Introducing District 3 Vice President Lanny Thomas
Lanny S. Thomas
President
Allison-Smith Company
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Chapter, NECA
BACKGROUND
Thomas began his career as a design engineer after graduating from Georgia Tech with a degree in electrical engineering in 1974. His design experience included retail, high rise, rail transportation terminals, high voltage distribution, convention centers and shopping malls. In 1979, he started his career in electrical contracting at Eckardt Electric Co., where he focused on replacing power systems in Southern Bell central offices as part of the conversion from analog to digital telephone equipment. In 1983, Thomas moved to Jacksonville, Fla., to work for White Electrical where he enjoyed an introduction to industrial work, prior to joining Allison-Smith Co. in 1986.
COMPANY INFORMATION
Allison-Smith Co. was founded in 1943 as Brooks Allison Co. In 1972, Mr. Brooks and Mr. Allison amicably divided their interest as they had developed two different types of business. The Brooks portion still exists as NECA contractor Brooks Berry Haynie Co., managed by Alex Owen, current governor of the Atlanta Chapter, NECA. Allison-Smith Co. was later managed by Mr. Allison’s son, Bob, and in 1990, the company was acquired by Bob Allison, David Cartwright, and Thomas. Today, the company is employee-owned, with 13 individuals owning stock. Allison-Smith Co. has grown along with the Atlanta skyline, while also completing national and international projects. The company has a diversified portfolio, including commercial high-rise buildings, sports facilities, voice data, data centers, industrial, retail, high end residential and interior commercial office space.
INVOLVEMENT WITH NECA
Allison-Smith Co. was encouraged to re-join NECA in the late 1980s, and Thomas agreed to serve as the accredited rep. He soon became a director on the board of the Atlanta Chapter, NECA, going on to serve as chapter treasurer, president, chairman and governor. Thomas was also a trustee on the chapter’s health and pension committee and later served as chairman of that board and on his local Labor Management Committee. Nationally, he has been a member of the Manpower Development Committee, the Technology Committee, CIR, and the Governance task force.
“I was truly reluctant in the beginning [to get involved with NECA] because I was a project manager not a business owner,” Thomas said. “As I continued to serve, I began to realize the significance of the committees that NECA supported. Health and Pension affected the lives and future of thousands of employees. Labor Management provided a place for dispute resolution and contract negotiations that were vital to our success, and the JATC mapped the future of the industry by the success of its graduates. In addition, the friendships made and travel experiences became priceless.”
OUT OF THE OFFICE
Lanny is married to Susan Skinner Thomas, “who routinely beats me at golf and if not for her encouragement, I would have given it up some time ago.” Lanny also largely credits Susan, an architect, arborist, timber farmer, and real estate investor, with the successes of their two children, daughter Page, who is preparing to enter pharmacy school, and son Brightman, who is in the landscape architecture graduate program at the University of Florida.
When not at work, Lanny spends as much time outdoors as possible, hunting pheasant, deer, or elk in the fall, quail in the winter, and his true passion, turkey hunting in the spring. He also collects books on hunting from the early 1900s to 1960s written by Archibald Rutledge, a former poet laureate of South Carolina.
Susan and Lanny enjoy traveling, but when they want to relax, they head for the beaches of the Golden Isles of the coast of Georgia.