It was 1998 when the lightbulb went off for Gary Gulu. He wanted to start his own electrical contracting business. It was a risk. Gulu only had his extensive electrical knowledge and a spare bedroom for his office manager to work in as a starting point. However, according to human resources manager and wife Kathi…
Jason Rubin never wants to miss a phone call. “My philosophy from day one has been to always answer your phone,” said Rubin, president of CR Electric, Inc. “If you take a job, you are responsible for getting that job done on time, making the customers happy and going to the next job.” Rubin first…
Girard’s CR Electric, Inc. stands by the slogan: “Electricity never sleeps, and neither do we.” According to Jason Rubin, company president, his employees are not the only ones who stay awake until the job is done. “My dad is a workaholic,” Rubin said. “I will walk into the CR Electric office at 6 a.m., and…
Joshua McGoogan, a mechanical engineering major at Youngstown State University, was awarded the first Mahoning Valley LMCC Scholarship through the Youngstown State University Foundation. The $1,000 scholarship is funded through a joint labor-management committee comprised of IBEW Local 64 of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association. Both organizations are…
For John Harnar, the secret to business success has everything to do with his team. “Keep them safe. Keep them working. Keep them happy,” the operations manager of Main Lite Electric said. “The rest is like dominoes.” Main Lite’s safe, working and happy employees have generated a great deal of success for the electrical contractor,…
Howard “Howdy” Friend, a World War II veteran, considers himself a lucky man. “The way I look at it, I was given over 70 extra years of life after the war,” said the 91-year-old Friend, a retired educator and administrator living in Poland. “I am appreciative of every opportunity that has come my way.” NECA-IBEW…
There is no greater feeling than sitting and watching a baseball game while an excited announcer describes the play. Thanks to the local NECA-IBEW Electricians and John Rafoth of Rafoth Electric, the Canfield High School baseball experience will be even stronger. NECA-IBEW Electricians recently contributed toward the construction of a new press box for the…
The folks at Girard’s CR Electric Inc. contributed their time and resources to the fight against cancer by powering the upcoming Liberty-McDonald Relay for Life event. This is not the first time that CR Electric has helped kick off a Relay for Life event. In fact, Jason Rubin, president, and the CR Electric team have…
As part of its sponsorship of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ Opening Day June 21, the NECA-IBEW Electricians are searching for a military veteran to throw the ceremonial first pitch of the season. The local association of Mahoning Valley signatory electrical contractors and IBEW locals launched a Facebook promotion this week at facebook.com/necaibewmv. To enter, Scrappers…
Local electricians Vincent Gould and Fred Beike will step off the job sites and onto the race course in the first annual Youngstown Marathon June 4. Beike, of Beaver Township, and Gould, of North Lima, who have participated in marathons in the past, are excited to run in the Youngstown Marathon and support their local…