NECA

Jack McCormick Earns ELECTRI International’s Wendt Award

ELECTRI International-The Foundation for Electrical Construction, Inc. has selected Jack McCormick, a former electrical contractor and founder of a leading company providing estimating software for electrical construction, as one of the 2009 recipients of its prestigious Wendt Award. The award, which recognizes exemplary leadership and service to the electrical industry, is the highest form of tribute bestowed annually by the research organization and is named in honor of the philosophical and financial commitments made to the industry by one of its premier members, Albert G. Wendt, president of Cannon & Wendt Electric in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jack McCormick and McCormick Systems have been involved with ELECTRI International since 1992 when he committed more than $250,000 to the Foundation and his firm became the first software developer to gain a seat on the ELECTRI Council at the Regents level. Council members analyze industry trends and issues, review project proposals submitted by universities and research institutes, recommend major initiatives for project funding, and serve on appropriate task forces to guide each commissioned project from start to finish. McCormick’s support for our industry’s research arm has since doubled, and the firm was elevated to the Program Guarantor level on the Council earlier this year.

This spring, McCormick Systems made an additional $100,000 cash investment in ELECTRI International to support both its new Transmission & Distribution Enterprise, a dedicated fund within the Research Center that focuses on research and education for line constructors, and the Education Center. (The Research Center commissions industry-specific, contractor-relevant, current research from universities and research institutes across the country. The Education Center provides funding to transform sponsored research into concrete learning programs for NECA contractors and their management personnel.)

When making this gift, Jack McCormick said, “Over the years, there have been a number of proposed projects that would have been beneficial for line contractors, but there’s only so much project money to go around. We serve both the inside and outside parts of this industry, so it’s a natural fit for McCormick to put money into this new dedicated fund.”  McCormick Systems is the first electrical construction industry partner to make an investment in the ELECTRI International T & D Enterprise.

At the same time, McCormick announced that his company had made “an in-kind investment of close to $900,000 by giving colleges and universities access to our software” so students can be trained in estimating electrical construction and subsequently serve the project management needs of the electrical contracting industry in their future careers. He said McCormick Systems Inc. will continue to work with the Foundation to provide estimating software and companion education/training to institutions across the country.

Realizing a boyhood dream to harness the power electricity, McCormick first entered our industry as an apprentice at NECA-member-firm LH Morris in Oregon 50 years ago. He subsequently became a journeyman, foreman, supervisor and, eventually, an electrical contractor. He launched McCormick Electric in Eugene, Oregon, in 1973 and brought the company into NECA’s Oregon-Pacific-Cascade Chapter two years later.

McCormick credits a NECA-sponsored seminar on the use of computers in electrical contracting in those early days for inspiring his decision to develop estimating software. He credits his fellow electrical contractors in the local NECA chapter for providing the sounding board and encouragement that helped him perfect his innovative idea. In 1978, he and three partners formed Estimating Systems Incorporated.

Over the next few months, the company made its first sale — to NECA-member Consolidated Electric of St. Louis, Missouri. In addition, it made its first appearance as an exhibitor at the NECA Show (In 1979 in Las Vegas) and underwent a name change. It also introduced a new concept that moved estimating from a large mainframe to a personal computer (an Apple with 10k of memory). In 1981, McCormick Systems was honored by NECA at our exposition in Miami with a special award for providing the first affordable estimating software on a mini-computer.

Over the years, the company has continued to grow and improve and expand its estimating software. And, it has continued to support NECA and the electrical contracting industry in several ways in addition to contributing to the Foundation’s research and education agenda. For example, McCormick Systems has participated in every NECA Show since 1979 and has also consistently invested its advertising dollar with NECA’s ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR magazine throughout the past three decades.

More recently, Jack McCormick has transitioned company management to his eldest son Todd, who is also an ardent supporter of NECA and the research organization our association established, and has directed his attention to humanitarian efforts. He is now involved with the Baja Bush Pilots, a group which conducts search and rescue operations and provides disaster relief in countries south of the border. So, these days, when not home with Karaen, his wife of 50 years, at his ranch in northern Arizona, Jack McCormick may be flying his twin-engine Aero Commander over Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama ... or wherever help is needed.