Gary Cooper Owner/Corporate President was a prodigy in the HVAC trade (he designed and built complex heating and cooling systems on his own before finishing high school). He also had a strong entrepreneurial streak, and in 1978 he left his father’s Detroit HVAC business to strike out on his own in Colorado. Gary opened his own solo shop in (Denver), Cooper Heating & Cooling, as a sole proprietorship. Over the next few years, the company grew rapidly to the point where adding staff and incorporation made sense.
Highly service-oriented and always searching for new ways to improve customer service, Gary’s early talent for innovation has remained with him throughout the company’s nearly 30-year history. But there’s more to Gary Cooper than a passion for technology. Cooper Heating & Cooling is known for exceptional service and people-orientation. Customers appreciate the employees’ knowledge and can-do attitude, and employees value the family-like atmosphere at Cooper Heating & Cooling. Gary takes great pride in the fact that more than 40 of his staff have been with the company 10 or more years.
Gary Cooper is definitely doing things right, and the business community has taken notice. Cooper Heating & Cooling has been named one of COBiz magazine’s top 250 Privately Held Companies every year since 1994.
[toggle full bio]
Dave Anderson Sales/Manager of Purchasing and Operations A 14-year veteran of the residential heating and cooling industry, nearly half of his career with Cooper Heating and Cooling, Dave Anderson purchases and manages all stock, equipment, parts, supplies, and necessities, while maintaining and supervising the day-to-day operations of the yard, fabrication shop, and warehouse. Or as he puts it, the same job as his wife has at home -- knowing where everything is and making sure everyone’s needs are met, often at a moment’s notice.
His most interesting challenge is meeting special requests and tracking the needs of a rapidly changing and growing HVAC market and industry. Understanding and adapting to these requests and developments are essential to staying on the frontier, and price-effective acquisition of the materials and supplies associated with industry leadership give Dave his greatest satisfaction.
Dave has formed, built, and maintained solid relationships within the HVAC industry and the communities it serves, keep the relationships strong through integrity and strength of character.
He credits his colleagues for helping him make his job one of the most satisfying in the company. Cooper Heating & Cooling’s shop and warehouse crews have no rivals in this industry, Dave believes.
Dave’s values extend to and are strengthened by his family and church. Dave and his wife Lisa and their four children enjoy fishing, camping, hiking, biking, and the beautiful Colorado outdoors.
[toggle full bio]
Jim Grafner Comfort Advisor/Residential Estimator With nearly 40 years in the HVAC industry under his belt, Jim Grafner has done it all. In his Evergreen-based family business, and later as sole proprietor of his own shop, Comfort By Design, in Morrison, Jim mastered every facet of the complex heating and cooling industry. He’s worked as installer, service technician, and estimator. Jim came to Cooper Heating and Cooling as a residential estimator in 2000, after selling his share of his business to his brother. Here he develops estimates for furnace and air conditioning installations in existing homes. He also bids work for contractors doing remodeling and additions in the Metro area.
But Jim’s involvement doesn’t stop with the completed estimate; team-player Jim is as likely to deliver materials to installers in the field or secure permits as he is to crunch numbers at his desk. Jim’s can-do attitude meshes perfectly with Cooper Heating and Cooling’s legendary customer service. He has high praise for his coworkers at Cooper, and their support gives him the confidence to give customers exactly what they expect to receive from Cooper — often much more than they expect. Jim and his wife Jenny have five grown children and 10 grandchildren. Their three cats and a dog still live at home. The Grafners enjoy western dancing and tooling around the Boulder area on their Harley.
[toggle full bio]
Jim Reynolds Sales When Jim makes a sales call, the first thing he does is ask questions. Lots of them. Because most people buy only one heating/cooling system in an entire lifetime, it’s essential that they get the right system the first time. So Jim asks pointed questions like, How evenly does your house heat? Do you have any hot rooms? Cold ones? Does anyone in the family have allergies or asthma? Then he looks at the existing ductwork to see if there is a way to improve the design.
Only then does Jim talk about products and manufacturers. In this way, he can propose a package that will meet the homeowners’ particular needs and last a lifetime. And Jim knows his products. Over his 36-year career in the industry, he has worked with national brands including Lennox, Carrier, and Trane. He has taken Trane’s advanced sales training courses and is Honeywell-certified in air quality control. And to enhance his knowledge as a top-flight sales representative, he has taken HVAC engineering courses in room-by-room heat gain/loss calculations and ductwork design. Jim appreciates the family atmosphere and shared sense of values and purpose he sees among his Cooper Heating and Cooling colleagues. Jim and his wife satisfy their wanderlust with travel to the Caribbean and Italy, as well as weekend jaunts to hike at Keystone. Their furry family includes two dogs and three cats.
[toggle full bio]
