TL;DR
Suzanne Morrison, an installation manager with Ace Hardware Home Services, was named an Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News 2026 Top Woman in HVACR. In an interview with Hardware Retailing, she described her path from office assistant to management and said mentorship, visibility and clear advancement paths can help women build careers in the trades.
Suzanne Morrison, an installation manager with Ace Hardware Home Services, was named an Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News 2026 Top Woman in HVACR, according to Hardware Retailing. In an interview with the publication, Morrison discussed how she advanced from office assistant to management and the workplace practices she believes can help women enter and grow in the trades.
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Morrison said she first joined the independent home improvement channel as an office assistant, initially taking the opportunity as she re-entered the workforce while her children were getting older and starting school. Her early duties included filing, inventory tracking, customer follow-up and coordinating inspections. As the company grew, she took on more responsibility and moved into an installation coordinator role before becoming an installation manager.
She told Hardware Retailing that working more closely with customers, installers and company leadership helped her contribute to processes and the customer experience. Morrison described accepting new responsibilities, staying curious and continuing to learn as factors in her progression. She said she came to see HVAC as a career after discovering that she enjoyed solving problems, building relationships and helping produce positive outcomes for customers and employees.
Morrison also described challenges as her responsibilities expanded, including moments of doubt about whether she was ready to lead. She said preparation, continued learning, asking questions and focusing on results helped her build confidence. Her account is a personal career history; the interview does not provide company-wide workforce figures or data measuring women’s representation in HVAC.
Building Trade Careers Beyond the Field
Morrison’s progression illustrates how careers in HVAC and home improvement can extend beyond hands-on field work. Her path began in administrative duties and moved through coordination into management, highlighting roles in operations and customer service as possible entry points to the industry. That matters to readers considering the trades who may not know about the range of work available.
Her comments also point to workplace conditions that can affect recruitment and advancement. Morrison said some women face assumptions about their abilities and may need to establish their credibility. She recommended mentorship, education and visible examples of women in successful roles, alongside clear development opportunities and advancement paths. Those are her views from experience, rather than findings from a broader survey in the interview.
For employers, the practical issue is not only attracting workers but creating conditions in which people can develop and remain. Morrison said employees are more likely to be engaged when they feel respected, heard and able to grow. The interview offers a case study of one manager’s career, not proof that the same approach will produce identical outcomes at every company.
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From Office Support to HVAC Management
The report places Morrison’s recognition within a discussion of career development in the independent home improvement channel. Her account spans more than a single job change: she described moving from office support into installation coordination and then management as she gained experience and took on additional responsibilities.
Morrison said she had not expected to become a leader when she entered the industry. Her initial goal was to return to work as her children began school. She said her view changed as she learned more about HVAC and saw how the work affected customers. The interview does not specify the dates of each role or identify the individual opportunities that led to her current position beyond the responsibilities she described.
In discussing changes over roughly the past decade, Morrison said women have become more visible in HVAC leadership and that support networks and conversations about attracting and developing women have grown. She also said the industry remains predominantly male and that barriers persist. These are Morrison’s observations; the source material does not include independent statistics to quantify the trend.
“I started by helping in the office with filing, inventory tracking, customer follow-up and coordinating inspections.”
— Suzanne Morrison, as quoted by Hardware Retailing
What the Interview Does Not Measure
The source identifies Morrison’s award and recounts her experience, but does not include workforce data on women’s representation, pay, promotion rates or retention in HVAC. It also does not establish how widespread the barriers she described are across the home improvement channel or assess how particular company policies affect outcomes.
The supplied interview text ends as Morrison begins answering what the recognition means to her personally and professionally. It does not include the rest of that answer, so her full response to the award’s significance is not available here. The material also does not give a precise announcement date, the award’s selection process or details about other honorees.
More Detail on Recognition and Progress
The immediate development is Morrison’s inclusion among ACHR News’ 2026 Top Women in HVACR. The supplied report does not state whether the award involves a ceremony or identify a date for any related event, so no next milestone can be confirmed from the material provided.
For the broader issue Morrison raised, further reporting would be needed to track whether employers expand mentorship, training and advancement opportunities and whether those efforts change hiring or retention. The interview offers her recommendations and personal account; it does not report on a specific new company program or industry-wide policy change.
Key Questions
Who is Suzanne Morrison?
Suzanne Morrison is an installation manager with Ace Hardware Home Services. Hardware Retailing reported that she was named an ACHR News 2026 Top Woman in HVACR.
How did Morrison advance into an installation manager role?
She said she started as an office assistant, handling tasks including inventory tracking, customer follow-up and inspection coordination. She later moved into installation coordination and then management as she took on more responsibility.
What barriers for women in HVAC did Morrison describe?
Morrison identified limited awareness of career options and assumptions that can require women to establish their credibility. She said mentorship, education and visibility of women in the industry can help address those barriers.
What workplace changes did Morrison recommend?
She called for equal development opportunities, mentorship, clear advancement paths, open communication and a culture where people are judged by their performance and contributions rather than stereotypes.
Does the report provide industry-wide data on women in HVAC?
No. The interview includes Morrison’s observations and career experience but does not provide statistics on women’s representation, pay, promotion or retention across the industry.
Source: hardwareretailing.com
