Lane Jackins

Let's start things off by talking about your background, including where you were born, where you attended school, and where you worked early in your career.
I was born in Baltimore, Maryland and when I was about eleven years old, we moved to the Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia area where I graduated from high school. I started at Georgia Tech in the spring of 1959. I had taken some preparatory courses and had worked prior to starting at Georgia Tech. I worked my way through Georgia Tech and it took eight years for me to graduate. I did drop out of school quite a bit in order to work, once for a full year.
I can relate to that. I did too.
I worked for consulting engineers as well as for contractors. Most of the time I worked for consulting engineers or architects as a draftsman. Some of the firms that I worked for were Newcombe and Boyd in Atlanta and Silver and Associates in Norfolk. I graduated from Georgia Tech in 1966. Prior to that, I had worked part time for York Corporation for about four or five months. After graduation, I moved to York, Pennsylvania and completed their training program. It was a six month program at that time. I then worked in York's factory under various capacities as field sales co-ordinator and anything that involved contact between the factory and the field such as expediting equipment delivery, resolving technical problems (although they had a separate applications group) or whatever. I began my career in equipment sales for York in Atlanta, Georgia in 1967. Shortly after that, I was transferred to Charlotte, North Carolina where my career in sales started in earnest. In 1971, I moved to Jacksonville, Florida as a sales engineer. I was a one man office for two years. I then resigned from York and began work for A. L. Hospers and Associates. I've heard of them from other history interviews, but didn't have much of a background.
Al Hospers was the founder of that company. Al was very active in ASHRAE, in fact, I can probably attribute my involvement in ASHRAE to Al. I went to work for Al in 1973. In 1978, I bought his company. I continued to operate the firm as A. L. Hospers until November, 1987 when Bob Baker, who owned Jacobs, Baker and Associates, and I formed a partnership which became Applied Mechanical Equipment one year later. (Ed. Note: Applied Mechanical Equipment represents a wide variety of equipment including York, Acme Fans and Reliance Drives) As far as my involvement in ASHRAE is concerned, I joined in Charlotte, North Carolina, while working for York. I believe that it was in 1968. I was very active in that chapter. It was a very good chapter. I don't believe that I served on any committees there, since I was only there for a short time. As soon as I moved to Jacksonville, I became very active. One of the fellows, Bill Wells, who has been very active in the chapter and society, told me that Jacksonville had a very strong and active chapter, although it tended to be a highly social organization. I served as Educational Activities and Research Promotion Chairs. Research Promotion was the last committee at that time, prior to starting as a governor or officer. After moving through the offices, I finally became Chapter President in 1982/1983.
That sounds about right from my review of the archives, although I don't have them with me right now. (Ed. Note: Our archives show Lane as Treasurer in 1980/1981, Secretary in 1981/1982, Vice President in 1982/1983, and President in 1983/1984.)
After my presidency, I left the board, but continued to be active in both the chapter meetings and social functions. Among the social functions that I helped organize were golf outings and spring outing. I was the CRC Chair when the Jacksonville Chapter hosted the September, 1986 CRC at Amelia Island. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it. I have always enjoyed ASHRAE. It has meant a lot to me. It has meant a lot to me as a person, in helping me to grow. It obviously has meant a lot to me in terms of the industry, and getting to work with a lot of people in the industry, competitors as well as clients. It has been a great organization in that respect. Now that I have become involved on a society basis, it is a lot of work, but I'm having fun now.
I think that you've been having fun for a long time and I honestly have too. (Both laughing.) There is no better way in this industry to make contacts.
The contacts just sort of happen. We really don't look for them except perhaps on a chapter basis. You really don't look for contacts at a society level, because you're just out there doing a job and things just fall into place. At workshops, I have emphasized the fact that ASHRAE has helped me to grow as a person. An example I use is that twenty years ago, I wouldn't have been able to conduct a seminar or workshop in front of twenty or twenty-five people. Although I'm not a great public speaker, I still get nervous, ASHRAE has really helped me to grow in that respect and improve my communicative skills. The more you use those skills, the better you will get. That's right. Practice makes perfect. I don't know of anything else that I can add about what ASHRAE has meant to me. It is a great organization and I recommend it to everyone. I preach ASHRAE to anyone that I can and try to get them involved. I am always talking to my associates in other sales offices with York and others, trying to get them involved and trying to impress the importance of being involved in ASHRAE upon them.

As far as regional offices are concerned, what offices have you held?
I was Regional Vice Chair for Research Promotion for four years, although the normal term is only three years. Our region was out of sync at that time and decided to extend my term and shorten another term in order to avoid a large number of replacements during one year. I then served this past year as Regional Vice-Chair for Refrigeration. As you know, since you are taking my place for the next two years, I was asked to become Executive Vice-Chair for Research Promotion at the Society level and will begin that role next week. Each Executive Grass Roots Committee is comprised of one Chair and two Vice-Chairs, although Research Promotion has three Vice-Chairs. Each year, these positions are rotated such that over a four year period, I should serve as Chair of that committee.

Is there any advice that you would give to an elementary, junior-high or high school student about a possible career in our industry?
The industry is interesting. It has changed a lot. A lot of things have evolved. The older that I get, the harder it is to accept those changes. It is a fun industry, at any level, whether it be as a consulting engineer, contractor, or a manufacturers representative. If they are technically inclined, I would encourage them. It is not an industry to shy away from. It is fun and it is interesting. It just depends on what your inclinations are. I would encourage college students to become student members and participate in their student chapters, if they have the interest. Only they can decide what their interests are. It can be a fun career.

Do you see any problems in the industry today that bother you?
Things have gotten too competitive. Profit margins are lower. Things are moving much faster. Cellular phones, facsimile machines and computer communications are partially responsible for these changes. People's expectations are much higher because of the new communications advances. Due to the speed that is anticipated, people are prone to make more mistakes. I agree with you.

Are there any other general comments that you would like to make? Is there anything that you would like to see improved in either our chanter or our region?
I would like to see more people involved in ASHRAE- . I think that we have a very strong chapter. The people that are involved are very supportive. We need more participation at chapter meetings and on the committees. This participation needs to be on not just a technical basis, but also socially. It makes our industry work much smoother on a day to day basis. I am pleased with the response to our last two president's balls, which have been very successful. I believe that our change to the luncheon format has improved attendance, although I am a proponent of the dinner meetings. I have to be in favor of anything that increases participation. I agree. By the way, I enjoyed the June. 1996 President's Ball very much and was disappointed that I could not attend this year. I appreciate the time that you have taken for the interview. I'll let you get back to Marge now. Thank you.

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