For the past couple years, Empowering Pumps has been inviting people to Nominate an Industry Professional, and today’s Person of the Week is Madi Mitchell, who we had the great pleasure of meeting at the recent AHR Expo in Atlanta! Here is what she had to share!

Q. How did you get started working in the Industry?

Madi: I started working with Johnson Controls directly out of college. They offered an engineering rotational / training program for new graduates, which was a perfect position for me since I wasn’t quite sure where I fit in the industry. I enjoyed all of my rotations, but I ended up finding my niche in the company with the Product Management team.

Q. What is your favorite part of your job? What are you most proud of?

Madi: My favorite part of my job is that as a member of the Product Management team, people come to me with questions. Even when I don’t know the answers and have to defer to one of my co-workers with more experience, every question offers a chance for me to learn and hopefully teach others better in the future. My proudest moments are when I can cohesively break down a complicated concept based on the knowledge that I have gained in the last year and a half of employment and explain it to someone with less exposure to the topic. I believe that an important part of growing as a company is sharing knowledge, and I love having a hand in that.

Q. What advice would you give to someone new to the industry?

Madi: Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty and ask as many questions as you can. In my experience, I learned the most when I was able to stand next to the equipment and ask every question that came to mind. Even though at first I worried that people would think that I didn’t know anything, I soon learned that I wasn’t expected to know much when I first started. I was surrounded by other engineers who were compassionate and willing to teach me everything that I needed to know. Truthfully, it is far better to know that you know nothing than to think that you know everything.

Q. Can you tell us about a cool project you worked on?

Madi: One of my favorite projects that I’ve been part of with Johnson Controls has been the development and launch of the YORK^® YZ chiller. When I joined the company in July 2017, my first rotation was working with the team of engineers who were testing YZ prototypes. Those hands-on experiences provided an incredible base for my knowledge of chillers. Later on, I joined the Large Tonnage Centrifugal Product Management team, which gave me another opportunity to work with the YZ chiller. It has been a unique experience and a joy for me to get to work with such an impressive product. Especially from a Product Management perspective, it’s been really neat to see what all goes into launching a global product.

Thanks for being our Industry Person of the Week and a great role model for Empowering Women in Industry! The #PumpTalk Community looks forward to keeping up with you!

Know an Amazing Person who is making valuable contributions within Industry? Nominate them to be a “Person of the Week”!