MINNEAPOLIS — Daikin Industries Ltd. selected Jeff Drees as the new CEO and president of Daikin Applied Americas. Drees currently serves as executive vice president of sales, marketing, and aftermarket at Daikin Applied and will replace Mike Schwartz, who retired in August after leading the organization for the last 11 years.

“This is an exciting time to be in the HVAC and building solutions industry,” Drees said. “The work we do has a profound impact on the world at large, helping customers address issues, such as reducing carbon emissions and improving IAQ. I’m honored to lead these efforts and add to the significant growth the business has experienced over the last decade.”

Daikin Applied designs and delivers HVAC technology that not only offers superior comfort but helps provide healthy, safe, and sustainable environments. Its offerings include equipment, service, controls, and systems integration for commercial and industrial facilities, encompassing the full customer life cycle.

Drees joined Daikin Applied in 2020 and has helmed the organization’s solutions transformation, expanding the portfolio of offerings and adding new capabilities through key acquisitions. He is a staunch advocate for customers as well as Daikin’s sales representatives and employees.

ZURICH — ABB signed an agreement to purchase Siemens’ low-voltage NEMA motor business. With manufacturing operations in Guadalajara, Mexico, this acquisition provides a well-regarded product portfolio; a longstanding North American customer base; and an experienced operations, sales, and management team. The business employs around 600 people and generated revenues of approximately $63 million in 2021. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023.

This transaction is part of the ABB Motion business area’s profitable growth strategy, and it will allow the NEMA motors division to enhance its product offering, expand its supply chain relationships, and improve support to its North American customer base. It also offers the opportunity to better support the customers in Mexico with local manufacturing and sales. ABB expects to benefit from identified synergies and to use the R&D expertise, supply chain relationships, and market access to bring the combined portfolio to its full potential.

“This bolt-on acquisition creates strong value for ABB’s NEMA motors division,” said Tarak Mehta, president, ABB Motion. “Investing in the business and opening up sales opportunities in North America, and especially Mexico, will allow this business to be margin accretive to the ABB Motion business within 24 months.”

“We have long appreciated the quality and design of these motors,” said Jesse Henson, president of ABB’s NEMA motors division. “Now that we have met the leadership team behind them, I am even more confident that together we can grow our combined businesses faster than either of us could alone. We look forward to adding Siemens' low-voltage NEMA motor portfolio to our existing offering of ABB and Baldor-Reliance^® industrial electric motors.”

DENVER — Brown and Caldwell promoted Euan Finlay from senior vice president to COO, effective immediately.

A senior executive with 25 years of experience, Finlay excels in leading organizations and teams to deliver excellence to clients while driving sustainable growth. Throughout his career, he has held executive roles in operations, design, and construction businesses in numerous international locations focused on developing client solutions for environmental, water, and wastewater infrastructure. He has led multimillion-dollar businesses, managed companywide project delivery, and directed mergers and acquisitions as a Fortune 500 company executive.

Before joining the firm in 2019 as director of business transformation, Finlay was an operations executive for a provider of design, design-build, and program management services.

“Euan has a strong track record of challenging organizations to achieve their potential,” said Rich D’Amato, CEO, Brown and Caldwell. “As Brown and Caldwell continues to evolve and grow, Euan’s operations expertise will be a key driver in building our future success to better serve clients, recruit and retain top talent, and positively impact our communities.”

As COO, Finlay will interface with the firm’s leadership to ensure strategic and technical objectives translate to operational capabilities aligned with business targets from his Denver office. Furthermore, he will play a key role in ensuring cultural imperatives are communicated and supported operationally throughout the 1,800 employee-owned company.

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. — Terracon named Lori Cathcart director of corporate sustainability. Cathcart is responsible for developing and implementing internal corporate sustainability strategies, policies, and procedures, including stakeholder engagement, materiality assessments, risk analysis, and reporting.

“Over the past several years, Terracon has brought increased focus and intentionality to becoming a more sustainable organization, both internally and through the services we provide our clients,” Cathcart said. “I’m excited to be contributing to this important effort.”

Cathcart joined Terracon in 2017 as environmental assistant service line director for Terracon’s western operating group. She has more than 30 years of environmental and operational leadership experience, focused on program development and execution, employee stewardship, client advocacy, and service line growth.

SCHOFIELD, Wis. — Greenheck is celebrating its 75^th anniversary. Founded by brothers Bob and Bernie Greenheck upon their return home from World War II, the company started out as a small sheet metal shop in Schofield, Wisconsin. In its early days, Greenheck manufactured a variety of metal products but soon found its niche in its first HVAC product — a powerless gravity ventilator. Today, Greenheck offers a comprehensive product line of ventilation equipment from the roof to the room, including fans and ventilators, makeup air units, energy recovery ventilators, kitchen ventilation systems, dedicated outdoor air systems, indoor air handlers, dampers, louvers, laboratory exhaust systems, grilles, registers, diffusers, and air terminal units.

“Bob and Bernie Greenheck’s business philosophy was based on the core values of reinvestment in our people and operations, dedication to continuous improvement, and the determination to be the easiest company to do business with,” said Tim Kilgore, president of sales, Greenheck. “These enduring values guide our company to this day through our extraordinary team members, strong sales partners and suppliers, and constant product innovation to meet changing customer needs.”

Greenheck continuously works with its mechanical representative network, consulting engineers, and mechanical contractor customers to design and manufacture products that improve indoor air quality and provide healthy and safe environments in commercial, institutional, and industrial facilities, such as schools, hospitals, warehouses, offices, data centers, restaurants, and more. To accommodate this growing product line, Greenheck developed its Computer Aided Product Selection (CAPS^®) program during the 1980s and later introduced the web-based eCAPS^® program in 2015 to make product selection easier for engineers, contractors, and its representative network. Greenheck also expanded its manufacturing reach throughout the years to be closer to the customer. In addition to Wisconsin, manufacturing campuses and facilities are currently located in California, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mexico, and India.

SEATTLE — McKinstry is helping clients achieve their climate and sustainability goals through an integrated suite of energy and facility services that has grown to include solar photovoltaics, distributed generation, battery storage systems, geothermal energy, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, community solar, and more.

As part of the company’s Action for Impact plan to address the climate, affordability, and equity crises, McKinstry is focusing its services on transforming the built environment by breaking down barriers for organizations pursuing a zero-carbon future. McKinstry’s renewable energy team has successfully developed, built, and maintained rooftop, canopy, and ground-mounted solar and storage projects for city and county governments, K-12 school districts, higher education institutions, health care facilities, and others.

“Interest in decarbonization and renewables is flourishing as leaders across the country seek to establish bold, aggressive, zero-carbon goals,” said Jeff Hughes, McKinstry’s director of renewable energy services. “We’re seeing opportunities to offer robust renewable energy options in nearly every market, helping clients identify creative solutions that not only fit their budget and infrastructure needs but their sustainability goals as well.”

In just the past three years, McKinstry has grown its renewable energy team from its initial two hires to a team of 20 professionals who have been awarded projects ranging in size from 500 kW to 15 MW across 14 states.