The Illuminating Company Hires Graduates of Power Systems Institute at Tri-C

New line workers will work at sites across Northeast Ohio

The Illuminating Company has hired 24 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 third 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.

“Our PSI program develops top-quality, well-educated men and women for the electric utility industry,” said Mark A. Jones, regional president of The Illuminating Company. “We look forward to these graduates joining our workforce to help continue providing safe and reliable electric service for our customers.”

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

The new hires include Kevin Bacchi of Mentor; Lance Butler of Kingsville; Conner Cline of Cleveland Heights; James Cline of Conneaut; Mark Criss of Cleveland; Benjamin DeBottis of Sheffield Lake; Ryan Dybiec of North Royalton; Samuel Getz III of Cleveland Heights; Jacob Gregg of Strongsville; Andy Hespen of Sagamore Hills; Jerrod Johnston of Norton; Matthew Kocisko of North Royalton; Logan Krieg of Amherst; Andrew Kuharik of Painesville; Brandon Lindemann of Brunswick; Christopher Lockridge of Elyria; Collin Lorenz of Chardon; Robert Mohney of Willoughby; Mark Polinko of Columbia Station; Vincent Reynolds of Madison; Nicholas Savol of Sagamore Hills; William Scheffler of Parma; Jason Thompson of Twinsburg; and Brian Williams of Farmdale.

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 1,900 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 10, 2019

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