Learn What the Recipient of NESPA's Highest Service Honor is Doing for the Labor Shortage

For Sheryl Heather, earning the Northeast Spa and Pool Association’s Paulette Pitrak Above and Beyond Award has a definite personal component.

“I still mourn her loss — not just for me but for our industry and the people who didn’t have a chance to meet her,” Heather says of the award’s namesake, NESPA’s beloved deputy executive director, who passed away in 2016 after 24 years with the organization.

“To have her as a friend and mentor, just to be able to call and say, ‘Paulette, I have a really stupid question,’ and to have her say, ‘I’m going to give you a really stupid answer’... To receive this means so much to me.”

Heather’s journey as head of Spring & Summer Activities, based in Hampton Bay, N.Y., has been marked by tragedy. But with the help of fellow NESPA members and staff such as Pitrak, she evolved into one of the most impactful leaders in the organization.

Baptism by fire

Like so many pool/spa professionals, Heather became involved in the industry through family — in this case, her husband, John Heather, who started Spring & Summer Activities about 40 years ago.

Sheryl Heather, with a background in advertising and marketing, participated in various ways. She helped set up the retail operation and later managed service. Eventually, she became involved full-time.

“About 20 years ago he needed a manager, and I hired myself,” she says jokingly.

But the Monday before Memorial Day weekend, 2005, John Heather passed away unexpectedly. This is the Hamptons, a resort town that kicks into high gear that weekend. Heather had little to no experience in construction, since her husband handled that. So she had to learn fast.

“[It was] a little bit of a baptism by fire,” she says.

She credits a stellar staff and the many friends that she made through NESPA. “Friendly competitors in our area called and said, ‘Any way I can help you, please let me know,’” she recalls.

Heather took classes, learned from her staff and spent time watching her friends’ crews. “I didn’t go in [my company’s] truck, but just in my own car to sit on job sites for the day to learn,” she says.

Fortunately, her experience in media sales and management helped with the other aspects of the business.

“Those skills can translate to other industries,” she says. “If you have that good customer-service mindset, that sets you up for the swimming pool business, which is 110% customer service.”

Company evolution

Every new leader ushers in a new era for their company, and Heather was no exception. Since taking over, she has made some foundational changes.

For instance, she worked on streamlining and focusing the firm on its core competencies. She began to rely more on subcontractors, and she closed the retail division. Heather knew what would be required to compete with websites and big box stores, and decided it was not suitable for her business model. She channeled the energy and resources to growing service and construction. “That was the biggest and most difficult change that I made,” she says.

A recent development may have even further-reaching implications. The company recently merged with the Chaikin Ultimate Group, another local builder and service firm. Spring & Summer Activities will continue under its original brand, with Heather and her staff staying on board in its Eastern Long Island location, while Chaikin Ultimate Pools works out of its facilities in the western part of Long Island. Not only does the deal expand Chaikin Ultimate Group to the other side of Long Island, but it carries the company into the vinyl-liner market.

Driving Progress

For Heather, transitioning to leadership roles in NESPA and its Long Island chapter came as a natural outgrowth of her experience with her company.

She has served on the LIPSA board since 2008, and currently chairs NESPA’s Programs and Services Committee, which oversees membership benefits.

However, she was honored for her work helping through the pandemic and implementing solutions to the labor shortage. These contributions came in part from her affiliation with groups outside the industry. As executive director of the Southampton Business Alliance, she maintains

government contacts who helped her gather information during the pandemic’s beginnings. At a time when things changed daily, she quickly funneled updates to colleagues about the industry’s essential status and shifts in operational requirements.

“There was a small group of us with LIPSA and NESPA who were working on this everyday,” she says. “As soon as we got information confirmed, we were getting it out to [the local industry].”

Her work addressing the industry’s biggest problem — the labor shortage — was the kicker in garnering NESPA’s highest service recognition.

For several years, the Southampton Business Alliance provided scholarships to students working toward a four-year business degree. But Heather and others from the construction trades explained their severe labor shortages, so the group decided to focus on scholarships for students working toward two-year degrees and certifications in those fields. But there were no takers in the township’s five high schools. “Everybody’s pushing their kids to get the four-year degree,” Heather says.

Then an associate suggested working with the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), an organization that collaborates with New York school districts to provide, among other things, technical and trade training. To participate in certain BOCES programs, youngsters must provide their own uniforms and toolboxes, which can become cost-prohibitive. So the Southampton Business Alliance began providing tool kits to every high schooler who studies trades through BOCES. Letters of gratitude have come from several students who otherwise may not have been able to attend.

Heather wanted to see that kind of progress in NESPA’s workforce development efforts targeted at drawing younger people. “You need to get young people while they’re still in high school to see that this could be a career — an exciting and very lucrative career,” she says.

Through her newfound BOCES connections, Heather and other NESPA representatives got their foot in the door, and worked with the organization to initiate a pool/spa training program. “I got to know the director of our regional BOCES, and I really bugged her until she sat down and had a meeting with us,” she says.

While the ultimate goal is to reach high schoolers, BOCES’ adult education program provides the easiest entrée at this point. This spring, a technical class in basic pool maintenance will be provided through the adult education arm at one of the regional BOCES’ in Long Island.

“We’re starting out with this baby step on Long Island, and we’re excited about it,” Heather says. “We are going to expand that and work on it until we get some classes in the high school tech program.”

As far as Heather is concerned, her commitment to these issues goes back to those days when she was most in need:

“The help that I got from [Long Island Pool and Spa Association] members when I needed it is a big motivation for why it’s my pleasure to give back now.”