Anthony Kocurek was a high schooler in need of a summer job when his step-father introduced him to Alan Weitzel, owner of a three-employee testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB) company in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He knew nothing about sheet metal work, or TAB, but he continued to show up in the summers for two years, even after starting college.
“We were on a project and all of a sudden it started making sense,” Kocurek said. “It was a project that needed to be balanced, and it wasn’t going to the store to buy something to make it work. You had to make it right. It was a critical piece of the project and it was fun.”
Today, Kocurek has way more figured out than he did that day on the jobsite in his early 20s. He purchased the company from Weitzel on the last day of 2007, beginning 2008 as the owner of Energy Balance and Integration.
“It was a natural transition, because I started in the field under journeymen. Then, I started as a journeyman taking my own work, and then transitioning from there to a superintendent sort-of position the then taking on the business,” Kocurek said.
Kocurek just kept taking the next steps. He was instrumental in the passing of statewide fire life safety legislation, acted as a trustee for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) Local 49 and served in every leadership position in the New Mexico chapter of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA). Nationwide, the industry has benefitted from his leadership as a trustee and continued fire life safety and indoor air quality advocate for the National Energy Management Institute (NEMI) as well as executive board member and former national president of SMACNA.
In June, he was inducted into the Testing, Adjusting and Balancing Bureau (TABB) Hall of Fame during the International Certification Board (ICB) Conference in Albuquerque. His name is now engraved on a plaque that represents some of the industry’s greatest innovators and icons.
“There are some great people on that plaque, names that are revered in the TAB industry,” he said. “It was pretty touching when I got the call. I had no, no idea.”
Kocurek took the lessons Weitzel bestowed on him more than 40 years ago to heart, and he continues to think of the next steps. Much like Kocurek, Rallin Harris was an engineering student at the University of New Mexico when he became an intern at Energy Balance and Integration. Like Kocurek with Weitzel, Harris quickly found himself under Kocurek’s wing.
Harris simultaneously pursued his engineering degree and his sheet metal apprenticeship while he worked full-time at Energy Balance and Integration, learning as much about the industry as possible.
Kocurek encouraged him to graduate from the apprenticeship program not only as a way to learn all aspects of the trade inside and out, but also to gain the respect of colleagues at work who also had completed the program, Harris said.
“Earn the respect, learn the language,” he said. “It went hand-in-hand, engineering and TAB, from heat transfer to fluid dynamics. It all went together. It went right in mind with my engineering mindset.
Harris said Kocurek’s gift of mentorship extends beyond just him.
“He’s always been a mentor to me, definitely someone I’ve always looked up to,” he said. “Tony’s always been a pioneer for the industry. He’s always looking forward, always trying to advance not only TAB but [the] sheet metal [industry] as a whole.”
And it all started decades ago, when Weitzel gave a high school kid a break and taught him some lessons — integrity, curiosity and credibility are the cornerstones of a successful career. If you tell the truth all the time, when everything is going right or when there is a problem to solve, you maintain the trust between customer and contractor, Kocurek said.
“Alan [Weitzel] was a tremendous man and as honest as the day is long, and whenever we did work, we truthfully reported it,” he added. “With TAB, once you learn it, you’re a valuable person. If you don’t want to live in Albuquerque, you can go anywhere and go to work. I always stress with [my employees] it’s great for our company for you to be educated, but it’s good for you.”
At the induction ceremony during the ICB Conference, Harris was humbled to see others regard Kocurek with the same respect as he does.
“It makes you realize how lucky you are to have such an impactful mentor, not just on me but on the industry as a whole,” he said. “He strives for excellence in everything he does. And he doesn’t do it for the personal accolades. He does it for all of us.”