OPINION — I wasn’t the kid teachers pointed to as a future CEO. Growing up in Sunnyslope and attending Sunnyslope High School, I earned C’s in most of my classes while my older brother brought home straight A’s.
What I excelled at was auto shop and metal shop, working with my hands, solving problems and building things. My neighbor, an IBEW union electrician, watched me work on cars one afternoon and told me I needed to be an electrician. That single conversation changed the direction of my life.
I completed a four-year apprenticeship at the Phoenix Electrical JATC, started my career at Palo Verde Nuclear Plant and became a journeyman electrician. From there, I spent decades working my way up, eventually becoming CEO of a $3 billion employee-owned company with 7,000 workers. All without a four-year college degree. That is what a registered apprenticeship can do.
