“Everything I have worked for over the past 50 years with EAB has been to improve the industry of Testing and Balancing and Building Commissioning.”
– Gaylon Richardson, TBE, CxA
Gaylon’s Time at EAB
With over 50 years of experience, Gaylon has spent his career working to better improve the industry of Testing and Balancing and Building Commissioning.
Gaylon started his career at EAB as a Technician in 1971, after graduating from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Management degree.
In 1982, Gaylon became Vice President and impressively served EAB in this role for 28 years. Gaylon was promoted to President in 2010 and was an instrumental leader for 10 years. In 2020, Gaylon transitioned into one of EAB’s Vice President positions with the plans to be an advisor on the Board of Directors.
“Over the years, Gaylon has provided the leadership and determination necessary to not only build EAB into the industry leader we are today, but to further improve the TAB and building commissioning industry as a whole”.
– Becky Taylor, EAB Houston Office Manager/HR Coordinator
Milestone projects
Name any EAB historical moment or legacy project, and there is a good chance Gaylon was involved, if not a leader in the project.
Gaylon opened two of the three EAB locations: the Houston branch in 1977, and the San Antonio branch in 1991. Gaylon led the USAA Corporate Office Expansion project. EAB’s involvement in this project was one of the reasons for the opening of EAB’s San Antonio branch.
In 1988, Gaylon led the Bexar County Jail project. Findings from this project were used to develop ASHRAE’s guideline for commissioning smoke management systems approved in 1994.
Gaylon oversaw the smoke control system test at the Alamodome. The purpose of this test was to demonstrate to the fire marshal that in the event of a fire the occupants had sufficient time to exit before the smoke plume fell from the 170-foot-high ceiling to the seating area. EAB built a controlled 10-megawatt fire with an equal amount of smoke and led a project team to collect and analyze the data. The valuable findings were used by NFPA and the ASHRAE technical committee for smoke control system design to revise the mathematical models for all large-volume public assembly spaces, impacting the design of large smoke control systems. Read more about this legacy project on our company history page.
Gaylon also managed the M.D. Anderson George and Cynthia Mitchell Basic Science Research Building. Under his leadership, the EAB team performed integrated system testing in building commissioning, which launched EAB into the Building Commissioning industry. Read more about this legacy project on our company history page.
If you know Gaylon, he would be the first to tell you that EAB could not have accomplished any of these milestones without our team’s dedication to delivering optimum operating facilities. Gaylon commented,
“I can truthfully say everyone at EAB makes this company outstanding to work for because of our dedication, teamwork, and how we uphold our vision.”
Industry Accolades
In 1983, Gaylon became a member of ASHRAE, and has served heavily since then. Gaylon received ASHRAE’s Distinguished Service Award.
In 1996, Gaylon became President of the Houston ASHRAE Chapter. In 2002, Gaylon received the honor of becoming a fellow of ASHRAE by making substantial contributions to the arts and sciences of heating, refrigeration, and air conditioning.
In 2014, Gaylon joined the AABC Board of Directors and is the Executive Vice President.