Mike Nankivell awarded OBE
11th June 2021
UK: Mike Nankivell has been awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to the UK refrigeration and air conditioning Industry.
In a career spanning 50 years, Mike Nankivell was a former president of the HEVAC association, chairman of the FETA board of directors, president of the Heat Pump Association and chairman of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Board F-Gas Implementation Group.
Mike Nankivell officially retired from full-time work in 2015, but continued his involvement with the industry and remains a co-opted member of the ACRIB Technical Committee, which now incorporates the F-Gas Group, and is an active member of the Institute of Refrigeration’s RACHP EngTech Panel. A fellow of the Institute of Refrigeration, he also served on the Institute’s executive board.
He entered the HVAC sector as a contract detail/design draughtsman in 1971, following an apprenticeship in a research and development establishment with the Ministry of Technology (later Defence). He has worked as a designer of perimeter heating systems, contract, commercial and general management in acoustics, fan and air handling unit manufacturing.
Nankivell was with Carrier Air Conditioning for over 13 years, rising to the position of UK marketing manager. Prior to his retirement he spent 16 years at AC distributor Space Airconditioning.
Commenting on his award, Mike said: “I am proud, grateful and equally humbled that my work within an industry that I love has been recognised in this amazing way. Throughout my long career within the HVACR industry I have had the privilege to work with a number of incredible people and I would like to pay tribute to each and every one of them as they are the ones who have made this possible.”
“Mike epitomises the very best of the volunteer culture which exists within trade associations and his personal commitment to the entire HVACR industry is second to none,” commented FETA chief executive Russell Beattie.
“The F Gas Implementation Group which Mike chaired fulfilled a critical representational need within industry and his personal contribution, which continued after his retirement, should not be underestimated,” he added.
Mike Nankivell becomes one of only a handful of people to have received the OBE for services to the air conditioning and refrigeration industry in recent years. Notable former winners include Graham Manly for services to the building services sector in 2012, and former HVCA (now BESA) chief executive Robert Higgs in 2006 for his services to the HVACR industry and to the environment. Prior to that, Alan Duttine, co-founder of Airedale Air Conditioning won the OBE in 1997 for service to exports, but one of the first to win the award for services to refrigeration was Peter Cooper, formerly of Sainsbury’s, way back in 1993.
