Peak Thermo King’s Scott DeWaal Wins Thermo King’s 2025 Top Tech Dealer Competition for Second Straight Year
Minneapolis, February 9, 2026 – Thermo King®, the transport refrigeration brand of global climate innovator Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT) crowned Scott DeWaal of Salt Lake City, Utah-based Peak Thermo King as its 2025 Top Tech Dealer competition winner. This was the second year DeWaal earned the honor.
The award was handed out at the company’s annual dealer principal meeting on January 29.
Thermo King launched the Top Tech Dealer Technician Competition in 2023 to demonstrate its commitment to training technicians and investing in a trade that is vital to the future of our industry. The competition shows the value skilled technicians offer and highlights the importance of ongoing recruitment to this important trade.
The contest has grown steadily each year, attracting 158 dealer technicians in 2025 - up 36% from 2024.
“Investment in our technicians is key to our success as a business and to keeping our customers – and the industry moving,” said Joey DeLoach, Dealer Development Leader, Thermo King Americas. “This skilled workforce is a necessity to protecting equipment health and delivering a gold-standard service that ensures food, medicines and all perishable assets are delivered safely.”
“The Top Tech Dealer competition spotlights the pride, skill and dedication our Thermo King dealership technicians demonstrate each day throughout or elite dealer network, and it strengthens our position as industry leaders,” continued DeLoach.
The Top Tech Dealer Technician competition consists of three increasingly challenging phases: a qualifier test, a virtually proctored and timed knowledge test, and an in-person, hands-on competition for the final 10 contestants held at Thermo King’s Bloomington, MN headquarters.
In the final round, technicians worked under pressure to troubleshoot, diagnose, and repair various refrigeration units and auxiliary power units while being timed and judged. The top three technicians won an all-expense-paid trip to Thermo King’s dealer principal meeting where the results were announced during the awards banquet.
DeWaal earned $10,000 and a ‘Dynasty Wrench’ trophy which he will present to the 2026 Top Tech winner.
Placing second and third respectively were Aaron Hunt from CSTK East (Philadelphia, PA) and Josh Carpenter from Thermo King Eastern Canada (Toronto).
About Thermo King
Thermo King® – by Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT), a global climate innovator – is a worldwide leader in sustainable transport temperature control solutions. Thermo King has been providing transport temperature control solutions for a variety of applications, including trailers, truck bodies, buses, air, shipboard containers, and railway cars since 1938. For more information, visit thermoking.com or tranetechnologies.com.
