executive board of directors

Gary Dunn, P.E. is the President/CEO of Applied Process Cooling Corporation (APCCO).  He is from Stockton CA and he went to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO).  During his 48 years in the industry, he has found that building teams that achieve dreams takes large measures of persistence, trust, talent and transparency, with the willingness to make tough calls during tough times.  In that environment good people can become great, customers can be properly served, and the company can continuously improve.  Gary also enjoys architecture and landscaping design during his free time. 

 Manuel H Ehrlich, BS, MA, Edm works with Responder LLC and has been in the industry for 20 years.  He currently resides in Silver Lake, OH and he attended Drexel University, Temple University, St, Joseph's University, New York University and Columbia University. He has 60+ years in the chemical industry, 5 Years as Presidential appointee to United States Chemical Safety Board, 3 years board member ASTI.  He believes in sharing as much information as possible to make the chemical community and public at large a safer place to live and work in.  He is technically skilled in chemistry, chemical engineering, process safety and safety management, lecturing on normalization of deviance application to the chemical industry and everyday life and solving technically complex problems.  Manuel enjoys photography, jewelry making, cooking, ballroom dancing, and lecturing on learned experiences in his free time.  

 Adam Hill is the President/CEO of Hill Brothers Chemical Company.  He is from San Clemente, CA and he attended the University of California Santa Barbara.  He has been in the industry for 20 years where he has excelled in leadership and speaking.  He believes that our greatest challenges can become our greatest opportunities.  Adam enjoys Ironman triathlons, various musical instruments, and speaking in his free time.  

 Miguel Paniagua is the Sr. Director, Distribution – U.S. and Canada at Driscoll's.  He was born in Guanajuato, Mexico. At the age of six, his family moved to the United States and he was raised in Oxnard, California.  He attended school and spent the summers working on berry farms. At the age of 18, he began working in supply chain, specializing in Distribution. It was then that he gained an appreciation for the value of carefully handling produce, and now has more 19 years of experience in distribution cold chain.  Miguel enjoys traveling and spending time with his family in his free time.   

 Don Tragethon works with Western Precooling.  He is from Richfield, MN.  He has been in the industry for 38 years where he has excelled in refrigeration engineering, system controls engineering, troubleshooting, writing instructions, and One Plan testing/consulting.  Some of his outstanding achievements include becoming an honorary life member of Refrigerating Engineers & Technicians Association, serving as a certification committee chair, education committee chair, board member, National President, Executive Director, CIRO, CRST, and RAI.  Don enjoys continuous learning in his free time.  

 Clyde Trombettas is a Process Safety Specialist at Phillips 66 Rodeo Renewed Energy Complex.  He is also a retired Program Manager from Cal/OSHA Process Safety Management Unit.  He attended Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga.  He has been in the petrochemical industry for 42 years where he chaired Cal/OSHA advisory committees concerning the development and implementation of CCR Title 8 5189.1 Process Safety Management for Refineries, Labor Code § 7872 Refinery Turnaround Inspections and Health & Safety Code § 25536.7 Safety Training for Contract Workers in Refineries. He has developed and implemented best practices and recommendations for the ammonia refrigeration industry.  Through his experience he believes that effective outreach and education, along with a targeted enforcement program, will achieve greater compliance and reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities throughout the workforce community.  Clyde enjoys working with non-profits and contributing to workers’ health and safety, being outdoors, camping, fishing, hiking, visiting wineries, wine tasting and collecting.  

 Marty Wehner is the Division President of Airgas, Inc.  He is from Chicago, IL and attended the University of Notre Dame.  He has his B.S. in Chemical Engineering.  He has been in the industry for 42 years where he has mostly been in industrial ammonia sales, storage and distribution.  In addition to the Airgas industrial ammonia business (Airgas Specialty Products), he was responsible for Airgas Dry Ice, Airgas Nitrous Oxide, Airgas National Carbonation and Red-D-Arc.  Marty enjoys golfing and traveling in his free time.  

 Frank Wewers is owner and president of Fli-tek Consulting, LLC, a company that provides strategic and tactical advice for manufacturing and distribution logistics, component sourcing and consulting in the gas sensing/analyzer industries.  In 1984 he founded Manning Systems, Inc. in Lenexa, Kansas, which was a leading innovator of ammonia sensing equipment for many years, specializing in hazardous environment applications.  He grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and has a BSEE from the University of Kansas, plus an MBA from the University of Missouri/Kansas City.  Frank was an instrument rated pilot with over 5,000 hours flying experience and has a strong interest in environmental and alternate energy issues, plus innovative applications for ammonia. 

  Mr. Timm is a professional engineer, certified safety professional, and licensed machinery safety specialist.  He has over 40 years of experience in industrial refrigeration and industrial gases.  He retired from Praxair Inc. (now Linde), where he spent his last 10 years in the Corporate Process Safety Dept.  Over the years Mr. Timm has been active in codes and standards development, has taught ammonia refrigeration with the staff of the UW-Madison IRC, and has designed refrigeration systems with capacity up to 5,000 refrigeration tons.  He has served on the board of directors at IIAR for six years, has chaired the IIAR Safety Committee, and served on the IIAR Standards Committee.  He is a recipient of the ASHRAE Distinguished Service Award and the 2018 IIAR Award for Presentation Excellence.