Luis Rodrigues, VP and General Manager of Energy and Environmental Solutions at Honeywell shares his experience as a corporate member
This year, one of the College’s corporate members, Honeywell, is celebrating 15 years of continuous support. Honeywell invents and manufactures technologies that address some of the world’s most critical challenges around energy, safety, security, productivity and global urbanization. On behalf of Honeywell, Luis Rodrigues, Vice President and General Manager of Energy and Environmental Solutions, who has been with the company for over 40 years, has taken the time to discuss his experience and involvement with the College.
After graduating from high school, Luis completed a two-year HVAC (Heating, ventilation, air conditioning) engineering technology program at George Brown College and graduated in 1980. He started his career as a certified engineering technician for a small company which was later acquired by Honeywell. Luis worked in various roles within the Honeywell organization including engineering technician, construction and infrastructure, field sales and sales management before assuming his current role with the company.
Mr. Rodrigues first heard of the College from a long-time member and Fellow of the College. This member informed him that CCHL would provide him with access to qualified leaders as well as various opportunities to network. According to Luis and the Honeywell team, this recommendation did not disappoint as this experience has allowed them to network with executive leaders from across the nation and has allowed them to gain a better understanding of the challenges that they face. Honeywell has been a major contributor to improving the quality of equipment and services in the public sector, notably hospitals, by improving the quality of healthcare given to patients and by providing a better work environment for all healthcare workers.
Over the past 15 years, Honeywell has been involved with many of the College’s initiatives. Some of their favourite involvements include the National Health Leadership Conferences (NHLC) as well as the Health Professionals’ Roundtable for Strategy (HPRS) sessions. “We’ve really been focusing on energy programs and being environmentally responsible” says Luis. In fact, Honeywell developed the CCHL Energy and Environmental Stewardship Award, which they have been presenting annually to Hospitals across Canada through a nomination process. This award recognizes a progressive healthcare organization that has implemented organizational wide initiatives demonstrating environmental responsibility through the reduction of energy usage, the preservation of natural resources and effective waste diversion solutions.
Honeywell has used their membership extensively through various avenues and continues to do so to better understand the market and the challenges that our Canadian hospitals are confronted with. “I think that Honeywell truly holds a leadership position in healthcare in Canada, and I think part of that can be attributed to our participation and involvement in associations like CCHL. From the networking opportunities, the exposure within that community and being directly linked with the top executives across the country, I believe that has truly helped us build up to our current position and sustain it over the years”.
