HRAI Board Profile: Victor Hyman

 It's been 20 years since Victor Hyman "fell into HVACR," and it's safe to say he's landed with success. Over the past decades, Hyman has become a welcome and respected contributor with HRAI and the HVACR industry at large, lending his experience, insights, and leadership to numerous events and initiatives.

"I guess you could say HRAI is my hobby," he says. "I hate golf, and I don't fish, but I do in-vest a considerable amount of time and effort into HRAI the industry because I've always found it to be a fulfilling outlet."

Hyman never planned to enter the HVACR field. His journey to becoming the executive di-rector of ClimateCare began nearly 20 years ago when he left a role as a school administra-tor to join an entrepreneurial venture, where he spent three years learning the ropes of busi-ness building. When the business came to an end, a friend directed his attention to Premi-Air Heating and AC, which was looking for someone with his business expertise.

"I had no idea about anything HVAC, but the brothers that owned it needed help growing their own business and putting in the kinds of practices and procedures I had just spent five years learning,” Hyman says, noting that it wasn’t long before he developed an affinity for the sector: “I realized that I loved both the technical and business side of things and that we were solving real problems for people.

After a short stint helping his brother develop his bio-fuel business, Hyman learned of a management training program at Emco through HRAI's website. What followed, he recalls, was something of a sign: "I didn't apply because the program was for people just coming out of school, but an hour later, my phone rang, and it was a manager from EMCO. He'd attend-ed the ClimateCare Annual General Meeting and mentioned that they were looking for out-side sales and business development professionals to expand their business into Toronto. One of the brothers from Premi-Air was there and said, "You should speak to Victor.'"

Victor accepted EMCO’s offer of employment and spent the next eight and a half years broadening his understanding of the entire HVAC ecosystem. Along the way, he played a vital role in expanding EMCO’s operational footprint and getting involved in national HVAC vendor relations and procurement.

Of course, even the best-laid plans can go astray. As a result of the economic challenges posed by the pandemic, Victor found himself downsized and looking for his next opportunity. This led him to apply for the Executive Director role at ClimateCare, an organization he had developed an affinity for through his previous roles. His extensive network and comprehen-sive industry understanding made him an ideal fit for the role, and ClimateCare agreed.

Fast-forward and Victor has proven his skill as ClimateCare's Executive Director, where he says his primary mission is to help member companies flourish by "having more fun and making more money."

Victor's history with HRAI spans almost the entirety of his HVAC career. He began attending HRAI meetings in 2005 on behalf of Premi-Air Heating and AC and continued to do so in 2008, when the company became part of ClimateCare. Victor increased his involvement

while at EMCO, becoming involved with HRAI's GTA Chapter and eventually serving as its chair for several years until he left the company.

Victor's involvement with HRAI continued to deepen in the years that followed. HRAI asked him to co-chair a committee of space heating experts during a market transformation initia-tive with NRCan and, following this, join several HRAI CMPX and Technology and Trends committees. More recently, Victor has shared his expertise with the industry as chair of HRAI's Government Relations, Policies, and Priorities Committee, while remaining involved with CMPX as a general committee member and serving on the Contractors Board as repre-sentative for the Council of Large Residential Home Service Companies. Beyond this, Victor has joined HRAI at numerous Government Relations Days at Queen's Park and Parliament Hill, where he consistently volunteered to be the industry's voice.

As far as hobbies go, Victor has given much to HRAI. His involvement stems from the belief that industries are more effective when they collaborate. Drawing on ClimateCare's coopera-tive ethos, he says: "We don't have to be rapacious capitalists – we can be kumbaya capital-ists and help the industry as a whole get better. HRAI is a great vehicle to make that hap-pen."

Beyond the office, Victor happily spends his free time with his family and enjoys his new role as a grandfather. As for what comes next, Victor hopes to continue supporting HRAI's mis-sion while expanding ClimateCare's reach across Canada. "I'm 50 this year,” he says, “so I've still got a lot of runway left.”

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