LiveWire
April 2022
Upcoming Events
April 4 - 9, 2022
Hotel Pullman Eiffel Tower
Paris, France
Greetings!

Please review this month's LiveWire newsletter. We hope you enjoy the local and national industry updates. As a reminder, every Monday we send an e-mail to the membership concerning upcoming events and every Thursday, we send an Industry Update e-mail. Also, we invite you to join us on Facebook and LinkedIn!   
April 5, 2022
Windy City Curling
Villa Park, IL

April 12, 2022
Drake Oak Brook Hotel
Oak Brook, IL
  
April 20, 2022
Chicago Department of Aviation
Commissioner Jamie Rhee - Guest Speaker
Truluck's Restaurant
Rosemont, IL

May 11, 2022
Mastro's Steakhouse
Chicago, IL
 
May 12, 2022
Registration is Closed!
Maggiano's Banquets
Oak Brook, IL
 
May 16 - 18, 2022
Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch
Scottsdale, AZ
 
May 23 - 24, 2022
Drake Oak Brook Hotel
Oak Brook, IL

May 23 - 25, 2022
JW Marriott San Antonio
San Antonio, TX

June 8 - 9, 2022
The American Club
Kohler, WI
 
June 12 - 15, 2022
The Broadmoor Resort
Colorado Springs, CO

September 21, 2022
ECA / NECA PAC Golf Outing
Dubs Dread #4
Cog Hill Golf & Country Club
ECA Membership Meeting
March 9, 2022

The Electrical Contractors' Association of City of Chicago (ECA) held its March Regular Membership Meeting on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 at Maggiano's Banquets in Oak Brook, IL. The luncheon program featured industry updates, and guest presentations from Josh Bone, Executive Director, ELECTRI International and Jessica Cardenas, NECA Executive Director, Development and Engagement.
 
Josh and Jessica updated the membership regarding ELECTRI International: the Chapter’s involvement, research projects - KPI, Document Crunch, new reports – Industrialization, student outreach, as well as the international seminars and business and cultural exchanges among contractors. 2022 funded research included the pre-development of an Electrical Contracting Industry Career Mapping Tool, Cybersecurity Education, growing Trade Partner use of Lean Construction methods, among other areas.
 
We thank Josh and Jessica for their time at the meeting!

Pictured from left to right are:
Eric Nixon, NECA Governor, Maron Electric Company,
Jessica Cardenas, NECA Executive Director
Development and Engagement,
Rick Jamerson, ECA President, Chapter rep. for ELECTRI, Jamerson & Bauwens Electrical Contractors, Inc., and
Josh Bone, Executive Director, ELECTRI International.
The ECA is on Facebook:
The ECA is on Linkedin:
Registration is open for the ECA Membership Meeting -
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
 
Please join us for the ECA Regular Membership Meeting. The luncheon program will feature industry updates, and a guest presentation from Chicago Department of Aviation Commission Jamie Rhee.
 
This luncheon event is scheduled as follows:

ECA Membership Meeting
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Truluck's Restaurant
9860 Berwyn Avenue
Rosemont, IL

Registration / Networking|
12:00 pm

Lunch
12:30 pm

Business Session
1:15 pm

Event Concludes 
2:00 pm
Pictured is Chicago Department of Aviation
Commissioner Jamie Rhee.
"Understanding Construction Accounting" Seminar
March 3, 2022

The Electrical Contractors' Association of City of Chicago (ECA) Research and Education Committee was pleased to have presented a seminar called, "Prefabrication and Preplanning for Construction." The seminar had over 30 registered and was conducted by Mark Federle, Marquette University. The program was held on Thursday, February 17, 2022 from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. at the Drake Oak Brook Hotel.

Following this course, participants will be able to:
  • Discuss the importance of preplanning
  • Identify planning strategies to improve productivity
  • Identify activities at each phase of the construction process to preplan
  • Utilize the benefits of activities such as prefabrication, lean construction, and building information modeling on preplanning
  • Identify tactics that can increase the amount of prefabrication you do

We thank Mr. Fedele for his time and expertise with the program!
Pictured is Dave O'Brien starting with
self-introductions of the attendees.
66th Annual Paddy's Day Luncheon
March 11, 2022

The 66th Annual Paddy's Day Luncheon was held on Friday, March 11, 2022 at the Chicago Hilton & Towers in Chicago! ECA member, Stefan Lopata, Kelso-Burnett Co. opened up the program, as he was the outgoing Big Shilelagh! Another highlight of this electrical industry celebration, was the presentation of the Francis P. Cummins Award. This year, the award was presented by former ECA Executive President, Mark Nemshick to two deserving recipients: Rick Jamerson, ECA President and Ken Bauwens, EIT Chairman - both of Jamerson & Bauwens Electrical Contractors, Inc. Congratulations to Stef on a job well done! Congratulations to Rick and Ken on receiving this prestigious award!
Pictured above from left to right are;
Ken Bauwens, EIT Chairman and Rick Jamerson, ECA President - both from Jamerson & Bauwens Electrical Contractors, Inc., and
Mark Nemshick, former ECA Executive Vice President.
ECA Young Professionals Events:
Town Hall - March 2, 2022
Windy City Curling - April 5, 2022

TOWN HALL MEETING - MARCH 2, 2022
The Young Professionals of ECA Chicago hosted a Town Hall style meeting featuring NECA CEO, David Long, and NECA's Vice-President of Industry Development, Lt. Gen. Ronald Bailey on March 2nd, 2022 at Harry Caray’s Steakhouse in Lombard. YP Chairman, Thomas Pedergnana, moderated the panel discussion and town hall style discussion for this event, which welcomed fifty ECA members. The questions posed to the panelists included items such as emerging trends that will affect electrical contractors over the next decade, advice for the next generation of leadership on self-development and increasing their value as an employee, and bringing more diversity to the construction industry.

David Long and Ron Bailey both provided some excellent advice to the members in attendance, and the great dialogue fostered an excellent interchange of ideas. The Young Professionals of ECA Chicago thank David Long and Lt. Gen Ron Bailey, for sharing their time and knowledge with members at this very informative event.
All young professionals working for ECA member companies are welcome to attend future meetings. Contact Carrie Spaeth (cspaeth@ecachicago.com) to have your name added to the list for future event notifications.
Pictured above is Thomas Pedergnana, Chair, ECA Young Professionals Committee, Malko Communication Services, LLC.
Please click below for a YP video.
WINDY CITY CURLING - APRIL 5, 2022
The Young Professionals of ECA Chicago are pleased to host their next event at Windy City Curling Club in Villa Park! Meet fellow members, and learn about this growing Olympic sport in a fun laid back experience. All Young Professionals working for ECA Member Companies are welcome to attend!
 
April 5, 2022 @ Windy City Curling Club
146 Roosevelt Road, in Villa Park - In the Villa Oaks Shopping Center, back of the mall
 
 
5:00p.m. - Networking, Food and Beverage
5:45pm - Short program led by YP Committee members to discuss content you would like to see incorporated into the 2022 Leadership Conference later this year.
6:15pm - Curling, kicked off by informational lesson by curling professionals. Group play to follow.
 
* Wear comfortable or athletic attire with gym shoes
WIN / FL Conference (3/14 - 3/16/22)
ECA Chicago was pleased to see a nice showing of members in Tampa for the first in person WINFL Conference since 2019. This Conference combines Women in NECA, as well as Future Leaders, from across the nation in three full days of education and breakout sessions, group discussions, and networking opportunities for all. Fifteen ECA members attended the Conference held at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, March 14-16, 2022, and gathered for a welcome dinner to kick off the event. Highlights of the Conference included General Session Speaker Carly Patterson (US Olympic Gold Medalist, Women’s Gymnastics), a Success Story shared by ECA Member Carrie Liberio (High Voltage Electric), many great break-out sessions led by Industry experts, a tour of MJM Electric, and the Closing event at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. 

Our Members that attended WINFL will have the opportunity to share their take-aways with our local membership at the Windy City Curling event April 5th, where the YP Committee plans to lead a discussion about education programs for the 2022 Leadership Conference to be held later this year.  
Pictured is the WIN / FL "Welcome Dinner" during the Conference.
NECA Legislative Conference
(3/28/22 - 3/30/22)
For the first time since 2019, the NECA National Legislative Conference was held "in-person" March 28–30 at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C. NECA contractors from around the country gathered for updates on Congress, electrical industry priorities, NECA’s lobbying and fundraising efforts, and more. Attendees heard from top guest speakers, and got an opportunity to have their voices heard by those on Capitol Hill. The Chicago & Cook County Chapter was also recognized for a number of PLC awards! We thank the many NECAPAC / PLC contributors. We thank those that were able to attend the Conference this year.
Pictured from left to right are Mark Mazur, MJM Electric, NECA
Political Leadership Council Chairman, Rick Jamerson, ECA President, Jamerson & Bauwens Electrical Contractors, Inc, and Mark Thomas, ECA Executive Vice President.
Pictured from left to right are:
Bill Cullen, ECA Executive Committee, Sharlen Electric Company; WC Schult, ECA Executive Committee, Super Electric Construction Company; Rick Jamerson, ECA President, Jamerson & Bauwens Electrical Contractors, Inc. and James McGlynn, Sr., ECA Legislative Committee Chair, McWilliams Electric Company, Inc.
CISCO Annual Meeting (3/11/22)
The Construction Industry Service Corporation (CISCO) held their Annual Meeting on Friday, March 11, 2022 at Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant in Schaumburg, IL. The event featured the presentation of the CISCO’s Pride in Construction Awards. In addition to the awards, two individuals and one entity were recognized as Educator of the Year, Public Body of the Year and Labor Advocate of the Year. Three of the six project winners included two ECA member firms and another NECA member firm. 

These are the project winners with the ECA / NECA members highlighted:

·        New Construction - Chicago (+$20m): Midway Security Checkpoint Expansion; GC - F.H. Paschen; Cook County.

·        New Construction - Suburbs (+ $20m): Forester Hotel; GC - William A. Randolph; Lake County.
·        New Construction - City/Suburbs (Under $20m): Kane County Multi-Use Facility; GC - R.C. Wegman; Kane County. Kane Co. facility – Scheffler Electric (NECA member)

·        I-294 Mile Long Bridge; GC - F. H. Paschen; Cook County. -- John Burns Construction (ECA)

·        Queen Bee School District Additions/Renovations; GC - Riley Construction; DuPage County.

·        Residential: Westerly; GC - James McHugh Construction; Cook County. – Aldridge Electric, Inc. (ECA)

Congratulations to all the award winners! 
Pictured is Dan Allen, CISCO Executive Director,
as he opened the meeting.
Pictured is Kwame Raoul, Illinois Attorney General,
as he made his presentation.
IMSCA Legislative Reception (3/22/22)

IMSCA’s last Board Meeting was held on Tuesday, March 22nd from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Sangamo Club in Springfield, IL. The Board meeting was held the same day prior to IMSCA’s 2022 Legislative Reception, which was held from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Sangamo Club. The special Reception event encouraged all IMSCA members to attend to discuss issues important to the Illinois construction industry with their legislators. We thank all that were able to participate with this event!
Pictured above is the IMSCA Board Meeting.
Pictured above is the start of the IMSCA Legislative Reception.
NECA Midwestern Region Spring Conference - June 12 - 15, 2022
 
The NECA Midwestern Region Conference is just around the corner! We hope that you are able to attend this event. The Midwestern Region, NECA has reserved a block of rooms for arrival between Friday, June 10, 2020 to departure on Thursday, June 16, 2022 on a first-come first-serve basis.  If you would like to attend the conference, on-line registration has begun. Please click on the link or visit www.necanet.org to register for this event. Also, please send a copy of your on-line transaction to the Association office.  This will allow us to have a record of your registration information should you need any assistance after registering, as well as aid us in reimbursement(s) and preparing for the Chapter event. Register soon, as rooms are going fast!

Chapter Event:
Monday, June 13, 2022
Donald Voss Room / Patio
Evening Reception & Dinner
 
Stipend Available:
The ECA Executive Committee approved the educational stipends of the Registration fees for up to two representatives and their guest and/or spouse, if applicable, of participating ECA member firms for the NECA Midwestern Region Conference on June 12 – 15, 2022.
Safety Update
CSC Update
For a listing of coursework available through the Construction Safety Council (CSC) for the month of March 2022, please visit:  www.buildsafe.org.

NECA Safety Professionals Conference
(May 16 - 18, 2022)
NECA's Safety Professionals Conference is being held May 16 - 18, 2022 at the Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, AZ. Attendees will experience three days of exceptional keynote speakers, from industry experts and safety leaders. The NSPC will also feature breakout sessions, ranging from Outside and Inside electrical construction to Risk Management, Risk Regulations and Mental Health.

Stipend Available:
The ECA Executive Committee approved the educational stipends of the Registration fees for up to two representatives and their guest and/or spouse, if applicable, of participating ECA member firms for the NECA Safety Professionals Conference on May 16 – 18, 2022.


CSC - ASA Construction Expo. & Safety Conference (March 7 - 8, 2022)
The Construction Safety Council (CSC) - Association of Subcontractors and Affiliates (ASA) 2022 Construction Expo & Safety Conference was held on March 7 - 8, 2022 in Oakbrook, Terrace, IL. The conference offered 24 expert sessions - from practical information on equipment to better leading your team to enhanced understanding of the business of safety. Garrison Wynn, a National Safety Consultant, gave a keynote presentation called, "Influencing Safety: What the Most Successful Safety Leaders Do Differently." The ECA was a proud Platinum Sponsor. Powering Chicago sponsored six of the special sessions. Bill Pineda, ECA Safety Committee, Director of Environmental Health & Safety, Kelso-Burnett Co. was on hand to introduce a number of those session. We thank Bill for his time at the Conference!
Pictured above is Bill Pineda, ECA Safety Committee, Director of Environmental Health & Safety, Kelso-Burnett Co., as he assisted with the "Edwin S. Rearick Construction Safety Forum."
Industry Statistics
Stay on top of monthly data for our industry: number of contractors active, quantity of people employed and total hours worked.
ECA 50th Annual Spring Conference
June 8 - 9, 2022
The American Club
Kohler, WI
Registration Closes April 29th!
The Electrical Contractors’ Association of City of Chicago (ECA) 50th Annual Spring Conference will be held on June 8-9, 2022 at The American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin. The American Club is one of the premier resort hotels in the country. It is the only AAA Five Diamond Resort in the Midwest. We’re sure that this is reason enough to attend this Conference. Wednesday night’s reception/dinner meeting will provide you with the latest information regarding industry events. The Thursday morning Business Session is to be determined. This conference is a great opportunity to catch up with what’s going on in this constantly changing industry.

CONFERENCE INFORMATION
Please plan to attend the Electrical Contractors’ Association 50th Annual Spring Conference. Listed below is a tentative schedule of events and a link to Register. You may also visit the ECA website at: www.ecachicago.com to register. In order to ensure room availability, please Register no later than April 29, 2022.
 
Please be aware that if you confirm for the one night’s stay and then cancel beyond the cut-off date you will be invoiced. The Association has had too many cancellations in the past and is then forced to pay for unoccupied rooms. Also, if you desire a night’s stay prior to or after the Conference, please contact the ECA, as soon as possible. Since rooms are based on availability, the ECA is unable to guarantee any extra date(s). You will be invoiced for any additional day(s). We remind you that this Conference is intended for the accredited representatives of all Association members. There is no fee to be paid for the golf outing, the meetings or the accommodations at The American Club. We do appreciate your understanding in these matters. We look forward to seeing you at the Electrical Contractors’ Association 50th Annual Spring Conference.

GOLF OUTING
If you’re registering for the golf outing, be sure to list your golf foursome request and starting time request. Tee times are to be confirmed at a later date.
 
DIRECTIONS (From Chicago : 144 miles)
The American Club, 419 Highland Drive, Kohler, Wisconsin 53044 ( 800) 344-2838
  • Take I-94 West to Interstate 43 North (89 miles).                                           
  • Take Interstate 43 North to Highway 23 West (53 miles to Exit 126).            
  • Take Highway 23 West 2/3 mile to County Trunk Y (once in Kohler, also known as Highland Drive). 
  • Exit South for just over a mile to the American Club.
 
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
The tentative schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
 
Breakfast
8:30 A.M. -
Blackwolf Run Clubhouse
Wolfpack / Bearclan Room
1111 West Riverside Drive
Kohler, WI 53044
 
Golf Outing
Tee Times are from 8:30 A.M. - 12:10 P.M
Meadow Valleys Course
 
Hotel Registration
4:00 P.M.
 
Reception
7:00 P.M. - Great Bay Foyer

Membership Dinner Meeting
7:45 P.M. - Great Bay Ballroom
Thursday, June 9, 2022
 
Breakfast
8:00 A.M. - Appley Theatre Foyer
The Appley Theatre is located
in the Carriage House
102 Orchard Road
Kohler, WI 53044
 
Business Session:
TBD
8:30 A.M. - 10:00 A.M.
Appley Theatre
 
 
Hotel Checkout
12:00 P.M.