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ASSA ABLOY’s Dave Timmerman is New President of American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers

38-year industry veteran began as service technician, ascended the ranks

Blog 18, May 2023

May 17, 2023—Dave Timmerman, a 38-year veteran of the automatic door industry, is the new president of the American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers (AAADM). He was previously serving as vice president of the association and has held various offices within it since 2019.

His extensive industry experience began in 1985, working in the field as a service technician and installer for Wild Automatic Door in Northern California. In 1991, Wild Automatic Door was purchased by Besam Entrance Solutions, becoming the second branch for the company. Timmerman would go on to hold the position of service manager for the Northern California branch. In 2002, he became an employee of ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems when it purchased the Besam organization. In 2009, Timmerman became a regional trainer for ASSA ABLOY for the Western U.S. and Canada. In 2014, he became the director of code compliance and safety, a position he holds today. He is also one of the original AAADM instructors, starting when certification classes began in 1995.

Throughout his career, Timmerman has been a proponent of and believer in training and continuing education, which he expects to be a focus of his presidency. “For this year’s renewal, inspectors will have to pass a short exam to recertify. I’m excited about the enhanced consistency of performance that will result,” said Timmerman. “In addition, we would like to strengthen our training programs and add compelling ongoing education courses.”

Timmerman has long believed that a mastery among installers and service technicians of ANSI standards pertaining to automatic doors is critical to maintaining high-quality performance of industry products in the field. “ANSI standards can be open to interpretation,” said Timmerman. “It’s our job to provide our installers and service technicians with the tools and information they need to interpret and apply those standards consistently.”

Timmerman’s rise to the presidency came after the unexpected passing of AAADM’s previous president, Len Pursell, who died in January following a brief illness. Timmerman and Pursell once worked together during their respective Besam days. “Len was staunch in his belief in what we’re doing, both as AAADM and as an industry,” said Timmerman. “He’s going to be missed. We still talk about him often. I know I speak for many that it is our wish to honor his legacy.”

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