Jason Sears has been named president of Dri-Air Industries Inc., replacing his father Charlie Sears, who died in August.
The auxiliary equipment maker's board of directors made the announcement Nov. 14.
Jason Sears has been working at Dri-Air for 30 years, beginning during high school learning skills such as welding, electrical wiring, painting, packaging and machine assembly. He formally joined the company in East Windsor, Conn. after earning a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1992 from the University of Rhode Island.
He has held positions in engineering new products, designing equipment for new applications, technical troubleshooting, manufacturing and customer service. He has served as vice president of operations for more than five years.
Dri-Air was founded in 1974. Charlie Sears bought the maker of dryers in 1985. Sears, 78, died after a recent battle with cancer.
Jason Sears, 48, said his father was well-known for customer satisfaction. "Charlie Sears was a great mentor, embracing all the good characteristics of a principled, customer-service oriented, honorable person," he said. "Hard work and leading by example are valuable lessons I learned from my father. After he created a succession plan, we continued to work together very closely as Dri-Air grew and advanced its success."
The new Dri-Air president pledged to maintain Dri-Air's high standards "providing the best quality dryers."
"At Dri-Air, the customer always will come first," Jason Sears said.
He has focused on the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) movement in local schools. He has been active in the First Robotics program at the middle and high school levels and sponsored the PlastiVan.
Jason Sears currently serves on the Plastics Industry Association's Equipment council and the NPE 2021 Content Committee, after having participated on the NPE committee since 2015. He also is a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers.
