Tag Archives: mahoning valley







VEC provides voice of “Apprentices as Future Leaders” at NECA Convention


For the last five years, the VEC, Inc. team has attended annual NECA Conventions across the country to learn and grow as a company while also presenting their own expertise to peers on a national level through breakout session speaking opportunities. This past October, Mike Reiser, vice president for the Industrial Division, and Bruno Frate, […]

female electrician shows boys how to bend pipe

Skilled Trades Expo boosts electrician apprentice recruiting efforts


Students from across the Mahoning Valley were tradespeople for a day at the Skilled Trades Expo on Sept. 21 and 22, learning hands-on and interacting with workers to learn about opportunities in the building and construction industry. NECA-IBEW Electricians were represented by the Warren and Youngstown training centers, current apprentices and representative contractors who introduced […]

“Joe” Dickey Electric powers Akron Children’s ER expansion


Driving along Market Street in Boardman, work on Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley has been ongoing for about a year. While still seeing patients, an emergency room expansion project is underway, with “Joe” Dickey Electric running the electrical lines throughout the new space. Going with the flow Kurt Eisenbraun is job foreman for Dickey Electric. […]

Tom Lipka stands in office.

No bluffing. NECA’s Tom Lipka out-plays 90% of the WSOP field


Leveraging 20 years of experience as an attorney, Tom Lipka has developed a set of people-reading skills that have proved useful both inside and outside the office. The executive director of the Mahoning Valley NECA chapter practiced law before transitioning to the electrical industry in 2019. “The ability to maintain an emotionless appearance and to […]

Sparking an interest in electrical industry careers at the 2021 Skilled Trades Expo


Beating the heat one day and braving brisk temperatures the next, thousands of students from local high schools attended the Mahoning Valley Skilled Trades Expo in Canfield. Held at the Canfield Fairgrounds Sept. 22-23, the expo was an opportunity for middle school and high school students to start the conversation about joining a trade after […]

Rod Cushman

LMCC, IBEW Local 64 support one of their own in cancer battle


In late summer of 2020, Rod Cushman, co-owner of Liberty Electric, was blind-sided when a trip to the dentist for what he thought was an impacted tooth turned into CAT Scans, PET Scans, ultrasounds and ultimately a diagnosis of an aggressive cancer of unknown origin. Several weeks later, Rod found himself in Cleveland Clinic for […]

rescue mission jobsite

Job satisfaction x10; Rescue Mission takes shape with Dickey Electric on board


Part of the attractiveness of the building trades profession is the sense of pride you get from bringing blueprints to life and actually creating something tangible. Take a drive around town with an electrician and watch them beam when you pass a building they had a hand in constructing. Then multiply that emotion by 10 […]

Dan Santon raising flag

Santon Electric dedicates memorial to pandemic heroes, veterans, safety forces


It started out innocently enough three years ago as a patriotic gesture to add a flagpole to a highly trafficked corner of his Boardman business’ property. But after the pandemic hit, Dan Santon set his sights on grander plans. “When COVID-19 hit I felt it needed to be more than that,” the longtime owner of […]

Tri area YSU mfg

New manufacturing training center on YSU campus has Tri-Area’s footprint on it


Tri-Area Electric has a major hand in one of the latest high-profile additions to the Youngstown State University campus; a building that will bridge the Mahoning Valley into the next generation of manufacturing technology. YSU’s Excellence Training Center on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Commerce Street is a $12 million project earmarked for completion […]

NECA-IBEW awards two scholarships to children of Local 64 members


Two applicants for the Youngstown LMCC’s sponsored scholarship went home winners this academic year. It’s the first time in the short history of the organization’s funding of a Youngstown State University $1,000 scholarship that it was awarded to more than one student. “There were two candidates whose applications rose to the top and the committee […]