1936-2019
John A. Penney
His story is a great American success story.
John A. Penney spent his childhood, the son of a tradesman in Dorchester and attended trade school in Charlestown. In 1955 he entered the IBEW Local 103 apprenticeship program and earned his Journeyman license beginning his career as a union electrician. Early in his career he worked his way up at a large national electrical contractor, Fischbach and Moore, becoming a Foreman, then General Foreman.
John A. Penney founded the John A. Penney Company, Inc. in 1973.
One of his early customers was the Christian Science Church, which John A. Penney Company continues to serve to this day. In 1973 John also joined the Boston Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association. This began a relationship that had a significant impact on the Electrical Industry in the Greater Boston Area as well as much of New England.
John served as the General Foreman on the Christian Science Center’s Campus Expansion in the late 60’s into the early 70’s. John eventually became a Master Electrician as well as learning estimating and project management. Soon after the completion of the project at the Christian Science Center, he used what he had learned to start the John A. Penney Company.
John Penney’s lasting legacy is his service to the industry as a whole during the latter half of his career.
John was among the Boston Chapter of NECA’s most dedicated and active members having served on the Board of Directors for 31 years making him the longest serving member. He twice served as President of the Chapter in 90-91 and 00-01 and also as Governor in 92-93 and 02-03. John’s commitment and contributions to positive labor/management relations is unsurpassed. He served on and chaired dozens of negotiating committees, trust fund committees, and the JATC. As Chairman of the JATC, John was instrumental in negotiating the trust agreement in 1988 which led to the construction of the nationally renowned Industry Training Center, which to this day continues to be the backbone of the organized electrical industry in greater Boston.
As a management trustee on the trust funds in the early 90’s John played a key role in the construction of a new trust fund office and in the merger of three former IBEW locals into Local 103. From 2003 to 2005 he served on the Council on Industrial Relations which settled labor disputes from around the country. For these and many other Industry contributions Mr. Penney was honored with induction into NECA’s Academy of Electrical Contracting in 2000.
Under his leadership the Company has built, renovated, and maintained many of the area’s most notable buildings such as 111 Huntington Ave., The Prudential Center, The John Hancock Tower, Atlantic Wharf, 60 State Street, One Federal Street, One Post Office Square, and the HUB on Causeway, just to name a few.
