Looking to Our Past and Our Future With Gratitude

We’re not even three months into 2020, and there is already so much going on this year, both within CoolSys and in the world in general. It has been a difficult winter for many of you. But hang in there—spring is just around the corner!

A few weeks ago, about 100 members of your leadership team gathered in Rancho Mirage, California, for our annual CoolSys leadership conference. Our theme was IndiAdam Jones and the Quest for One CoolSys! As you can imagine, I had a great time playing the role of Indy. I also had the pleasure of delivering my annual State of the Company speech, where I laid out the past, present and future of CoolSys.

The speech was videotaped, and a brief segment will be emailed weekly to all employees, starting later this month. Watch for special editions of CoolTimes with links to this year’s video series. You might even have a chance to earn some cash! If you can answer a few questions about our plans, you’ll be eligible to win $1,000 in a raffle after the final episode is sent.

It was inspiring to see representatives from 14 different CoolSys companies at this year’s conference! What I love most about this meeting is the opportunity for representatives of newly acquired companies to meet and interact with others in the CoolSys family from all over the country. It always feels like we enter as a collection of tribes and leave as “One CoolSys.” For me, aside from the content of the meeting, this is the most important reason to get the team together.

At this year’s conference, we launched the Former Owners’ Alumni Club. Our heritage comes from the work of the entrepreneurs who founded the companies that make up the CoolSys family. Their sweat equity built CoolSys into the company it is today.

In the photo below, you’ll see the Wilsons. They founded RSI—the first company CoolSys acquired. We recognized all our founders at this year’s conference with cool statues, jackets, hats and other tokens of appreciation. I love our entrepreneurs and their commitment to making CoolSys successful.

My message to you this month would be incomplete without a mention of the COVID-19 coronavirus. I want to assure you that I and the rest of our corporate leadership team are taking this situation very seriously. We are monitoring updates and recommendations from government agencies, and we’re working on our own contingency plans and “what if” scenarios so that we will be ready to respond to whatever may happen in the months ahead.

I hope you’ve been reading the frequent updates we’re emailing to all employees. If not, please make it a priority to do so. In those emails, we’re giving you information that pertains to your work and to us as a company, as well as suggestions for how you can keep you and your loved ones safe and healthy.

For now, the key is to not panic and to take precautions to limit your risk: frequent hand washing, disinfecting high-use surfaces, refraining from touching your mouth and eyes, and so forth. For complete and reliable information about COVID-19, visit the website of the Centers for Disease Control.

In the meantime, thank you for doing the great work that you do. Without you there is no CoolSys!