Spirit of Excellence Award

Jim Bergmann of measureQuick®, Mogadore, OH received NCI’s 2025 Spirit of Excellence Award from Dominick Guarino.

Dominick explains that this award was created to recognize very special individuals who have dedicated a great part of their careers to raising the bar in the HVAC industry.

Jim Bergmann of measureQuick won NCI’s second annual Spirit of Excellence Award. Jim was unable to attend, so accepting the award on his behalf was Valerie Buckles, VP of operations (center right). The award was presented by Tom Turner of Austin Energy (far right), who won the first Spirit of Excellence Award.

The criteria for this award include industry professionals who:

  • Serve to help raise the bar for the industry and its customers 
  • Aspire for Excellence in the products or services he or she brings to the industry 
  • Share his or her knowledge willingly and generously 
  • Mentor others to achieve Excellence and high-performance.

The first winner of this Award was Tom Turner of Austin Energy. Though he has retired, Tom joined Dominick on stage to present Jim Bergmann with this award. He said, “It’s my honor and privilege to present the second Spirit of Excellence Award to Jim Bergmann, an individual who has spent his life serving others and pursuing excellence. 

“Jim has has taken HVAC diagnostic software to a whole new level, integrating his application with many digital diagnostic tools. By seamlessly integrating instruments and software for fast and accurate diagnostics, high quality commissioning, Jim is helping HVAC contractors spread excellence to their customers while promoting the ideals of testing versus guessing.

Jim was unable to to be at Summit this year, but he did accept the award via video.

High Performance Sales Excellence

Darren McDonald of Progressive Heating and Air Conditioning, Newnan, GA is the 2025 recipient of NCI’s High-Performance Sales Excellence Award. This award was created to honor a truly exceptional individual that has integrated testing in his or her sales approach. 

Progressive Heating’s Darren McDonald received the 2025 High-Performance Sales Excellence Award from NCI’s Dominick Guarino (left) and David Richardson (right).

The criteria for this award is as follows:

  • Individual has Strong Technical  Sales Skills
  • Performs Diagnostic Testing on Sales Calls and sells high percentage of Air Upgrades and Renovations 
  • Teaches others in his company to Test and Measure Performance 
  • Constant Learner – always seeks to improve knowledge.

Presenter David Richardson says McDonald “uses a sales process more like a medical professional would. He gathers necessary information and then asks permission to test the equipment and duct system. He enjoys talking about the benefits of properly sized equipment paired with the right duct system and shows customers before and after photos to show what the customer actually receives.”

David adds that Darren McDonald is known for using simple comparisons to help clients understand their system. He’ll often compare duct system tuning to guitar tuning.Furthermore, Richardson says McDonald usually can be seen carrying a TruFlow Grid and capture hood to help engage his clients.

“He loves to provide life-changing benefits to families and build lifelong relationships. Those are just a few of the reasons Darren McDonald is this years winner,” David concludes.

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