Eric and I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Dominick Guarino the Chairman & CEO of the National Comfort Institute (NCI) about its mission to improve the HVAC industry through education and training. Here are the key points: NCI's origin and mission: Founded in 1998 by Dominick Guarino and the late Rob Falke. Driven by the desire to improve comfort, energy efficiency, safety, and health in homes and buildings. Focusing on high-performance HVAC and the importance of measuring delivered performance. NCI's activities: Offers technical training classes on airflow, combustion balancing, refrigerant side performance testing, and more. Develops and provides certifications, such as the only CO and combustion certification in the industry. Emphasizes the importance of communication and customer service for HVAC professionals. Helps contractors monetize their services by demonstrating the value they provide. NCI's team: Composed of passionate individuals with industry experience and a commitment to high-performance HVAC. Key members include David Richardson (VP of training), Casey Contreras (trainer), John Perer (trainer), Al D’Ambola (trainer), Jim Ball (trainer), and Jim Davis ("Captain Combustion"). NCI's impact: Trained thousands of technicians and contractors over the years. Helped raise awareness about the importance of CO safety and proper combustion testing. Contributed to the development of modern CO and combustion analyzers. Additional information: NCI has membership program with member benefits and a summit event every year. Eric Kaiser's first HVAC industry class was NCI's CO and combustion class with Jim Davis, which significantly impacted his career. Dom’s Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominickguarino/ Learn more about NCI at https://nationalcomfortinstitute.com/ This episode was recorded in December 2023