Why I Launched Here

Berner International is a family-owned company that specializes in heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Founded by a Swede, it comes by its expertise honestly -- Sweden is a very cold country. Northern Europeans are way ahead of us still in energy conservation.

Erling Berner, my father-in-law, brought the technology to the U.S. in 1956. He was ahead of the curve when he started the air curtain company. Air curtains are used on factory, warehouse, retail and restaurant doors to prevent outside air from entering, and inside air from exiting. They help conserve energy. We also had Styrofoam production technology for insulation, which we sold to a conglomerate, and we still have an energy recovery equipment business. Berner is entrenched in energy conservation, which is a good place to be these days.

The seven-county area here has a lot going for it, and Pittsburgh is the star of western Pennsylvania. Everyone talks about Pittsburgh's universities, and of course they turn out well-educated students ready to go.

That's one side of the equation. The other is that there are lots of people here who know how to make things -- tradesmen and craftsmen. We too often overlook people who can make things. I need assemblers and equipment operators and welders, just as households need plumbers and carpenters. Pittsburgh has a wealth of those people. The cost of housing and services here is much less than elsewhere, so these workers can support a family quite nicely here. -Barbara Darrow.

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