The AABC Board of Directors has decided that it is time to formally recognize those who have given the most to the association and to the testing and balancing industry by creating the AABC Hall of Fame.
Intended as the highest honor that the association can bestow, the Hall of Fame is reserved for AABC members, past or present, who over the course of their careers have provided extraordinary service and contributions to the association, or more generally to the field of testing and balancing, and who fully embody AABC’s founding principles of quality, integrity, and independence.
After several discussions, the Board determined that the most fitting initial inductees to the Hall of Fame would be three of the principal founders of AABC: Arnold Pearl, AABC’s first President as well as its National Chairman, Walt Lipski Founder and First President of Engineered Air Balance Co., Inc., and Taylor Kahoe, founder of Kahoe Air Balance Company and past President of AABC.
Thank you AABC for this honor!
Around 1961, Walter Lipski along with the other AABC founders, began brainstorming how to market independent testing and balancing. Their hard work culminated in the first meeting of the Associated Air Balance Council in 1965. Engineered Air Balance Co., Inc. became a charter member.
Walter Lipski had already been in the industry for years following service as a Navy pilot when in 1955 he moved to Dallas, Texas and saw a major opportunity to start a company that would test and balance heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems. He founded Engineered Air Balance Co., Inc. in 1956, the same year he established his vision:
“Engineered Air Balance was established to fill a major need of architects, consulting engineers, building owners and contractors – the need for a qualified organization to be responsible for the fulfillment of specified design and obtaining optimum performance and economical operation from the air conditioning equipment installed in commercial, institutional and industrial installations.” – Walt Lipski
Working closely with the other founders, Walt served as an AABC Director, and assisted in writing the first three editions of the AABC Standards. In 1971 he started a Task Group to cover Testing and Balancing in ASHRAE, evolving in 1973 into Technical Committee 9.7, which Walt chaired for eight years.
Want to learn more about our history? Take a look at our company timeline!