When Marie Silva first agreed to help her partner, Tyler Voyles, get the business side of a small HVAC company running, she had no intention of staying. She had a career she loved — an engineering path that had taken her to Singapore, China, and boardrooms far removed from furnaces and ductwork. She figured she'd help out for a while.
That was six years ago. She's not going anywhere.
"Once I came in, I fell in love with small business," Silva says. "You can make a change and see the impact almost immediately. There were so many opportunities — things we could do for our employees that just hadn't been done before. I knew right away I wasn't leaving. They were stuck with me."
Nimmer Heating and Air Conditioning, based in the Milwaukee area of Wisconsin, was founded in 1986 by Mark and Patty Nimmer, with a truck, a toolbox, and a commitment to doing things right. Voyles spent 18 years working his way up through the company as an installer before buying the business from the Nimmers. He brought Silva in as his partner.
Together, they've doubled the company's revenue, grown from 41 to nearly 1,000 Google reviews (with a 4.9-star rating), and built a 13-person team with zero turnover through the ownership transition.
More Than Fixing Equipment
But ask Silva what Nimmer actually does, and she'll tell you it's not really about air conditioners.
"People think HVAC is about fixing furnaces and air conditioners. But most of what we actually do is leadership, communication, coaching — creating stability for our customers and our team. Our days are spent building systems, supporting people, and creating an environment where someone can build a career, not just punch a clock."
That mindset flows directly from the leadership philosophy Silva learned from a mentor early in her career: servant leadership.
"I'm a big believer in servant leadership — a mentor taught me that years ago, and it's shaped how I lead ever since. " she says. "Everything that comes from our employees is more personal and authentic. Our job doesn't exist without them. So the question is: how do we help them elevate? Because when they rise, everyone does. "
Letting Employees Lead
That philosophy shows up in concrete, tangible ways. When Nimmer employees wanted better compensation and performance tracking, Silva didn't just hand them a raise — she listened, then looked for a platform that could provide real-time data to make smarter decisions. That search led her to ServiceTitan.
"My two passions are my community and my employees. For my team, I wanted more than just a better spiff program," she says. "So I started building these manual, awful tracking sheets — and honestly, I was losing my mind," she laughs. "That's when I realized: without real-time data, you're really just making emotional guesses. ServiceTitan gives me the data to make better decisions — whether that's paying someone more or getting them on a better commission plan."
Since coming onto the platform, revenue has continued to climb.
One of the most striking expressions of the Nimmer culture is also one of the simplest: employees choose which charities the company supports. Every team member gets $200 per year to donate to a cause of their choosing. Once a year, the whole team rallies behind one selected charity and donates their time.
"Causes matter more when they come from the people inside your company," Silva explains. "Everyone's different — we all have different experiences and passions. What better way to show our employees we support them, not just in their work life but their personal life, than to make an impact on the causes that matter to them, together?"
A Dog Rescue and a Team That Showed Up
The results of that employee-led culture can be spontaneous and extraordinary. When an employee's partner — who fosters dogs for Woof Gang Rescue, a nonprofit outside Nimmer's service area — called to say the rescue had no air conditioning on a 90-degree day, the entire team mobilized without hesitation.
"We dropped everything," Silva recalls. "The office, the sales guy, the two installers — everyone moved so fast to help. We got the best deal we could from our distributor, donated the labor, and just got it done."
The story didn't end there.
"Since then, four people have actually switched their personal charity to Woof Gang," she says. "I adopted a dog from there myself six weeks ago. We're all connected now."
Getting to Students Before the Pressure Sets In
That impulse to invest in people extends well beyond the Nimmer team itself. For years, the company has been deeply involved in workforce development — not just hiring from trade schools, but reaching students long before they've made any decisions about their future.
"A lot of students don't realize the trades are an option until it's almost too late," Silva says. "We want to reach them before they feel pressure to go down a path that isn't right for them. Some incredibly talented young people are hands-on learners, problem solvers, future leaders — they just haven't had anyone show them what a career in the trades actually looks like."
Nimmer participates in Youth Apprenticeship Programs at multiple Milwaukee-area high schools, sends technicians to lead workshops, and sponsors career days at local middle schools. In 2023, the company received the Wisconsin Association of School Boards' Business Honor Roll Award for its support of local education.
Teaching the Skills That Can't Be Googled
Silva also serves on advisory boards at Waukesha County Technical College and Milwaukee Area Technical College, where she advocates for something that often surprises educators when she first brings it up: soft skills.
"My biggest focus when I first came in was: how are their communication skills? What's their professionalism like?" Silva says. "There are so many classes out there for technical training, which is great. But the only way you truly succeed in this industry is by focusing on soft skills too. If you can't communicate clearly with a customer, that's a bigger gap than most people coming into this industry expect. t — and it can be a real shock when you first come into the trades."
The investment pays off. Ryan Rush, a former Nimmer apprentice who joined straight out of high school, has become a clear example of what's possible when someone is given the chance to grow.
"He really showed us what a strong benchmark looks like," Silva says. "We learned just as much from him as he did from us."
Opening Doors for Women in the Trades
Silva is also an active member of Women in HVACR and Bryant Women in HVAC, and was recognized as one of the Top 30 Most Influential Women in HVACR nationally. She takes particular pride in Nimmer's first female field technician.
"So many decision-makers in the home are women, and when a female technician shows up, that changes the dynamic — the communication, the trust, the whole visit," Silva says. "She's proof of what's possible, and customers feel it. She gets so many preferred customer requests — people specifically ask for her by name."
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Rooted, on Purpose
"My only real pride is in being the best HVAC company for our employees," Silva says. "And how does that happen? You invest in the community — because we're all in this together. As family-owned, small businesses, we rise together — or not at all."
This rootedness is what she wants Nimmer to be known for above all else — not just as an HVAC company, but as a neighbor with purpose.
"We're in people's homes during stressful moments. We employ local families, we mentor students, and we support schools and organizations. Local businesses like Nimmer have a real responsibility to strengthen the communities we're in. That is our role. And that is our why."
The vision for the next five to ten years? Double the team. Push community involvement down to the elementary school level. Improve work-life balance so Wisconsin's brutal summers and winters aren't quite so relentless on technicians. And simply keep going.
"When people think of an HVAC company in the Milwaukee area," Silva says, "we want to be the name that comes to mind. The ones who show up."
Nimmer Heating and Air Conditioning is proof that when you put your people first, everything else follows.
Want to learn more about ServiceTitan’s Power the Nation initiative and the contractors making a difference across the country? Visit ServiceTitan’s Power the Nation home page.
