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THERMO 8/7/08 4:29 PM Page 123

thermal mechanical profile

of the school districts, which is intended port, which is scheduled to be finished received their 30-year service award.”
to introduce kids to construction in 2010. Rood, whose background is in air con-
stages,” Rood explains. “All the baby ditioning, refrigeration and controls,
boomers are retiring now and it is diffi- A Father-and-Son Team joined Thermal Mechanical in 2002 as a
cult to find new talent, and once we find Richard Rood – who has a refrigeration controls technician after 15 years of
them, it is our goal to nurture them and service background – established working for Hewlett-Packard. “I didn’t
train them with hopes that they will stay Thermal Mechanical in 1969 after his come in as a family member [where my
with the company for a long time.” Naval service. It began as a partnership dad] handed me the business,” he says.
with four others and over time he “I was made to earn the respect and earn
Work for San Jose Airport became the sole owner. Its first projects the position.” Rood became president
Thermal Mechanical is completing a included process piping and air condi- this past March.
project for the San Jose International tioning for the electronics industry. Richard Rood gives his son a lot of
Airport that it expects to complete in Being a family run company has many freedom when it comes to running the
September. It includes $2 million worth advantages, Dave Rood notes. “I think firm. “He has allowed me to bring my
of lighting controls, energy manage- one of the advantages is the support I own experience to the company vs. try-
ment, HVAC and power monitoring at get from [my dad’s] years of experience ing to keep the same hard-fast rules,”
the international airport’s 400,000- and having a very open communication Dave Rood stresses. “He has given me
square-foot North Concourse. channel between the two of us, which is more latitude with employee evalua-
The company is also completing the unusual in any company,” he states. tions and encouraged me to use my own
$155,000 HVAC and controls part of the “The company culture is very close-knit. judgment to influence the morale and
CONRAC parking structure at the air- In fact, we just had three employees who productivity of the company.” x

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