Contractor Industry Experts and Advisors

This page highlights some of CONTRACTOR's regular content contributors who are also experts in the plumbing, mechanical, hydronic heating and fire sprinkler industries. Browse the list, view their content, and connect with them.

Al Schwartz
Founder, Sunflower Plumbing & Heating

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born author is a third-generation master plumber. He founded Sunflower Plumbing & Heating in Shirley, N.Y., in 1975 and A Professional Commercial Plumbing Inc. in Phoenix in 1980. He holds residential, commercial, industrial and solar plumbing licenses and is certified in welding, clean rooms, polypropylene gas fusion and medical gas piping.

Matt Michel
Founder/CEO, Service Roundtable and Service Nation Alliance

Matt Michel has worked in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry for his entire professional life, with experience in R&D, manufacturing, sales, and marketing. Since 2002, his career has been dedicated to improving the success potential of HVAC, plumbing and electrical contractors, as co-founder and CEO of The Service Nation Alliance and Service Roundtable, the world’s largest private contractor business alliance, with members in all 50 states, most of Canada, and around the world.

Kelly Faloon

Faloon Editorial Services

Kelly Faloon is a contributing editor and writer to HPAC Engineering magazine. The former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical magazine, Faloon has nearly 20 years experience in the plumbing and heating industry. She started a freelance business in 2017, where she has a varied clientele. A native of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Faloon is a journalism graduate of Michigan State University.

Steve Swanson
Customer Trainer at Uponor Academy

Steve Swanson is the customer trainer at Uponor Academy. He holds numerous certifications, including Hydronic Heating and Cooling instructor, CEU Instructor for the States of Michigan and Minnesota, and Ground Source Heat Pump Installer. He has a lifetime achievement award from the Minnesota Multihousing Assocation.