The RV Technical Institute’s Executive Director, Curtis Hemmeler, will be expanding his role to include senior vice president of standards for the RV Industry Association. The added responsibilities come as RVIA Vice President of Standards, Bruce Hopkins, recently announced he will retire at the end of the year.
In addition, the RV Technical Institute’s Senior Director of Education, Sharonne Lee, has been promoted to vice president of education and operations for the institute.
Hemmeler has been managing the development and launch of the RV Technical Institute, the industry’s technical education program tasked with developing a nationally standardized, world-class training curriculum to increase the number of trained and highly qualified RV technicians.
Hemmeler brings 20 years of professional experience in technical education and training to his new position. Prior to joining the RVTI, he served as the vice president of operations and strategy for WyoTech, a division of Zenith Education that trains auto and diesel technicians. In that position, he led a team of more than 300 people across three locations. Hemmeler also served 12 years in the U.S. Air Force and Ohio Air National Guard as an aerospace ground equipment specialist.
Lee brings more than 30 years of RV industry experience to her new role with the RV Technical Institute. She has long been involved in the RVIA’s education and standards efforts, and most recently played a critical role in developing the RV Technical Institute’s nationally standardized training curriculum. Lee also developed the first Top Tech Challenge in 2017.
“The Standards Succession Task Force hit one out of the park finding a successor for Bruce Hopkins, our ‘godfather’ of the industry’s standards and inspection program,” said RVIA President Craig Kirby. “It’s critical that we maintain continuity of the standards program and Curt brings a wealth of knowledge, expertise and experience to lead both standards and RVTI in this expanded role. I’m equally as excited for Sharonne to grow her leadership position over education within RVTI and to seeing her elevate this vital industry opportunity to its fullest potential. Sharonne has a deep understanding of our industry and a long history of anticipating the needs of our members, implementing processes and embracing technology to improve our education offering.”
