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Andy Merrill has spent the entirety of his career at Trane Technologies, a global climate innovator advancing sustainability.
“My parents were both teachers, and my family was very passionate about education and learning,” Merrill shares. “I am the youngest of four and one of my brothers was a civil engineer, and as a graduating senior from high school, in talking with my brother, it seemed like a really interesting field to pursue.”
That was the inspiration for Merrill to pursue a technical career path.
After graduating from the University of Buffalo with a degree in electrical engineering, Merrill’s career at Trane began in 2003 as a sales engineer. From there, he rose up the ranks to systems sales manager, general sales manager, district general manager, regional vice president, until becoming vice president of Energy Services this past February.
“It was at college that I discovered a Trane franchise business doing on-campus recruiting, and I took a job with them in New York City and spent probably the first eight years of my career doing technical selling in that area,” he recounts.
While it’s rare today for people to remain in one place for more than two decades, Merrill learned early on that it is more the norm at Trane.
“There are many, many associates and leaders who have long and very rich careers at this company,” he explains. “Because of the culture and the brand, the desire to stay with the organization is very compelling.”
As vice president of Energy Services for Trane, Merrill leads the North American Energy Services business.
“It’s a sustainable building solutions business helping our clients achieve building and business outcomes,” he notes. “We do this in a number of ways in helping them develop projects and solutions that increase energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and ultimately help them enhance overall occupant comfort and productivity.”
Trane specializes in the design, development, installation, and maintenance of HVAC systems, as well as controls and thermal energy storage solutions, working consultatively with its clients in the commercial and industrial spaces. As an Energy Services company (ESCO) for nearly 30 years, Trane also supports clients through whole-building modernization, optimization, and decarbonization programs.
“Building systems can be really complicated, so embracing the complexity has been an attribute I have really tried to model over my career.”
Andy Merrill
“When we think about our Energy Services business, it’s really about developing more customized programs for sustainability, energy, and infrastructure improvements to help customers deliver their business or organizational outcomes,” Merrill states.
Merrill’s career with Trane has been largely in the Northeast. One of the things he has appreciated about working in the area is the complexity of challenges that customers have faced in managing their businesses and using their business assets.
“The buildings are responsible for 40 percent of total energy use in the United States, and about 30 percent of that energy use is wasted,” he explains. “This is a place where there is a really compelling opportunity to solve problems around energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and ultimately creating environments where people can work really effectively.”
Project-wise, one of Merrill’s most notable achievements was working with a large commercial real estate customer who was looking to simplify its building operations and make things more energy efficient.
“When we first engaged with them on what they were looking to do, they had very foundational goals centered around improving their cooling system efficiency, reducing their building’s electrical demand and improving their overall building system’s reliability,” Merrill recalls. “Many of those things are common for our customers, but this particular customer had a very large building footprint, and there was a lot of complexity involved.”
The solution started with a large chiller plant upgrade and included the installation of a thermal battery solution. Along the way, they continued to upgrade and enhance their overall infrastructure to participate in some of the different utility-sponsored programs. This enabled the client to reduce their overall cost of operations and achieve a great deal over the last decade in improving its carbon footprint.
“That experience is representative of what I’ve enjoyed so much about working for Trane, in some of these complex environments where customers have unique challenges,” Merrill notes. “A lot of our customers are looking for a solutions provider that has the end-to-end ability to do all of these things.”
Over his career at Trane, Merrill has had the privilege of working in all parts of the commercial business and leading different teams. He’s always tried to be a role model for his teams and getting people comfortable with the rapid change the industry faces.
“Working in our business, you have to be really agile and flexible,” he says. “Building systems can be really complicated, so embracing the complexity has been an attribute I have really tried to model over my career.”
Merrill also enjoys bringing new talent into the climate innovation business.
“A lot of young professionals are trying to find a company that is as deeply committed as we are to driving climate innovation and helping our customers solve these problems,” he says. “My guidance is to strive to take advantage of all that our organization has to offer in terms of variety of roles and functions that are hard to find at other organizations that don’t have the capabilities we do.”
The ever-changing nature of the industry and the continual opportunity to help customers solve problems is what keeps Merrill so invested in the industry.
“I feel like I’m always learning and never stagnant or complacent, and those are driving forces of my continued career growth,” he shares. “It’s been energizing!”
