JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Fifty years of service is a career for many people in the HVAC industry, but Jim Webster is just getting started.
S&P USA Ventilation Systems, based in Jacksonville, Florida, recently honored Webster as he marked his 50th year in HVAC’s ventilation sector.
While most people receive a retirement gift and call it a career after 50 years (or less), Webster has no immediate retirement plans, because solving ventilation challenges for customers is his passion. Webster’s design talent and innovation have saved S&P USA customers tens of millions of dollars in capital equipment costs and energy savings over the decades, the company said.
“I wouldn’t have done this for 50 years if I didn’t enjoy coming to work every day,” said Webster, the national commercial accounts manager for S&P.
All 50 years of Webster’s career so far were with S&P USA or the Jacksonville fan manufacturers that were at some point acquired by S&P, which manufactures and distributes air-movement products.
Straight out of high school, Webster joined axial fan manufacturer Stanley Fans as a welder and later advanced to plant manager. Then, Webster worked for Breidert Air Products after Stanley acquired it in 1991, serving as national sales manager, vice president of manufacturing, and director of customer service, among other positions.
Breidert specialized in spun centrifugal upblast and downblast fans, centrifugal inline fans, and other products when S&P USA acquired it in 2004. Webster later became the national sales manager for both S&P USA’s JenCo Food Service division and its commercial products division.
Webster has worked out of the same Jacksonville building for 46 years of his 50-year career.
Webster has also given back to the ventilation business through volunteerism and membership in the Air Movement & Control Association-International (AMCA), a performance-certification group, and the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM), a trade organization.