Sharon Stewart mentors HVAC workers through empathetic leadership

Sharon Stewart, an HVAC service manager at Wighton’s Electric, Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning in San Luis Obispo, is being recognized for 27 years of technical experience and a leadership style focused on mentorship. Her career highlights the growing importance of skilled-trades training, especially for women entering a traditionally male-dominated field.

Why it matters: - Sharon Stewart’s career shows how experienced trades leaders can help address the HVAC labor shortage by training and retaining the next generation of technicians. - Her focus on mentorship, certification support, and hands-on leadership also reflects a broader push for more inclusive pathways into skilled trades.

What happened: - Stewart is the HVAC Service Manager at Wighton’s Electric, Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning in San Luis Obispo, California. - She has 27 years of experience in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry. - The recognition highlights her technical background and her people-focused approach to leadership. - More information is available through her Influential Women profile.

The details: - Stewart leads service operations and supports a team of about seven technicians. - Her work includes logistics, invoices, purchase orders, field support and technical troubleshooting. - She helps technicians move toward EPA 608 certification. - Stewart’s experience includes HVAC service management, technical support, field operations and business-to-business services. - Her earlier career included nearly 14 years at Ferguson Enterprises, where she worked as Branch Manager and Counter Manager. - She built her foundation through roles as a maintenance technician, installer and HVAC professional. - Stewart earned an associate degree from the University of Phoenix. - She also completed HVAC technical training and mechanical code training. - Stewart holds EPA 608 Refrigeration Certification and serves as an EPA 608 Certification Proctor. - She wrote an article, “Air Flow is the Key,” about duct design and airflow management in residential and commercial systems.

Between the lines: - Stewart’s path underscores how technical mastery and people management often advance together in the trades. - Her emphasis on confidence, asking for help and staying healthy points to the practical pressures facing workers in safety-sensitive field jobs. - Stewart says mentors in the roller derby community helped shape her leadership style by modeling authenticity, resilience and confidence. - She also says overcoming breast cancer and loss strengthened her commitment to supporting others. - Her career reflects the challenge of succeeding in a male-dominated industry while also creating space for more women to enter it.

What’s next: - Stewart plans to keep focusing on mentoring, training and helping workers build confidence and credentials. - Her goal is to keep opening doors for new HVAC professionals through guidance, support and example. - She expects empathy, accountability and teamwork to remain central to her leadership.

The bottom line: - Sharon Stewart’s story is less about title and more about transfer of skills, confidence and opportunity across the HVAC workforce.