James E. Hall, PE, is President and Owner of Systems Management & Balancing, Inc, an independent HVAC test and balance and commissioning agency.  He is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.  Prior to Systems Management & Balancing, Inc., he worked for a mechanical contracting company in Houston, TX and Denver, CO, a manufacturing company in Denver, CO and an HVAC equipment manufacturer’s representative company (Data Power Technology, Inc.) in Des Moines, IA.  Mr. Hall is a registered professional engineer in the state of Iowa and holds certifications for testing and balancing and commissioning with the Associated Air Balance Council (AABC), AABC Commissioning Group (ACG) and the Testing Adjusting Balancing Bureau (TABB).

Jim has been an active member with the Central Iowa Chapter of ASHRAE since 1988.  He has served on various committees and chair positions including Programs, Student Activities, Golf, and Historian.  In 2007 Mr. Hall was afforded the opportunity to work on ASHRAE SP-200; Indoor Air Quality Guide.  This “short” 20 month project helped produce the current Indoor Air Quality Guide.

Following are some of Jim’s memories of his time in ASHRAE:

“In my early days, when we met at the Urbandale Golf & Country Club, most board meetings were filled with concerns of how the Chapter was going to afford paying for the next meeting.  Jeff Hammer, who was the treasurer at the time, was always joking that we would have to shut down the Chapter, but thanks to Jeff’s watchful eye and keen strategy of the current Board, it was found that Christopher’s would help in meal charges and save the Chapter money and soon the Chapter was off and running with money in the bank.

“One of the biggest challenges of the Iowa Chapter back in the day was the meal head count (this created a lot of our financial burden as our head count seemed to always be wrong).  I know it is hard to believe but each Board member (and some additional “volunteers”) were assigned a calling list of approximately 10 Chapter members each.  Phone calls were made to each Chapter member the week of the meeting to verify meeting attendance.  Final counts were then called to the Program Chair who then made arrangements with the restaurant.  The electronic age has surely improved this process.

“One thing has always stood true with the Iowa Chapter; the more you got involved the more you received.  There are many friendships and business relationships that I have been able to develop thanks to the ASHRAE Iowa Chapter.  This includes relationships on the local level as well as the national level.”