time with people, we lose that sense of fellowship that can only be created when we sit down and share ourselves, our stories, our lives with someone else. I know that I come away from this kind of interaction having learned much more than I anticipated, and not just about ammonia refrigeration, which makes the conversation more interesting. RETA-RSES provides an opportunity for this kind of fellowship each year to those in our industry, both members and non-members. It’s our annual national Conference. This year, we’re meeting in Spokane, Washington and celebrating the Conference’s 116th anniversary. Wow, 1909 was a long time ago. Certainly, much has changed over the nearly 12 decades and switch in centuries. Fortunately,

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025