Two women succeed with their own HVAC company: The male-dominated world of sheet metal contracting has not always been hospitable to female workers
Kim Mann was 19 when she started in the sheet metal trade, installing heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment for the now-defunct Apex Ventilating. She did a five-year apprenticeship and worked on some major projects such as First Indiana Plaza and Bank One Center. The president of Apex at the time, Phil Meyers, gave Mann the chance to be a forewoman. “He stuck me with some of the old, tough men, which taught me something,” Mann said. “At that time,…