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    1. Commercial HVAC

    IEI Advisors Welcomes Bob Wilken

    Dec. 15, 2023
    Longtime TDIndustries executive retires and moves into a commercial HVAC consulting role.
     

    IEI Advisors, a leading mergers and acquisitions firm based in Richmond, VA, recently announced it had added retired TDIndustries executive Bob Wilken as a consulting partner.

    "For most owners, selling a business is a once in a lifetime opportunity which means a potential business sale can be years or even decades away," said Peter Flippen, managing partner at IEI Advisors. "We are often in touch with these owners about selling their company only to say, 'okay, we’ll follow-up with you in X number of years or decades.' While we are certainly happy to do that, we’ve often wondered if there was another way we could be of service to these owners in the meantime," Flippen explained. 

    IEI Advisors
    Bob Wilken
    Bob Wilken

    "Then we had an “Aha!” moment when reconnecting with Bob Wilken, who had recently retired from TDIndustries in Dallas. After discussing Bob’s interest in sharing his knowledge through advisory and board relationships, we knew that a semi-retired Bob could make a fantastic consultant. It helped that Bob had served on the board of TDIndustries, was currently on the board of two HVAC companies, and had experience in an HVAC consulting role," Flippen said.

    Flippen said after partnering with Wilken at IEI, they immediately started introducing him to business owners, with good results. 

    IEI
    Peter Flippen: 'Our hope is that Bob Wilken can support owners in achieving their goals and ultimately help them grow the value of their business.'
    Peter Flippen: 'Our hope is that Bob Wilken can support owners in achieving their goals and ultimately help them grow the value of their business.'

    "We’ve brought Bob on as an IEI Advisors consulting partner to help him get connected to the right owners. Our hope is that Bob can support owners in achieving their goals and ultimately help them grow the value of their business. 

    During his 27-year career at TDIndustries, Wilken helped grow its service business from $20 million to $170 million, rose to become president of TDI's mechanical service group, and trained and developed leaders for multiple business units.

    Wilkens entire commercial HVAC career covers 46 years, including time with Honeywell. He served in leadership roles for many businesses, including service, energy solutions, building controls, multifamily construction, facilities management services, high purity piping, the TDI Arizona office start-up, and the Service Leadership Forum. He also led, grew, and transitioned several business units to new leadership. 

    TDIndustries is a $700M per year revenue contractor operating in Texas, Arizona, and Colorado.  

    Wilken served as a leader and mentor during his time with TDI, and was influential in the selection, growth, and development of many future leaders at TDIndustries. "He served on the Servant Leadership Council, the Executive Leadership Team, and a term on the company’s Board of Directors. Additionally, Bob represented the company in several peer groups and both non-profit and industry association boards," Flippen said.

    Bob earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from St. Ambrose College, is a Certified Energy Manger and at one time held an electrician's license. He also attended Stanford University’s Executive Education Program.