MACS Board of Directors

Caroline Acebedo

MACS Treasurer

Vice President, Co-Owner, Director of Operations

Marks Air, Inc.

Caroline grew up in this industry (literally—she’s been around this since she was in a playpen). At the beginning of 2000, she started as a full-time member of the Marks Air team, which is an A/C-only service shop that also distributes A/C parts worldwide. Before that, her experience concentrated on customer service and the customer experience. She currently serves on the advisory board for Erwin Technical College and the Diesel Program for Hillsborough Community College. She’s also a 609 proctor and have been serving on the MACS board for five years.

Caroline is a soccer mom of two teenage daughters and she loves exercise, yoga, Star Wars, Beastie Boys, good conversations, the beach, motivating others and learning. She’s also a history nerd and book worm. Pizza, red wine and guacamole are some of her major weaknesses (though not normally all at the same time). Out of all the things Caroline loves, smiling is her favorite.

Jim Atkinson

MACS Secretary

Owner of Car Repair Company in Scottsdale, AZ.

Jim has been in the auto business for 40 years and is the owner of The Car Repair Company, which opened in 1980.  Along with providing excellent service to the public, he’s also been involved with vehicle manufacturers for durability testing, product evaluations and brand management shows. He’s served on the Better Business Bureau board of directors and chairperson for the automotive advisory committee. He’s worked with the local television stations for consumer car care and was the Saturday Morning Car Guy on the NBC Phoenix affiliate.

Jim’s happily married with two boys and three dogs. He loves to drive fast and has graduated from multiple high-performance driving schools. Along with his daily drivers, he has a couple of classic cars (for a total of six—his insurance company loves him!) Besides cars, he and his family also loves to spend time on their boat at the lakes in Arizona.

Andrew R. Fiffick

MACS Chairman

Founder and CEO

Rad Air Complete Car Care & Tire Centers

A life-long “gear-head”, Andrew’s career started at the early age of six, when he fell in love with cars while helping his father work in his garage. His dad was a diesel truck mechanic and taught him to do things right the first time—a lesson he learned well and practices to this day. He attended the Lincoln Technical Institute and Marketing Baldwin Wallace College. He’s now the President & CEO of Rad Air Complete Car Care and Tire Centers as well as Cleveland Hybrid, which has ten service centers in the Cleveland, OH area.

He loves boating, Harley rides with his wife Elissa and enjoying time with their two daughters, son-in-law and three grandchildren. He’s now served on the MACS board for 17 years.

Tim Iezzi

Owner/Technician

Iezzi’s Auto Service

As the 5th generation, Tim comes from a long family history of involvement in the automotive industry. His grandfather Jerry opened Iezzi’s Auto Service in 1960. As of 2011, Tim became the co-owner and the third-generation family owner of his grandfather’s shop. He currently has 17 years of experience specializing in A/C, electrical and drivability repair. He obtained his B.S. in Engineering with Mechanical Concentration cum laude from Elizabethtown College, ASE CMAT, L1, L2, L3. In addition, He’s an instructor for MACS and for the Carquest Technical Institute. This is Tim’s first year being on the MACS board.

Tray Carlisle

President

Carlisle Air & Automotive

At the age of 12, I attended my first MACS convention in 1987. I now bring 32+ years of mobile A/C business experience in service, installation, and parts sales and distribution. My grandfather started our family shop, Carlisle Air & Automotive, in 1955 in San Antonio, TX, where it became a leading automotive A/C specialty company. While growing up in the family business, I’ve done every job available from the time I was a young boy to today—where I currently serve as President. Today, Carlisle Air & Automotive has three service facilities and two warehouse distribution centers servicing south Texas. We’ve been MACS members since 1984. This is my first year serving on the board.

Troy Farr

A/C Product Manager and A/C Catalog Manager

1-800 Radiator & A/C

With over 40 years of experience in the automotive A/C industry. Troy had an early interest in cars, and began his career working a summer job at the A-R-A distributor in SLC, Utah at 13 years of age. Promoted to parts manager in 1983 and began working full time. “Times were a little simpler back then, we had 6 different compressors in stock. Inventory tracking was done on card stocks from hand written shop invoices”. In 1993 Troy was hired by J-mac Radiator to build an A/C parts distributor program, and was soon promoted as general manager. By 2003, business had grown to 13 locations in 8 different states. Keys to success were attributed to development of one of the 1^st interfaced electronic catalogs, and logistics with the “Do It Right The 1^st Time” compressor kits. Current responsibilities include warranty analysis and tracking, working with vendors at the manufacturer level to offer the best quality parts, and maintaining the A/C Catalog. Personal interests include landscaping, golf, and martial arts where a black belt ranking has been achieved in 2 modalities.

Mark Schmitz

Product Development

Global Parts Distributors

After the birth of his first son in 1981, Mark began his career in the automotive industry with a family-owned accessories and A/C installation business—Truck Air Corporation—in Fort Worth, TX. He holds a Masters Degree in Science and Economic Wealth Distribution. After 13 years of experience in the A/C parts business and growing his family (now six children), he accepted a position with Global Parts Distributors (GPD) in Macon, GA. Twenty-six years later, he’s proud to say he’s been a part of GDP’s growth and has now been on the MACS board for 11 years.

Steve Sunday

MACS Vice Chairman

Vice President

Sunair Products

Steve began his career in the mobile A/C industry back in 1984, when Sunair originated. He graduated from Texas Tech University and feels blessed to have worked with people from all backgrounds in the industry. Even though it looks a little different today, the mobile A/C industry is still a place where someone can have a lifetime of success. His wonderful wife Agnes and son Christopher keep him busy and entertained.

Ryan A. Baker

Division Service Manager

Environmental Products

graduated from Minnesota State University in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing, management and finance.  After college, he moved to Missouri to partner with a childhood friend to open bicycle retail stores in Jefferson City and Columbia, MO. Wanting to be closer to family, he and his family moved to southern Minnesota in 1994 where he began work at Eagle Engineering, a small HVAC systems manufacturer in Welcome, MN. Leaving Eagle Engineering, he accepted a position as division service manager of environmental products at Vermeer in Pella, Iowa in 1997.

Wishing to return to the off-road HVAC industry, he accepted a position as an OEM account manager with Red Dot Corporation in 1998. After working for 22 years at Red Dot both in the OEM sector and lastly as the director of aftermarket sales, Ryan resigned from Red Dot and is currently the VP of sales for Sanz Clima/Kenway Engineering.  I have been a MACS member since 2004, conducting numerous MACS training and EPA section 609 training classes throughout the years.

My hobbies are spending time with family, tending our rural property in southern Minnesota, running, martial arts and study of military history and leadership. I am a three-term board of education member of the local school district, a church elder and also a past member of the Commercial Vehicle Research Council, an HDMA-affiliated group.  I would welcome the opportunity to serve on the MACS board.”

Alan Leupold

Technical Consultant

Bergstrom Climate Controls Systems in Rockford, Ill.

Alan graduated from Valparaiso University in 1971 with a BSME. Two years later, his engineering career began with IH in the test lab. In 2012, he “retired” from CNH as the HVAC Systems Design Global Manager. That same year, he also became the Director of Test and Development at Bergstrom. He’s a past chairman of both an ASABE and SAE Committee. He holds 14 patents for Off Road HVAC systems and was proud to receive the MACS Pioneer award in 2009. He’s now been on the MACS board for six years.

He enjoys being actively involved in community service, where he’s the Junior Achievement advisor, Plainfield Jaycees President, youth soccer and girls softball coach and trustee for Plainfield Foundation of Excellence for Schools as well as being the township trustee for eight years.  He and his wife Penny have enjoyed 48 years of marriage. They’re the proud parents of Emily and Kimberly and love spending time with their three grandchildren. They also love to go boating and enjoy warm, oceanic vacations. Alan’s personal hobbies include a growing farm toy collection.

Charlie Roberts

Director of Sales

T/CCI Manufacturing LLC

With 28 years in the industry behind him, Charlie brings almost three decades of knowledge and experience specifically from the A/C compressor business. He obtained his BBA in Business from Stephen F. Austin State University and he’s now been on the MACS board for six years.

Tim Wagaman

Senior Product Manager

Bosch Automotive Service Solutions

Tim has been a part of Bosch since 2006, beginning his career in the product management field managing the design and marketing of leak detection, diagnostic, and portable recovery products. In 2009 he was promoted to Senior Product Manager responsible for the complete line of Robinair A/C service products sold for both the automotive and HVAC service industries. In his position today, he is responsible for product planning and execution throughout the product lifecycle, including: gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision and working closely with engineering, sales, marketing and support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. He provides industry education routinely in North America, as well as internationally for A/C service products. Tim also holds a BA in Automotive Engineering from Minnesota State University and an MBA in Marketing from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Tim maintains and continually seeks new relationships with government and industry regulatory agencies, OEM’s providing expertise on refrigerant recovery products and technology and a variety of distribution partners and resellers. Today, he’s continually looking for new ways to help make service technicians more effective in accurately diagnosing and servicing both mobile and stationary air conditioning systems. Tim has served on the MACS board for two years.