People in the News

The Brooklyn home service company says that jobs in their industry are in abundance and compensation is good

Petri Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Drain Cleaning, a family-owned home service company serving Brooklyn and Manhattan since 1906, is celebrating National Skilled Trades Day on May 3 by encouraging young people to consider the home service, manufacturing and construction industries as a career choice.

“For years, we’ve told students that they need to go to college if they want to have an exciting and well-paid career, and that’s not always true,” said Michael Petri, owner of Petri Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Drain Cleaning. “But the truth is that college isn’t for everyone. Some people simply want to go into a profession where they can start earning money, find steady work and good pay without having to put themselves in debt to get a degree. And, now, with Baby Boomers retiring in record numbers, there are more jobs opening in the skilled trades industry than can be filled.”

According to a State of Home Services study, 52% of home service recruiters have had difficulty hiring compared to 30% of recruiters in other professions.

Petri said that the industry needs to recruit more at the middle and high school levels to let teenagers know that they can attend trade school after high school for much less than the cost of a typical four-year college.

“Trade school is usually less expensive, and you can start earning money in a shorter amount of time than you can by graduating from a typical university,” he said. “And, on top of that, most skilled trades workers earn more at their first jobs than college graduates. Sending your kids to trade school can result in less student debt and higher earnings.”

Petri said that parents, educators and government officials should push to introduce more young people to the skilled trades industry.

“Whether it’s working in the HVAC or plumbing industries, building homes or cutting hair, these are jobs that can’t be outsourced,” he said. “These are the people we call to fix our homes, our cars and our appliances. These are the industries that hold our country together, and we should encourage more people to enter their ranks.”

For more information about Petri Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Drain Cleaning, visit https://www.petriplumbing.com/.

Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical (Hiller), the region’s premier provider of residential and commercial service and repair, is proud to announce a three-year, multi-faceted partnership with Middle Tennessee State University Athletics (MTSU).

Middle Tennessee State University, originally founded in 1911 as a two-year program for teachers as Middle Tennessee State Normal School, was designated as a four-year state college in 1943 by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, and advanced to university status in 1965. MTSU has since graduated over 149,000 students, offering over 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. MTSU has grown into an academic city sprawling across 500 acres and, in recent years, invested over $1.4B in campus improvements.

MTSU strives to foster a student-centered environment conducive to lifelong learning, personal development, and success, as well as promoting ongoing engagement with alumni, partners, and friends. A large part of fulfilling these missions is through its athletic department and corporate partnerships, like this new relationship with Hiller.

Hiller’s founder and the company’s namesake, Jimmy Hiller, is a native to the Greater Nashville area, who has developed the company alongside its local cities. Rutherford County has been a central and growing service area for Hiller for more than 15 years, with Hiller opening its third individual branch in Murfreesboro in 2007. For Hiller, a partnership of this magnitude with MTSU, who contributes so much to the local economy, infrastructure, and community at large, makes perfect sense.

“We are extremely excited and proud to partner with Middle Tennessee State University”, remarked Jimmy Hiller. “At Hiller, we attribute our growth to caring for the communities that we serve. MTSU provides so much support, infrastructure, camaraderie, and resources to the Murfreesboro community, so partnering with them is extremely meaningful to us. We have been fortunate to have seen the impacts of their efforts”, he continued, “Through our previous partnership with the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, and we look so forward to expanding our involvement across other facets of this incredible institution.”

Lee De Leon, Deputy Athletic Director for External Affairs at Middle Tennessee State University, echoed these sentiments. “MTSU Athletics is thrilled to welcome Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Electrical as a corporate partner. We look forward to a wonderful relationship”, he continued, “And know that MTSU fans will love their ‘Happy You’ll Be’ guarantee”.

Launched in 1990 with a single employee and just $500, Hiller has grown exponentially across the past three decades. Today, Hiller includes over 800 associates and 600 trucks across 16 locations and has responded to over 1.7M service calls across 7 states.

The leading provider of digital solutions for field service teams names experienced service technology leader Strickland Tudor executive VP of sales and promotes Stacey Bright to CMO

XOi, the leading provider of technician-first smart technology for commercial and residential field service companies, continues building the industry’s top leadership team with the addition of veteran service technology executive Strickland Tudor and the promotion of Stacey Bright to Chief Marketing Officer.

Tudor, who has more than 25 years of experience driving the digital transformation of the skilled trades, will serve as XOi’s executive vice president of sales. In his new position, he will lead the development and implementation of XOi’s growth strategy, supporting the company’s continuing expansion and its reimagining of technology for field service contractors.

“Strick has unique skills and experience in this industry,” Salow said. “His extensive background serves as the foundation for an exciting vision of the future that aligns with XOi’s mission.”

Strickland most recently served as vice president for Schedule Engine, an innovative technology solution for contractors. Before that, he served in various executive leadership roles for Enterprise Holdings, the most successful provider of transportation and mobility solutions in the world.

“XOi is investing in the unprecedented opportunities that emerge as our industry continues to experience tremendous rapid change,” Tudor said. “The company has a solid foundation of success based on prioritizing the experience of technicians in the field. By empowering the hard-working men and women on the front lines of our industry, we’re in position to reach more markets and accelerate growth and innovation into the future.”

Bright has proven to be a dedicated, visionary leader in the SaaS Marketing space for more than a decade. She served as XOi’s vice president of marketing before rising to her new position. As CMO, she will continue to put emphasis on driving demand generation, brand awareness in vertical and adjacent markets, and XOi’s future-focused digital strategy.

“Stacey’s unwavering commitment to driving top-line growth and brand enhancement has positioned XOi as an industry leader in field service technology and propelled Stacey into a role as a trusted, valued member of XOi’s C-suite leadership team,” said Aaron Salow, founder and CEO of XOi. “We would not be here without her, and she is absolutely critical to getting us where we’re going.”

Before joining XOi in 2019, Bright served as a marketing executive for Built Technologies and Fleet One.

“I’m thrilled and humbled by this new opportunity,” Bright said. “At XOi, we’re building a team for the future, and we’re committed to transforming the trades through innovative, technician-focused digital solutions that drive productivity and revenue and help business owners overcome the ongoing labor shortage.”

XOi provides field service contractors and their teams a suite of premium tools for managing and leveraging data from current jobs as well as historical projects, including powerful data collection, virtual support and mentoring, and real, actionable insights. XOi users report, on average, a 20% reduction in the amount of time it takes to complete tasks, an additional $1.4 million in new replacement and preventive maintenance contract revenue, and a 40% reduction in second truck rolls.

For more information about XOi, visit https://xoi.io.

RLS hosted its first pressing competition at the 2023 AHR Expo in Atlanta in February. It was a fun and exciting event, with teams of three competing to be the fastest at forming the letters “RLS” out of copper tube and RLS press fittings.

A total of six teams competed, three on Monday and three on Tuesday. RLS named six team captains, who were then able to choose any two additional competitors to complete their teams. The two winning teams that completed the project the fastest are listed below.

Team 1 (Monday): Jeff DeMassari (@jeffjdemhvac), Michael Flynn (@flynnstone1) and Ben Thomson (@hvac_strong)

Team 2 (Tuesday): Jamie Christensen (@northwest_hvac), Justin Angelo (@truebluemechanical) and Michael Flynn (yes, he was on both winning teams!)

A big shout out and thank you to all of our six team captains, and to our referee, Robert Villagomez (@p.e.hvac):

Jeff DeMassari – @jeffjdemhvac
Jamie Christensen – @northwest_hvac
Shav Jumaev – @hvaclyfe101
Gabriel Gonzalez – @Hvac_sg
Pat Finley – @commercial_kitchen_chronicles
Lance Robinson – @solderweldhvac