HRAI Board Profile: Mathieu Cardinal
It was 2012 when Mathieu Cardinal made the leap from finance to HVACR. The move was risky, he admits, but one that has since secured his roles as an industry leader and trusted HRAI Board director.
Cardinal acknowledged that his path into the industry wasn’t the norm. It began while he was working as an investment banker with a major Canadian bank and learned that RefPlus, a custom refrigeration equipment specialist for commercial and industrial clients, was going up for sale. "I've always had an entrepreneurial personality, and at the time, I was looking for new opportunities," he recalls. "When RefPlus came up for sale, I saw it as a chance to get into a line of business that would always be in demand."
It was an instinct that Cardinal could not ignore. So, after gathering several partners, he made the move to purchase RefPlus and become the company’s new President and CEO.
Thirteen years later, Cardinal is proud of the growth, innovation, and impact RefPlus has accomplished under his watch. The company was the first Canadian manufacturer of gas coolers–and, later, evaporators–for natural refrigerants, as well as the first to introduce variable-speed motors to North America. More recently, RefPlus became the first Canadian manufacturer of condensing units for natural refrigerants.
These milestones aside, Cardinal feels just as fortunate to lead a team that has steered RefPlus through the industry’s many evolutions. “It's changed a lot from when I first started,” he says. “Not only are we working with more refrigerants, but we’re dealing with evolving technologies, regulations, and environmental mandates that are all changing the way we operate.”
Cardinal’s experiences and perspectives have been an asset to RefPlus over the years. They’ve also made Cardinal a valuable member of HRAI’s Board of Directors, a responsibility he took on after serving on HRAI’s Manufacturing Division Board. In both these roles, Cardinal has been committed to helping HRAI understand and address the issues of the day, be they talent shortages, regulatory changes, or the shift to greener refrigerants.
“My goal is to help the industry tackle its various challenges, and there are a number of them out there,” he says. “It’s about bringing whatever I can to HRAI that helps the Canadian industry be the best it can be.”
Outside of contributing to HRAI and RefPlus, Cardinal commits his passion towards his family, various sports like cycling and skiing, travelling, and his work as a long-time board member with La Mosaïque, a charitable organization on the South Shore of Montreal.
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