Women in HVACR

What Women in HVACR does

Women in HVACR (WHVACR), founded in 2002 and headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to advancing women in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration trades. The organization serves approximately 1,200 members — women currently working in or pursuing careers in HVACR trades — alongside an adjacent stakeholder base of HVACR employers, manufacturers, distributors, and technical schools. Its mission addresses the fact that women represent only about 3% of HVAC technicians and installers nationally, positioning WHVACR as the only organization focused exclusively on this workforce gap.

The product portfolio centers on the Navigator Mentor Training Program — the industry's first structured mentorship training initiative for women in HVACR, delivered through MentorCity's cloud-based mentoring platform — supported by an annual membership ($75/year), a national conference ("Built for Speed," Indianapolis, September 2026), regional "Step Into Your Power" events, the Ambassador Program for school outreach, and the Empowered Magazine (launched October 2025). Additional services include scholarships (e.g., $55,000 disbursed to 11 recipients in 2025 via Carrier Global Corporation), an Endowment Fund with a $1 million target, weekly Zoom membership calls, and discounted online courses via ed2go. Technology infrastructure is lightweight: the MentorCity SaaS platform for mentorship matching and outcomes tracking, the memberclicks.net membership portal, and HVAC-Talk discussion forums.

WHVACR's revenue model is a mix of individual membership dues ($75/year), conference and event registration fees ($499–$599), and a six-tier corporate sponsorship program ranging from $3,500 (Inspiration) to $20,000 (Guardian), with 60+ corporate partners including Synchrony, Carrier Enterprise, ProIAQ (the first Guardian-level sponsor), Trane, Rheem, Daikin, Carrier, and Bosch. Distribution is community-led and event-driven — word-of-mouth referrals, annual/regional events, and strategic co-marketing with industry bodies (ASHRAE, HARDI, HRAI, INWIC) drive member acquisition, while corporate sponsorships provide the bulk of operating support. Governance is via an elected board and a newly appointed Executive Director (Meghan Millard, 2026), with Jane Sidebottom as President.

Name

Women in HVACR

Legal name

Women in HVACR, Inc.

Website

https://womeninhvacr.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Women in HVACR is a 2002-founded nonprofit membership organization serving 1,200+ women in the HVACR trades through structured mentorship (Navigator program on MentorCity), an annual conference, regional events, scholarships, and a tiered corporate sponsorship program with 60+ industry partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Trade Association Services

NAICS

Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors (23822), Automatic Environmental Control Manufacturing for Residential, Commercial, and Appliance Use (334512)

SIC

Air-Cond & Warm Air Heatg Equip & Comm & Indl Refrig Equip (3585)

akta.pro primary industry

HVAC Installation & Service (Residential & Commercial) (EDAOACAC)

Keywords

• HVACR trade association
• Women in trades
• Professional mentorship programs
• Industry networking events
• Trade scholarships

Headquarters

HQ city

Phoenix

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees provide access to networking, mentorship, member-only discussion forums, discounted educational opportunities, and membership directory. Membership runs yearly from October 1 through September 30.
2. Conference and Event Registration: Annual conference registration ($499 members, $599 non-members) and regional meeting attendance fees. Events include educational sessions, networking, and leadership development programming.
3. Corporate Sponsorships: Tiered sponsorship program with Guardian ($20,000), Luminary ($15,000), Visionary ($10,000), Empowerment ($7,500), Champion ($5,000), and Inspiration ($3,500) levels. Current sponsors include Synchrony, Carrier Enterprise, ProIAQ, Trane, Rheem, Daikin, Carrier, Bosch, and 50+ other companies.
4. Partnership Scholarships: Partnership with Carrier Global Corporation to award scholarships ($55,000 in 2025 to 11 recipients) for women pursuing HVACR careers. This is a pass-through program funded by corporate partners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Women in HVACR (WHVACR) is a nonprofit trade association founded in 2002 that delivers a unified professional development platform for women in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration trades. Its core offering is annual membership ($75/year) bundled with the Navigator Mentor Training Program, member-only discussion forums, discounted education, networking access, and scholarship opportunities, supported by an annual national conference and regional events.

Product overview

Women in HVACR operates as a membership-based nonprofit organization offering a unified platform of professional development services for women in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration trades. The core offering centers on the Navigator Mentor Training Program (the industry's first structured mentorship training initiative) combined with annual membership providing access to mentorship programs, networking opportunities, educational discounts through ed2go, and member-only discussion forums via HVAC-Talk. The portfolio also includes scholarships (both direct and through the Carrier partnership), an Ambassador Program for school outreach, regional events and summits, an annual national conference, the Empowered Magazine publication, and a multi-tiered sponsorship program. The organization was founded in 2002 and serves 1,200+ members with 18 industry partners and 60+ sponsors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Navigator Mentor Program: Structured mentorship initiative designed specifically for women in the HVACR trades, featuring over 400 mentorship meetings and the industry's first mentor training program.
• Empowered Magazine
• Ambassador Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 400+ mentorship meetings facilitated through Navigator program
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• ASHRAEcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 15 June 2026Women in HVACR board member Lisa Knapp presenting at ASHRAE Annual Conference in Austin, Texas (June 27-July 1, 2026) as part of workforce development workshop, promoting the organization's mission to industry professionals.
• MentorCitycoreTechnology or Integration · 11 May 2026MentorCity provides the cloud-based mentoring platform powering the Navigator Mentor Training Program, the industry's first structured mentorship training initiative for women in HVACR. Platform enables mentorship matching, tracking, and measurable outcomes.
• ProIAQflagshipGTM or Marketing Partner · 13 April 2026Indoor air quality solutions provider ProIAQ stepped into the role of the organization's first-ever Guardian Sponsor, representing expanded commitment to the nonprofit's professional development, networking opportunities, and educational programming initiatives.
• Carrier Global CorporationflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Carrier Global Corporation partnered with Women in HVACR to award $55,000 in scholarships to 11 women pursuing HVACR careers at the 2025 conference. Represents ongoing commitment to diversity and workforce development in the trades.
• INWIC (International Network of Women in Cooling)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Women in HVACR partnered with INWIC in 2022 to form the International Network of Women in Cooling, a collaborative initiative to support women in the cooling sector of the HVACR industry. Lisa Knapp will co-present with INWIC at ASHRAE Annual Conference 2026.
• HRAI (Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012Longstanding partnership with HRAI to grow the Canadian region of Women in HVACR. HRAI supported the first international event at CMX/CIPHEX 2012 in Toronto, which increased Canadian membership by 50% during the show.
• HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWHVACR has been part of HARDI National Conference since 2015. Hosts meeting and networking events in conjunction with HARDI annual conferences, with educational outreach and partnership for member recruitment.
• ed2gominorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorProvides discounts on online courses to WHVACR members through ed2go's network of 1,500+ colleges and universities across the US, Canada, and Australia.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC): NAWIC is a 70+ year-old nonprofit trade association empowering women in construction, the closest direct peer to Women in HVACR by mission (women in a skilled trade), membership model, scholarship programs, and chapter-based community structure. Both organizations address underrepresentation of women in male-dominated building trades.
• Women in Manufacturing: Women in Manufacturing is a nonprofit professional association focused on supporting and advancing women in the manufacturing sector. Like Women in HVACR, it operates through membership dues, conferences, networking events, and educational programming to address a similarly low female representation rate in its industry.
• INWIC (International Network of Women in Cooling): INWIC is a UNEP-affiliated international network supporting women in the cooling sector. As WHVACR's formal partner since 2022, INWIC operates a similar mission with global reach and represents the closest international peer in the women-in-cooling space.
• Society of Women Engineers (SWE): SWE is a 70+ year nonprofit empowering women in engineering, with comparable membership/scholarship/conference programming. While focused on engineering rather than HVACR trades, SWE's scale, scholarship fund structure, and corporate sponsorship model are highly analogous to WHVACR's operating approach.
• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE): NSBE is one of the largest student-governed STEM diversity organizations in the US, with comparable membership, scholarship, conference, and corporate sponsorship programming. While its mission targets a different demographic, the operational model (membership fees, corporate sponsors, annual conference, scholarships) closely mirrors WHVACR.

Regional players

• Women in HVACR Canada (via HRAI partnership): HRAI (Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada) supports the Canadian chapter of Women in HVACR. This regional peer demonstrates geographic expansion mechanics and addresses the same HVACR workforce challenges in Canada.

Broad incumbents

• Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA): ACCA is the leading national trade association for HVACR contractors and a core industry partner. As a broad incumbent serving the entire HVACR contractor industry, ACCA is comparable in events/sponsorship/partnership structure but does not specialize in workforce diversity.
• ASHRAE: ASHRAE is the global professional society for HVACR building systems, with a partnership relationship to WHVACR for joint programming. As a broad incumbent serving all HVACR professionals, ASHRAE offers comparable conference, education, and publishing assets but operates at vastly larger scale.
• HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International): HARDI is the leading trade association for HVACR distributors and a core WHVACR industry partner since 2015. While broader in scope (serving distributor companies rather than women specifically), HARDI's conference and networking model is structurally similar.

Emerging players

• Women Who Build: Women Who Build is an emerging community organization supporting women across the broader construction and building trades. As a newer entrant, it represents an emerging player with partial overlap to WHVACR's mission and a potential competitive or collaborative force in the women-in-trades space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/WHVACR
• Instagraminstagram.com/womeninhvacr/?hl=en
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/women-in-hvacr

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Women in HVACR