District 8 Vice President Nominee Bob May

Robert May
Owner
A-C Electric, Inc.
Salt Lake City, UT
Intermountain Chapter, NECA

BACKGROUND
Bob May spent his young adulthood at the University of Utah for six years and seeing the world in the Navy for two years, then as a missionary in Japan for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He joined Salt Lake City’s JATC program in 1974, but his future with A-C Electric, the company started by his father, wasn’t a sure thing.

“At that time in Local 354, apprentices couldn’t work for their fathers,” May wrote. His father’s business partner at the time also had a son in Bob’s JATC class, “so they flipped a coin to see who would buy the other’s share of the company. My father won the coin flip (or lost, depending on how you look at it) and took ownership of the business.” May completed his apprenticeship in October 1978 and went to work at A-C Electric. Only two months after he started, May’s father suffered a heart attack. “Dad was not able to come back to work, but was very helpful in getting me started,” May wrote. “Here is it 2012, and A-C Electric is still around.”

COMPANY INFORMATION
A-C Electric was founded in 1964 by May’s father and three fellow electricians when the company they were working for went out of business. More hard times followed, and two of the co-founders left. In 1977, May’s father bought out his remaining partner’s share in the company. Today, A-C Electric primarily works in Utah, but has joint ventures with other NECA contractors in Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Montana. The company specializes in design/build, service work and industrial work at refineries and pipelines.

INVOLVEMENT WITH NECA
Over the years, May has served in every local office and on most of the committees for his chapter, including more than 25 years on the chapter Board of Directors and more than 20 years on his local negotiating committee.

May cites education, association with peers and negotiations assistance as the most important services NECA offers his company. “Going from apprentice to running a company in two months I did not know anything,” May said. “Dad had never attended a NECA meeting, but [he] was a member and believed in paying his share. I decided to go to a division meeting to see what we were sending money to.  I was surprised to find that I was accepted, and over the years, [I] received much tutoring and help from the older NECA contractors. They were always trying to help me be a better contractor. Why do I remain a NECA contractor? To keep learning, and maybe now I can help someone else.”

OUT OF THE OFFICE
May cheerfully claims to have married “the prettiest woman in all of Utah” and cites raising their five children as his proudest accomplishment.  May and his wife Julie have been married for 36 years and are active in many Church assignments. They love to travel and see different places. May takes full advantage of Utah’s beautiful landscape, climbing mountains, running rivers, and “spending as much time in the slot canyons of southern Utah as possible. Going four-wheeling in Moab with my four sons is always a highlight.”