Meet Yaskawa's HVAC Segment Manager

Don Cameron

Don Cameron, who started with Yaskawa (YAI) in September, is no stranger to the HVAC drives business. A decade-plus of customer-facing experience, including hands-on start-up and application support roles, puts him in a prime position to propel Yaskawa’s HVAC business into the future.

Most recently he spent 6 years with Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) managing the brand labeled (Eaton) drives business. During his tenure at JCI, he also orchestrated the expansion into numerous third-party brand label agreements for a variety of building automation systems products. 

Don began his HVAC drives journey as a product manager at Danfoss:

“In a parallel universe, I have been on the same quest as Yaskawa since 2007, chasing the market leaders in pursuit of additional market share. The HVAC drives business pivots around relationships as much as it does around price. Now more than ever, local commercial excellence remains principal to the segment’s success.

If you have the relationships, the products, and the support tools in place, then you can take share. Yaskawa has all three -- it is core to the company culture and is reflected in our market position today.

Going forward, in concert with our sales team, a key component of my job will be rekindling existing relationships while leveraging new channel opportunities. Retooling YAI’s strategy in a post-pandemic world is a once-in-a-lifetime challenge. It is a challenge I take very seriously.

During my first few weeks at Yaskawa, it was clear to me, the entire team, including the folks responsible for engineering and product development, are committed to the business’ success. They are deep into the details, and collectively, they understand the challenges involved in chasing the market leaders. And this was certainly not a surprise. YAI has always been a company committed to meeting and exceeding market requirements. The HV600 is a clear manifestation of this mindset. Going forward, no specification can box us out of the job. We got it covered.

The upcoming release of the ‘UL Type 12 Narrow’ in the spring demonstrates how even after product launch, YAI can pivot to meet shifting market requirements. To be clear, we need to continue evolving the product to meet both internal and external stakeholder expectations. YAI’s development journey with the HV600 is not over. After the UL Type 12 Narrow, we need to formulate an optimized NEMA 3R solution for HVAC.

I am beyond thrilled to be on board, 100% focused on HVAC drives.”