Ohio native Cassandra Kline has been hired as NEMIC’s director of building construction technology. In that role, she serves as a field representative to SMART locals all over the United States and Canada and is responsible for creating and implementing strategies for the use of new and existing technologies in order to expand skills and opportunities for SMART sheet metal workers and signatory employers.

“I’m building relationships with local unions and contractors, promoting new business ideas and technology, as well as representing NEMIC on committees and developing documents for American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accreditation,” Kline said.

As a second-generation sheet metal worker, Kline began her apprenticeship on the advice of her father, who served as the training coordinator at Local 33 in Toledo, Ohio. Kline’s brother is also a sheet metal worker, and she has an uncle who works in the electrical trade, so union life runs in her family. After graduating high school, Kline moved to Panama City Beach, Florida, and worked in the food and beverage industry for several years before returning to Toledo to take a job as a shop maintenance manager’s assistant. This sparked her interest in the field, and she tested and entered the apprenticeship, graduating in 2020.

During that time, she worked at VM Systems Inc., where she gained experience in TAB, architectural, commercial and heavy industrial applications of sheet metal work. In 2021, Kline took classes through the International Training Institute and became a part-time instructor at Local 33 for fire life safety, indoor air quality and TAB. She then joined Gem Inc. as a field supervisor for the TAB division and was soon promoted to service manager.

She says her rise in the field is a testament to the fact that the sheet metal industry provides opportunities to anyone willing to put in the time and effort.

“Be prepared for the opportunities. Show up, work hard and learn everything you can,” she said.

Kline has been settling into her new role and is enthusiastic about working with the rest of the NEMIC staff.

“I’m fortunate to be surrounded by a great team,” she added. “I’m learning every single day and have great mentors looking out for me and helping guide me along the way.”

Kline spends her spare time golfing and enjoying walks with her dog, Huckleberry.

NEMIC is saying “see you later” to two longtime sheet metal stalwarts who recently retired after decades of valu­able service. Their hard work and the countless contributions they have made as leaders have kept our industry at the forefront of the skilled construction trades.

John Hamilton, director of imple­mentation for the Testing, Adjusting and Balancing Bureau (TABB), began his career as a sheet metal apprentice in 1982. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, John has been a member of Local 10 in Maplewood, Minnesota, his entire career.

John attended Saint Paul Technical College and graduated with an associate degree in sheet metal and HVAC, which jump-started his apprenticeship. After his apprentice­ship, John spent five years as a field foreman and manager of testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB) jobs at Harris Mechanical in Saint Paul. He advanced by joining the National Energy Management Institute (NEMI) as a field representative and then the International Training Institute (ITI), the education arm of the unionized sheet metal industry, as a regional coordinator. During that time, he founded the train-the-trainer program for TAB instructors and developed the current ITI/ NEMIC air duct calculator.

As a regional coordinator, John served as the technical expert for many of the current ITI training modules, including fire life safety, sound and vibration, piping systems, ventilation/indoor air quality, pumps, fans, psychometrics, the TAB manual and the TABB home study course for test and balance.

In 1995, he was hired as the chief operating officer (later, director of implementation) of TABB. There, he helped craft the current International Certification Board (ICB)/TABB certification program; lobbied for fire life safety legisla­tion in cities, counties and states nationwide; worked to get TABB-specific language into thousands of construction specifications; and was instrumental in the accredi­tation of ICB/TABB to ISO/IEC 17024 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Accreditation Board (ANAB).

Scott Hammond, NEMIC’s director of research, is a lifelong resident of Circleville, Ohio. Scott joined SMART Local 24 in Columbus as an apprentice in 1986. As a young journeyperson working with Speer Mechanical, he was appointed to a committee to investigate the establishment of a defined contribu­tion pension plan in the Columbus district. In 1999, he became an organizer with Local 24, where he reached out to potential members and oversaw the youth-to-youth program. He took on additional responsibilities when he was elected business representative in 2008.

In 2011, he became business manager for Local 24. In this role, Scott, his team and fellow leaders of other Ohio locals worked to get ordinances passed in cities and counties around the state to require damper inspections and repairs by ICB-certified technicians.

As the director of research for NEMIC, he used his extensive knowledge of fire damper legislation to help members across the country educate their local politicians, fire and building inspectors and building owners about the impor­tance of HVAC fire life safety.

Scott also served as a trustee on several Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and Taft-Hartley funds, and he has represented sheet metal workers on multiple funds, boards and committees, including Mayor Andrew Ginther’s Labor Advisory Committee, established by the city of Columbus, and the Ohio State Building Trades Council Executive Board.

Adriana Farren has always been into numbers. She earned a bachelor’s degree in human resources with a minor in finance and worked in the front office of the former Sheet Metal Workers Local 41 in Puerto Rico before moving to Pennsylvania in 2011.

This was where her life took a much different turn, and it all started with a job working in the office of Comprehensive Test and Balance in Dover, Pa.

After two years overseeing Farren working in the office — reading plans, going over forms and entering data — Todd Walter, owner of the company, approached her with a question: Would you be interested in becoming an apprentice?

“I said, ‘yes.’ Then, he said, ‘You’ll have great benefits,’ and I said, ‘yes’ twice,” Farren recalled with a laugh. “By looking at the reports, I thought it would be a career I would be interested in.”

The first lesson: integrity and honesty are important in testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB).

Walter saw Farren working on bids and learning the necessary drawings, documentation and paperwork, and he offered her the chance to have a career instead of a job. A second-generation sheet metal worker, Walter also took the opportunity to guide Farren through the process and mentor her as others had mentored him.

The first lesson: integrity and honesty are important in testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB), he said.

“No matter what you do, they have to believe what you tell them. Adriana had good personal skills. She had the insight. She is very smart, and she was at the top of her class. She fit the bill,” Walter added. “It’s something my father said a long time ago — you can have a job, or you can put your head into it and make it a career.”

During the first two years of her apprenticeship at SMART Sheet Metal Local 19 (Central Pa.), Farren knew she wanted to do testing, adjusting and balancing. So, at night, she took air and water classes and was certified as a technician in 2015 while she was still an apprentice.

Since her graduation in 2017, Farren has continued to gain certifications. She said testing keeps the skills fresh in her mind. To date, she holds a welding certification in addition to duct leakage testing and high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) testing.

“It’s a continuous learning process. I want to continue learning more about the balancing concept. I like to learn new things every day.”

– Local 19 member Adriana Farren

“It’s a continuous learning process. I want to continue learning more about the balancing concept. I like to learn new things every day. I would like to expand my knowledge in different areas related to TAB,” she said. “Having a certification shows people you’re certified in that concept and you know what you’re doing. In order to be a TAB tech, you don’t have to have the certification, but if you do, it proves you know what you’re doing.”

Knowledge, in Farren’s case, was definitely powerful. Although she took English classes on her native island of Puerto Rico, it was her second language. Being the only female balancer at Comprehensive Test and Balance — something Walter would like to see change — has its challenges, but all the challenges she’s faced have been nothing she can’t handle, she said.

“Back when I was in college, I thought I wanted to look after the employees and watch over them from a human resources point of view,” Farren said. “Looking back, 12 years later, that would have been very boring for me. I would have had to be in an office with the same four walls. No offense to the people who do it, but I like the fact I’m always somewhere different and learning something new.”

Walter took a chance asking Farren if she would be interested in a career. Now, as a full-time balancer at Comprehensive Test and Balance, she sees how her love of numbers led her to the career she now has. An interest in math, problem solving and finance isn’t relegated to an office and four walls. Those interests also can lead outside to various locations, continuous learning and a skill set that can last a lifetime.

“If you think you can do it, give it a try,” Farren said. “You don’t lose anything by trying, not just in this career, but anything. Trust your gut feeling. If you think you can do it, you probably can.”

Whether the general public realizes it or not, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry has been center stage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Testing, Adjusting and Balancing Bureau (TABB)-certified HVAC contractors in particular have been on the front lines, testing and balancing airow for healthcare facilities so they can treat COVID patients, while also providing for the general health needs of their communities.
Hospitals require constant testing and adjusting of airow to keep patients safe, and their needs have grown exponentially during the pandemic.
Fisher Balancing, a New Jersey-based HVAC company and union signatory contractor helmed by President Matt Sano, has seen its business grow substantially. The company has worked with the healthcare industry for many years to provide testing and balancing, said Sano, but when the pandemic hit, technicians went into overdrive, turning regular patient rooms into COVID-19 isolation rooms.

Union-provided training guarantees Fisher employees have the skills and certifications necessary to provide the same TAB expertise the company has provided for 20 years.

Philadelphia-area testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB) technicians at Fisher Balancing sometimes worked 12- to 24-hour shifts converting entire hospital wings into isolation rooms at local hospitals. Within a few weeks of the initial outbreak of COVID-19, Fisher’s crew had helped convert more than 250 regular rooms to negative airflow rooms at the University of Pennsylvania’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Not all balancing firms could provide the services that Fisher does. All members can earn certifications through training provided through a joint partnership between the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA).
Union-provided training guarantees Fisher employees have the skills and certifications necessary to provide the same TAB expertise the company has provided for 20 years.
“The training our employees receive as SMART apprentices and journeymen is unparalleled,” Sano said. “The TABB certifications our employees hold also ensure that they have the knowledge and experience needed to do this kind of work.”
To convert individual rooms to isolation rooms, TAB professionals modify the airow, switch standard rooms to negative pressure rooms and verify the number of times the air changes in the room to ensure health and safety.

According to CDC guidelines, a single-patient airborne infection isolation room must have negative pressure relative to other parts of the facility. The negative pressure causes air to ow from the corridors to the isolation room, but air cannot escape to other parts of the facility when the door is closed and the ventilation system is operating properly. Air from the isolation room can be exhausted directly to the outdoors or passed through a special high efficiency air (HEPA) lter that removes most of the droplet nuclei before it is returned to general circulation.
Beyond healthcare facilities, Fisher Balancing has seen an uptick in work for casinos, malls, restaurants and other retail clients. Sano said he expects engineering to change going forward, as building owners will want to be prepared for these types of catastrophic events as well as respond to state mandates regarding airow rule changes in some facilities.
Hidden behind walls or tucked high up in ceilings, HVAC systems are often ignored by the public, but during these unprecedented times, ventilation has become critical to health and safety.