Tommy Mello started A1Garage with 50K in business debt and today he is about to cross the $200million mark in revenue with over 650 employees in 19 states. As he grows his business, he has done everything from sales to marketing to hiring. His experience running one of the top Garage Door Companies in Arizona provided him with many of the answers that up-and-coming business owners need to help them succeed.

Tommy’s advice has been regularly featured in top publications like Inc Magazine and Forbes, and he is also the host of the weekly podcast Home Service Expert, where he interviews top entrepreneurs in the industry to find out what made them world-class in what they do.

A past columnist for both The New York Times and The Washington Post, Gene now writes regularly for The Hill, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Washington Times, and The Guardian.

Gene is a best-selling author and has written 5 books on business management, specifically geared towards small and medium sized companies. His most recent is Want More Cash? 100+ Ideas And Strategies For Increasing Your Company’s Cash Flow This Year.

Nationally, Gene appears regularly on Fox Business, MSNBC, as well as CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor and SiriusXM’s Wharton Business Channel where he talks about the financial, economic and technology issues that affect business leaders today.

Through his keynotes and breakout sessions, Gene helps business owners, executives and managers understand the political, economic and technological trends that will affect their companies and—most importantly—the actions they can take to continue to grow and profit.

Gene owns and operates the Marks Group PC, a highly successful ten-person firm that provides technology and consulting services to small and medium sized businesses.

Prior to starting the Marks Group PC Gene, a Certified Public Accountant, spent nine years in the entrepreneurial services arm of the international consulting firm KPMG in Philadelphia where he was a Senior Manager.

Tim Fisher is the Director of Market Intelligence at HARDI, where he oversees the research and analysis of HVAC/R market trends – particularly those affecting wholesale distribution. Tim’s research and writing is regularly cited in industry journals, and he was named one of ACHR News’ Top 40 Under 40 HVACR Professionals in 2021. Prior to joining HARDI, Tim was the Director of Government and External Affairs at the Council of Development Finance Agencies where he worked on federal policy and legislative issues related to public finance. He earned his B.A. and M.A. at Ohio University, and M.B.A. at The Ohio State University.

Patrick Lange with Business Modification Group specializes in the sale and acquisition of heating and air companies. Patrick has been an entrepreneur his entire life buying, growing, and selling businesses in multiple industries, including owning a residential heating and air company.

Patrick is considered an expert in the field of business brokerage having earned multiple awards for transactions and dollar volume of businesses sold.

Patrick decided several years ago to focus exclusively on heating and air companies after seeing a need for someone with specific knowledge of the industry as well as the ability to market these businesses in an effective manner to help his clients achieve predictable results. Since he made that transition, he has sold over 100 heating and air companies.

In addition to facilitating the sale of heating and air companies, Patrick also provides valuations for thosewho are interested in learning the current value of their business in the market as well as strategies to increase the potential selling price.

Cynthia is CEO and Co-founder of Pearl Certification, a vertical SaaS firm that provides investment-grade data on a home’s performance features to increase its value in the refinance or real estate transaction. Cynthia is also the co-founder of the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council and a twenty-five year veteran in energy efficiency and green construction. Voted 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council, she is also the 2018 winner of the Linda Wigington Leadership Award from the Building Performance Association, and she serves on NAR’s Sustainability Advisory Group. Cynthia has been a gubernatorial appointee to the Virginia Energy Council and Executive Committee on Energy Efficiency. She has been certified as a USGBC LEED Accredited Professional and NAR GREEN Designee.

As Vice President of Contractor Services, Matthew is responsible for all lending and finance operations within the EGIA Finance Clearinghouse. He works directly with lending partners and affiliates developing and creating the most up-to-date finance offerings for EGIA’s vast contractor base. In addition, Matthew leads EGIA’s business development strategy, as well as the design and implementation of finance training content.

Matthew has been an integral part of the home improvement finance industry for over 20 years, with stops at American General Finance, GreenSky and Renovate America. Matthew attended Virginia Commonwealth University, graduating with a degree in Psychology.

Drew Cameron is America’s Most Sought-After Sales & Marketing Strategy and Success Advisor to Home Services Contractors and president of both FLOW Odyssey (formerly HVAC Sellutions) and Energy Design Systems, LLC: the premier industry alliance providing leading-edge technology along with complementary marketing and sales consultative support, recruiting, training, and coaching for performance and profit enhancement of Home Services Contactors. Drew is a renowned author, speaker, educator, coach, consultant, software developer, philanthropist, and an International Consultant Award Winner. Drew is also a president of the Cameron Family Memorial Foundation; a Board member, a Foundation Board Trustee, a Contractor University Founder & Faculty member, Resident Expert of Contractor Connect for Electric & Gas Industries Association (EGIA); a member of Black Belt Contracting (BBC).

Russ Horrocks emerged as one of the most successful Comfort Advisors in America in the mid-90’s. Russ quickly took to sharing his unique knowledge of buyer psychology with sales forces across the country. He turned his profession into a passion, educating and coaching in-home sales and service advisors to understand the critical skills necessary to achieve results far exceeding personal mindset limitations and corporate expectations.

Most trainers preach about product and process. Russ teaches and coaches his sales and service protégés not only about what to do in the home and how to do to it, but more importantly, why. Why leads to a purpose allowing the people his students serve to build a strong connection based on a position of trust, confidence, competence and credibility. When matched with the creative execution of a process built to work with human nature and how people want to buy, it yields explosive growth.

Having mastered the sales process, in 2011 Russ joined with business development specialist, Drew Cameron, as Vice President of Flow Odyssey to help clients enhance the performance of their entire business, and transcend growing one person or department at a time. Together they work in the trenches with their clients in every facet of building successful home services businesses.

Clients embrace Russ’ detailed holistic approach to assessing a company’s people, present state and potential. Drawing a blueprint for success, he collaborates with clients onsite, online, and on-the-phone to achieve operational excellence with a hands-on strategic approach to growing people and implementing profit-based processes and systems. Clients benefit from Russ’ 20 years of knowledge and national experience, along with his relentless pursuit of building happy, effective, top-performing professionals and developing a culture of success and achievement.

Gary Elekes is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for helping others become more successful by sharing what he has learned over the past 3 decades working closely with all facets of the contracting industry. During his career, Gary has held senior management positions at Lennox and Service Experts. In 2000, Gary moved into entrepreneurship and started his training and consulting business EPC. Today, EPC continues to support growth oriented businesses aspiring to reach 20% EBIT. He also designed the very first web-based learning platform for the residential contracting industry, which acts as a support system for training and learning in HVAC and plumbing trades, and has over 5,000 subscribers.

In 2003, Gary began acquiring contracting firms with a focus on developing turn-around opportunities. He also opened and operated several start-up businesses. In 2010, he added web design/SEO and online marketing to his company portfolio starting iMarket Solutions as a co-founder. Gary graduated from Ohio State University with a BSBA and also holds a Master’s Degree in Business and Finance.

Dan Clapper serves as the HVAC Market Director for Interplay Learning. Dan brings 25 years of experience to Interplay in a variety of roles across the HVAC market. Over the years in this space, Dan has developed a passion for helping trade professionals grow their businesses and their people. From installing boilers and HVAC equipment with his father as a teenager to sales, design, and distribution at the wholesale level, to training thousands of HVAC professionals across the country at the manufacturing level, Dan has a unique perspective on best practices.

After sending out 5,000+ free copies of his first book, “Get More HVAC Leads: 5 Must Have Strategies for 2018”, Dan realized that the biggest challenge in our industry is the skilled labor shortage, not lead generation. With tens of millions of people in the US who make less than $15/hr, contracting companies can build a pipeline of talent if they hire for attitude and then leverage an “In-House” training program. At Interplay, Dan now helps business owners and leaders leverage 3D simulation-based training to help attract new talent to the industry and upskill them faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Weldon Long is a successful entrepreneur, sales expert and author of the NY Times bestseller, The Power of Consistency – Prosperity Mindset Training for Sales and Business Professionals (Wiley). In 2003, he walked out of a homeless shelter and built an Inc. 5000 company generating cumulative sales of over $20,000,000 within just 60 months. In 2009, his company was selected as one of Inc. Magazine’s Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.

Today, Weldon Long is one of the nation’s most powerful speakers and a driven motivator who teaches others the Sales and Prosperity Mindset philosophies that catapulted him from desperation and poverty to a life of wealth and prosperity. Weldon has been featured on numerous national and regional television programs, including Fox News Channel, First Business Network and Chicago’s Very Own WGN.

Mr. Long has successfully used his signature program, The Power of Consistency, to help hundreds of companies and thousands of sales professionals radically improve their sales results. Weldon holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA in Management. He is honored to have served some of America’s finest companies, including FedEx, The Franklin Covey Organization, Tom Hopkins International, Dex Media, Wells Fargo Bank, Pre-Paid Legal Services, Direct Energy/Clockwork Services, Mitsubishi Electric, Rheem, Goodman Manufacturing and the Carrier/Bryant Corporation.

James is a successful entrepreneur and master mechanic whose accomplishments include being the founder of MrHVAC.com, the CEO and founder of Aptora, the President of RA Tax and Accounting and a partner with ProAmerican Investments.

James’ company MrHVAC.com is a website dedicated to improving the lives of contractors. It includes industry articles, specialized HVAC calculators, forms, templates and one of the most extensive operations manuals in the country. As the founder of Aptora corporation, he has created some of the most popular software programs in the service industry including Flat Rate Plus and Total Office Manager.

James is well known for his burning passion to help contractors and it shows in his unique speaking style. He has hosted management workshops all around the United States and has conducted onsite consulting since 1996 with hundreds of contractors.

Steve Shallenberger understands the contractor world. He founded Synergy Companies in 1981, a successful energy services contractor, with offices throughout the State of California and is on the National Association of Energy Service Companies Board of Directors.

Steve has more than 40 years of experience as a successful business owner, trusted senior executive, professional corporate trainer, and best-selling author. He is the founder and president of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. Steve and his team provide award winning training and keynotes helping teams and leaders tackle some of their greatest leadership challenges around the world.

As a young entrepreneur, Steve successfully built numerous organizations from the ground up. During those years, he continued his education at the Harvard Business School. Steve was also a trusted advisor for Stephen R. Covey. Steve was a key leader in Covey’s organization who helped build the world-renowned Covey Leadership Center. He led a stalwart team and was responsible for the development and distribution of the original Covey planner.