Stories
Stories
An Electrifying Tale
Topics: Engineering-Machinery and MachiningManagement-Business or Company ManagementPrior to earning her MBA, Maryanne Cataldo (MBA 92) decided to leave Washington, D.C., and her job as an economist in order to plug into a different career. She moved to Boston and joined an electrical workers union as an apprentice. I said, Now that sounds like a fulfilling way to make a living. Ill put up lights, and at the end of every day, Ill say I did that and Ill be proud, Cataldo told the Boston Business Journal (June 1319, 2003). Of her five years spent working union jobs by day and attending trade school at night, she explained that it was sheer adrenaline that got me through it, because my family was absolutely mortified.
In 1989, out of the remains of a bankrupt commercial electric company for which she worked, Cataldo started City Lights Electrical Company. The company grew modestly while she was earning her MBA; when she returned to it full-time, she built it into an operation that now boasts 135 employees and anticipated 2003 revenues of $45 million. As Bostons Big Dig, a prime revenue source, winds down, City Lights is expanding to other parts of the country. The company has also launched a subsidiary, iSYS, that focuses on intelligent systems fire alarm, security, and data lines which is expected to grow to $10 million.
For the employees, a stock ownership plan is in the works. I want it to be a flourishing company that Ill feel really proud of twenty years from now, Cataldo said.
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