The Illuminating Company Hires Graduates From Power Systems Institute Training Program at Tri-C

New line workers will work at sites across Northeast Ohio

The Illuminating Company has hired 27 graduates of the company’s utility worker training program at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance service reliability for Northeast Ohio customers. 

The new line workers represent the second graduating class since the company reinstituted the award-winning Power Systems Institute (PSI) training program at Tri-C in 2014. The program is a partnership between the College and The Illuminating Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp.

The two-year program combines hands-on utility skills training at an Illuminating Company facility in Brooklyn with technical coursework taught in Tri-C classrooms. Graduates earn an Associate of Technical Studies degree with a focus on electric power utility technology.

“The PSI program remains the best way to add well-trained, highly skilled employees to our workforce,” said John Skory, regional president of The Illuminating Company.  “The rigorous classwork and experience gained in the field by working with veteran line personnel help our new workers ensure safe and reliable electric service for our customers into the future.”

The graduates will work for The Illuminating Company at various locations across Northeast Ohio.

The new hires include Phillip Bero of Rocky River; Brian Bevins of Jefferson; Jacob Blick of Austintown; Adam Boone of Painesville; Trevor Bruce of Stow; Thomas Busa of Bay Village; Ryan Hall of Montville; Sean Hamilton of Conneaut; Mark Hickle of Strongsville; Thomas Holowecky of Avon; Anthony Hudson of Alliance; Christopher McKenzie of Grafton; Austin Nagel of Avon; Charles Pearce of Mayfield Heights; Shaun Perry of Broadview Heights; Justin Preziuso of Chardon; Nicholas Ricci, Jr. of Parma; Ryan Savage of Boardman; Karl Scheffler of Cleveland; James Schuster of Avon; Jacob Smolik of North Royalton; Josiah Swanson of Mentor-on-the-Lake; Brendan Teets of Westlake; Jacob Theobald of Parma Heights; Brandon Urig of Grafton; Alex Wyatt of Sagamore Hills; and Nicklaus Zink of Bay Village.

FirstEnergy originally introduced the PSI in 2000 to prepare the company’s next generation of utility line and substation workers. Programs were established at colleges throughout the company’s six-state service area, including Tri-C.

Since the program’s inception, FirstEnergy has hired more than 1,700 line and substation personnel who completed PSI programs in Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

For information on the program, visit www.firstenergycorp.com/psi or call 800-829-6801.

June 14, 2018

John Horton, 216-987-4281 john.horton@tri-c.edu