HARDI Concludes 2023 Annual Conference, Surpasses Attendance Records
Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International concluded its annual conference Dec. 5 in Phoenix, Arizona with another year of record-breaking attendance.
HARDI welcomed more than 1,940 attendees, including 519 wholesaler attendees from 180 companies, 40 solution center providers, 34 unique member sponsors, and a sold-out booth program featuring 250 vendors. This year’s conference surpassed all before it with the highest number of attendees to date and is a testament to the HVACR industry’s enthusiasm for networking and consuming educational content.
The event featured six keynote speakers whose presentations inspired and informed the nearly 2,000 attendees with topics focusing on innovation, workforce management and geopolitical factors impacting not only the industry, but global affairs.
The conference featured 26 breakout sessions, many of which showcased valuable insights on business development and benchmarking data by HARDI’s Market Intelligence team. The conference’s four Regional Forecast sessions examined region-specific economic and regulatory factors that will impact the industry in the coming months.
HARDI used the event as a platform to make important announcements regarding changes to its Board of Directors. This year, it was announced that Rhonda Wight, Refrigeration Sales Corp, will be ending her second term as HARDI chair and the board will welcome Loran Liu, Standard Supply and Distributing Company, as the new chair. Brian Blaushild of Famous Enterprises served his last term on the board. Both outgoing board members provided invaluable insights and expertise for members throughout their time. While their presence will be missed, they’ll remain active members of the HVACR community. HARDI’s newest board members are Todd Shaddon, Century HVAC Distributing and Layne Miller, Geary Pacific Supply.
Finally, HARDI recognized 16 graduates from its Emerging Leaders program. “Program participants from both distributor and supplier member companies worked very hard to become official graduates of HARDI’s Emerging Leaders program. The three-year program curriculum developed and refined their individual executive skill sets, and the talent management team is honored to be able to recognize their achievements in front of such a large crowd of colleagues and friends,” said Stella Keane, HARDI’s vice president of talent.
The next annual conference will be held Dec. 7-10 in Atlanta, Georgia.
For more information, visit hardinet.org.