• Posted: December 1, 2022
• IBEW-NECA Technical Institute, James McGlynn Sr., McWilliams Electric Company, Safety

 

McWilliams Electric Company is celebrating 100 years of service to the Chicagoland area this year. Founded in 1922, McWilliams is a Schaumburg-based electrical contractor specializing in electrical construction, electrical engineering and maintenance.

Today, James J. McGlynn Sr. oversees the company as president and CEO and has worked to maintain McWilliams’ stellar reputation for over 48 years.

“We really pride ourselves on our reputation of the work we do or how we do it and the people we have. Most of our people have been here with us a long time,” said McGlynn Sr.

The importance of ‘safety always’

Part of McWilliams’ stellar reputation is due to their culture of safety. McWilliams emphasizes award-winning safety through all phases of construction, from beginning to end.

“My philosophy is safety always. It has to be always constant. And I even put safety always on our hard hats on the back,” said McGlynn Sr.

To ensure safety continues to be a top priority at McWilliams Electric, McGlynn Sr.’s son, Jerry McGlynn has maintained the company’s safety standards as the vice president of field operations and safety for over 20 years.

“It’s our employees that make us a safe company. When you think about safety, it’s everyone’s responsibility. Having the safety rating that we have makes us a better company than our competitors,” said McGlynn.

Giving back to the community they serve

Another piece of McWilliams Electric’s stellar reputation is the way its employees give back to the community.

Each year, McWilliams, in partnership with IBEW-NECA Technical Institute (IN-Tech), hosts the Special Olympics Construction Picnic to raise money to send area athletes to the Special Olympics Games.

“It’s so fulfilling to go out there and see when you go and have the program what you’re doing for these people and they need that kind of help and then there’s just not enough being done,” said McGlynn Sr..

Since the picnic’s inception in 1999, McWilliams Electric’s employees have raised $393,000 for the Illinois region of the Special Olympics.

More recently, McWilliams Electric generously donated their time and labor to install lights for the 109th Chicago Tree Lighting Ceremony at Millennium Park.

Looking ahead to the future

The leaders at McWilliams Electric see the last 100 years as just the beginning for McWilliams Electric Co.

“Having a celebration of 100 years is really a milestone. I’ve been looking at this for the last five years. When I said, ‘Wow, in 2022, we’re going to be 100 years old,’ and having a family business, even our employees are part of our family,” said McGlynn.

Its staff isn’t looking to wind down or scale back on the service they provide anytime soon, and the McGlynns give all the credit to their employees for making sure McWilliams Electric continues to thrive by providing the high-quality service they have been known for for the last century.

“We’re going to go on for another 100 years and it’s going to be the employees that make it the next hundred years,” said McGlynn.

To learn about McWilliams Electric’s philosophy, the services they offer and some of their most high-profile projects like the Argonne National Laboratory and the John G. Shedd Aquarium, visit their website.