Who is  Richard Harshaw?

Richard “Dick” Harshaw started Lodestar Consulting Systems, Inc. in 2003 after a thirteen-year career with the Carrier Corporation. He launched Lodestar as the fulfillment of a long-time dream of offering the highest caliber of consulting and training services to professionals in the HVAC industry.  Lodestar specializes in sales rep development for distributors, as well as contractor-oriented financial and business management training.

While at Carrier, he produced powerful market analysis tools for distributors, financial management and business management workshops  for contractors, and a consulting department which specialized in helping contractors and distributors on a one-on-one basis.  He is a contributor to trade publications and has been featured as a presenter at Carrier’s Business Transition Seminar, Comfortech ’96, ’97,’98, and ’99, and the 1998 SMACNA National Convention, as well as numerous state contractor associations. He has participated as a presenter at York's highly-acclaimed "Business Day" events at Comfortech since 2004, and is also a regular contributor to "The Consultant's Corner" in the Texas-based Air Conditioning Today newspaper. He is the developer of the key measurements of throughput for the HVAC business.  Through these various paths, Dick has shared his business expertise with thousands of contractors across America.

Prior to joining Carrier, Dick worked ten years for an independent Carrier distributor in Missouri where he served as service engineer, instructor, salesman and branch manager.

Dick holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Education (Mathematics) from Central Missouri State University.  After teaching high school mathematics and physics for three years, he worked for an electric utility in the Kansas City area as a sales representative, during which time he met many HVAC contractors, one of which he joined as salesman and service manager. 

Dick resides in Phoenix, Arizona with Loretta, his wife since 1973.  He has two daughters and a wonderful granddaughter.

Dick’s varied personal interests include astronomy (he has been published a number of times in various international astronomical periodicals and has just published his first book, The Complete CD Guide To The Universe, published by Spring-Verlag), bicycling and the U. S. Civil War.  He is active in his church and is also an avid reader and enjoys music.

Qualifications

Education: Bachelor of Science Degree in Education (Mathematics, Physics) from Central Missouri State University.

Licensing:  Lifetime secondary education teaching certificate, state of Missouri

Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, # L10139