Source Refrigeration & HVAC announced that Bruce Buchholz has been named as president/chief executive officer. Buchholz replaces Lauren Abrams, who resigned as CEO of Source last month, for medical reasons. Abrams joined Source in 2009 as chief operating officer and was named CEO in April 2011. See this story.
"Lauren brought high energy, and a level of commitment that have been evident to all of those who had the privilege of working with her. Her relentless dedication to customer service excellence and business process improvements has made Source a better company for our customers and employees," says Source Chairman, Brad Howard. "We thank Lauren for her leadership, and wish her well in her recovery."
Buchholz has been a senior executive in the HVAC industry for more than 25 years. Most recently, he led two companies focused on environmentally "green" solutions in the HVAC and clean technologies markets. He was the chief operating officer for Clean Energy Developments (CED), Toronto, Ontario, suppliers of custom integrated HVAC solutions across Canada.
Prior to his work at CED, Buchholz was president/CEO for Green Comfort Systems, Inc., an international energy conservation company specializing in novel dehumidification systems. He also served as president of Alltrista Thermoformed Products, the largest industrial thermoforming company in North America.
Bruce served more than 15 years with Carrier Corporation in various executive leadership roles including, regional vice president - North American Operations.
With Carrier, Buchholz assumed responsibility for global management of Carrier's research and development and advanced manufacturing practices, and led the successful growth of several distribution and service businesses in the commercial and residential markets.
"We're excited about Bruce leading the Source team," says Sal Gagliardo, an operating partner at Arsenal Capital Partners. "His deep experience in the energy solutions and HVACR industries, his proven history in successful business growth through process improvement and increased customer satisfaction, and his multi-site operations experience make him a great fit for the Source business model."
Gagliardo added that, "We expect to accelerate Source's growth in the mission-critical refrigeration and HVAC industry, and believe Bruce is the leader to help us achieve our goal."
Source Refrigeration & HVAC provides commercial refrigeration and HVAC services in North America, serving the nation's top supermarket chains, many of the largest convenience store chains and leading telecom companies. With over 1000 employees and service locations nationally, Source designs, installs, manages, maintains and optimizes mission-critical refrigeration & HVAC systems.
Arsenal Capital Partners is a leading New York-based private equity firm that invests in middle-market specialty industrial, healthcare and financial services companies.