JWS restructures leadership, expands fire safety and HVAC services

Local commercial HVAC and refrigeration distributor JWS Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Ltd. has restructured its executive leadership team while expanding its specialized product and service lines to meet evolving regulatory demands and regional construction activity.

John Scragg, CEO of JWS Refrigeration, told the Journal the transition is part of long-term succession planning.

Abner "Cano" Collazo Cruz has been named general manager, taking over day-to-day operations in August after initially joining the company in December 2025 as assistant general manager.

Cruz, who has lived on Guam for 37 years, brings 25 years of hospitality management experience alongside background as a federal subcontractor and logistics manager.

Scragg, who has spearheaded the company for more than 54 years, said the leadership transition allows him to step back while ensuring business continuity. "I've tried to retire, and we had some difficulties finding a placement, but we were fortunate enough to have Cano apply for the job," Scragg said. "We already had Shelly [Martinez] in place as CFO, and I think the two of them enhance each other. Cano has been quite an eye-opener for me because he's done things that I used to do many years ago, but the concept is being expanded now. He's opened the doors for us in a lot of places."

Shellyann Santos Martinez, chief financial officer of JWS Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Ltd., originally joined the firm in September 2024 as general manager before transitioning into her executive finance role. Martinez said working at the operational level allowed her to understand the business from the ground up, ranging from departmental functions and personnel to project execution and daily logistics.

The executive leadership structure consists of a tri-member management group comprising Anthony "Tony" Scragg, vice president of JWS Guam and vice president and general manager of JWS CNMI, Martinez, and Cruz. John Scragg said Tony Scragg brings years of hands-on industry experience, while Martinez maintains financial oversight and keeps the firm abreast of current fiscal conditions.

Tony Scragg emphasized the firm’s long-standing footprint across the Mariana Islands, noting that JWS’s growth across HVAC sales, mechanical contracting, service maintenance, food service equipment, and refrigeration lays a solid foundation for regional expansion. "I am extremely proud of our JWS team in Guam and the CNMI," he said. "We've delivered outstanding projects for the military, local governments, and private sector clients.” Tony Scragg said he is excited about the future of the group.

Cruz said JWS is positioning itself to capture expanding commercial, healthcare, and defense construction projects across Guam in the next 12 to 18 months.

The company continues to represent major brand portfolios, including Dunham-Bush HVAC systems, supplying chillers, cooling towers, dedicated outdoor air systems, and air handling units, as well as commercial kitchen and food service equipment lines such as Lotte Refrigeration, Hoshizaki’s HDS/HD Sheldon, Manitowoc ice machines, True Manufacturing, and Hobart.

"We see a lot of opportunity, particularly with the military buildup, and we are continuously looking after those opportunities," Cruz said. As JWS takes on larger island infrastructure and commercial contracts, Martinez said that internal financial systems must scale alongside technical operations by strengthening internal controls, cash flow planning, and departmental cost visibility. "Sustainable growth means making sure the company has the people, processes, financial resources, controls, and infrastructure to support that revenue," Martinez said. "My responsibility from the financial side is to help determine how we can pursue those opportunities responsibly while protecting the financial strength of the company."

The company is also adapting to industry-wide refrigerant transitions mandated by updated federal environmental standards, shifting equipment lines toward alternative refrigerants such as R-454B to replace older compounds like R-410A. To support ongoing service requirements across the Marianas, JWS maintains a fully stocked inventory of all Freon types alongside a specialized parts department supplying components for both proprietary equipment lines and universal applications.

In addition to its core HVAC and refrigeration operations, JWS has launched a dedicated Passive Fire Protection division led by Ashton Williamson, passive fire protection specialist. The new division guides regional clients through structural code compliance and fire containment best practices, addressing unsealed penetrations in fire and smoke barriers created during routine maintenance, electrical re-cabling, or mechanical work.

"The catalyst is the lack of awareness to what it is on the island, and how that can compound into issues that, when they accumulate, can be detrimental, not only financially and liability-wise, but life safety-wise as well," Williamson said.

"Over the years, those smoke and fire barriers get punctured and breached with cables, cords, and ducts by multiple contractors... Those breaches are not filled back usually, and when they are, it's not done properly because it has to use a certain type of ASTM-tested material that withstands fire for a certain amount of time, applied in a UL-tested manner," he said.

Williamson emphasized that unaddressed barrier breaches pose severe financial and legal risks following a building fire. "If a fire ever breaks out... with the proper barriers in place, it will have limited the damage, allowed responders to get there in enough time to put it out, and people to escape safely," Williamson said. "But also, it will prove to inspectors that the facility met compliance, the barriers were intact, and that can help them not face any kind of charges for neglect... During an insurance claim, if you don't have that in place and your barriers don't hold up, you have nothing to prove that they were done properly. Your claim can get denied or at the very least knocked down greatly as far as the payout goes."

The division utilizes certified materials and holds specialized training certifications from manufacturers including STI Firestop, Hilti, 3M, Everchem, and Unique Fire Stop Products. Beyond standard wall and floor penetration seals, the division inspects and remediates egress pathways, fire extinguisher placements, open ceiling junction boxes, and rated ceiling grid membranes.

To streamline oversight, JWS provides facility managers with digital mapping software that records before-and-after photos, UL system specifications, and installation timestamps for every pin-marked penetration.

"It's mandatory to have passive fire protection," Williamson said. "It's required before you get the keys to your building, and it's under the conditions that you're going to maintain it for the life cycle of that building." mbj