HVCA (Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association) recently announced the election of John Miller for the presidency of the Association at its annual general meeting on 12 July 2007. According to the associacion’s press release, the five key areas of action for the next three years identified by Mr. Miller were: developing skills and competences to meet the changing needs of the sector, rationalising the industry’s procedures for demonstrating competence, reshaping the industrial relations landscape across building services engineering, improving the procurement process throughout the construction industry and partnering with other organisations that share the Association’s values and commitment to excellence.

Mr Miller entered the industry in 1965 serving a technician apprenticeship with H. Morfitt & Sons (Leeds) and gaining a diploma in environmental engineering from the Polytechnic of the South Bank (now London South Bank University). In 1987, he was appointed contracts director with Morfitts, which had been acquired by J. H. Shouksmith & Sons Ltd in 1976. He became managing director of Morfitts in 1991, joined the main board of Shouksmiths in 1996 and, in 2002, was promoted managing director of the parent company. John Miller enjoys incorporated engineer status, is an associate of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, and has been chairman of the governing body of Leeds College of Building since 2002.

He has been a member of the Council of the HVCA since 1999 - having previously served a three-year term as chairman of the Association's Yorkshire Region - and a director of Welplan Ltd, the HVCA's principal commercial subsidiary, since 2002. John Miller was elected vice president of the HVCA in July 2005, and became president elect in July 2006. At the 2007 annual general meeting, where he was elected president of the association, Gareth Vaughan of E. Poppleton and Son Ltd was elected HVCA president elect, and David Frise of M S Frise and Sons Ltd was elected vice president.