From Tim Conrad, February 2019:

I was born and raised in Dyersville, IA and graduated from Beckman High School in 2000.  After high school, I attended and graduated from Iowa State University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.  During my stretch at ISU, I enjoyed spending time with friends at Cyclones football and basketball games as well as participating in intermural sports.  Additionally, I had the opportunity to internship with Maytag and MidAmerican Energy both of which were great opportunities to learn the more practical side of the engineering profession.  This combined with the technical skills I learned in college were instrumental in getting me where I am today.

Upon graduation from ISU, I moved to Kansas City and worked for Burns & McDonnell in their Business and Technology Services Division.  Over my 2 years with the company, I worked on several Iowa wind farm feasibility and Department of Defense projects.  Wanting to get closer to my family, I decided to take a position in Des Moines as a Sales Engineer with Johnson Controls, Inc.  I always wanted to further develop my business skills to compliment my technical engineering skills so thought a sale engineering position would be perfect for me.  This opportunity proved to be the best career balance I was looking for.  During that time at Johnson Controls, I also completed my MBA at the University of Iowa via their part-time program which has proven to be beneficial to get me where I am today.  After 5 years with Johnson Controls, I decided to join Mechanical Sales, Inc. as an outside sales engineer selling applied equipment.  My controls and business experience combined with the applied equipment knowledge has helped me become a great asset to consulting engineers, contractors, and owners.

The connections I have made with the Central Iowa engineering community were facilitated by my involvement with the local ASHRAE chapter, which I joined in 2007. During my career I have had the opportunity to serve in several committee positions including Research Promotion, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President, President, History, and now Membership Promotion.  The ASHRAE Iowa Chapter is a very close group of professionals that has done a lot for the local engineering community through the fun networking opportunities we have developed as well as professional development opportunities.  My initial involvement with ASHRAE was pressed by Dan Zaug when I first started at Johnson Controls, Inc.  He explained to me the importance of being involved in the organization as way to meet future customers and colleagues as well as further develop my HVAC expertise.  With that, he recommended that I travel to the Region 6 CRC over the years where we have had a great time representing the chapter and celebrating awards that have come from it.  I have run into numerous members from other chapters on projects where having that relationship prior helped better position ourselves on projects and manage risk for our company.  I highly encourage future members of the Central Iowa Chapter to get involved.  In addition, more seasoned members like myself need to find opportunities to get the younger generation involved with the local chapter like Dan Zaug did for me.  YEA has been a great society driven initiative to help promote participation at a younger age so would recommend that young professionals at least check out a meeting or event.

I am married and have two girls.  In my free time, I enjoy hanging out with friends, working out, watching sports, golfing, biking, and playing with my kids.