Page 50 - Climate Control News Nov 2019

HVACR Leadership Awards
LEFT: Leader of the Year, Robert Beggs and RRA director, Greg Brooker.
BELOW: Award winner, Robert Beggs, accepting his award.
HVACR Leader of the Year Award
HVACR LEADER OF the Year, Robert Beggs, has always been passionate about Australian manufacturing.
It's just one of many passions that have driven Beggs to make such an outstanding contribution to the development of the HVACR industry.
In addition to a 30-year history in stand- ards development, Beggs is a highly regarded specialist in his field who has actively partici- pated in a long list of industry bodies from the Air conditioning and Refrigeration Equip- ment Manufacturers Association of Australia (AREMA) to the Consumer Electronics Sup- pliers Association (CESA) and various govern- ment working groups.
Beggs has always gone above and beyond driv- ing change and long lasting improvements to the Australian HVACR industry.
His dedication has taken him overseas repre- senting Australia's interests at international standards meetings.
For the past three years Beggs has been gen- eral manager of Temperzone Australia but has also worked at AWA Thorn, Daikin and Mitsubi- shi Electric.
“Working with industry associations, stand- ards committees and other stakeholder groups has allowed me to meet and work with a broad
range of HVAC industry participants, govern- ment representatives and regulators; even though I am often working with competitors or groups with conflicting objectives, there is re- spect, comradery and understanding towards each other that I value,” he said.
“What I love most about this industry is the peo- ple. I have always been involved in Australian man- ufacturing which has always been challenging.
“WHAT I LOVE MOST ABOUT THIS INDUSTRY IS THE PEOPLE.” – ROBERT BEGGS.
“The ultimate objective is to keep manufac- turing here in Australia, which is a challenge worth fighting for.”
Outside of manufacturing, Beggs said the current skills shortage is the biggest challenge for industry right now as well as the need to stay abreast of the latest changes in HVAC technology.
When asked about the qualities of an effective
leader, Beggs said they should be ethical, sup- portive and knowledgeable.
“An effective leader is someone who people as- sociate with because they want to, not because they have to,” he said.
This year's HVACR Leader of the Year Award was sponsored by Refrigerant Reclaim Australia (RRA) with RRA director, Greg Brooker, present- ing Beggs with his award. ✺
CLIMATECONTROLNEWS.COM.AU
50