NETWORKWOMEN.COM: COVER STORY, NOVEMBER, 2000

NOVEMBER, 2000 COVER STORY
VERONICA ROSE

Master Electrician, President and CEO, Aurora Electric

BY REGINA MARCAZZO

When Aurora Electric Inc. Chief Executive Officer and President Veronica Rose realized her career as a journeywoman electrician promised little for the future, she opted to start her own company and take matters into her own hands. Running the Jamaica-based electrical contracting firm is about more than making money. "All I'm trying to do is level the playing field," said Rose, who was the first female electrician to hold a New York City Master Electrician License.

Being a female in the field has never been easy. Rose was so impressed with the phenomenon that she wrote an essay on the subject. "He is president of the firm. He worked hard to come up through the ranks. She is president of the firm. Her husband must run the company and she is the bookkeeper. He is running a successful firm. He must be a good electrician and businessman. She is running a successful firm. She must be using the affirmative action quotas to get work," reads part of the piece, Impressions from a Job Site.

While everything she wrote actually happened to her, Rose never let being a woman stop her from moving forward. Her experiences just made her more determined, not only for herself but also for others. "They always thought you were less. It hasn't changed at all," said Rose, who no longer has problems being a female electrician since she's the boss. "After realizing the only way I could have a significant impact on changing the future for women in the blue collar trades was if I signed the checks and set the protocol for the site, I became a contractor," she said.Rose doesn't just look out for her own treatment. She has been a guest speaker at many events aimed at women in the work force, especially in the non-traditional trades. Aurora Electric Inc. was incorporated in September 1993 with Rose starting as the sole employee working weekends during her time off from a full-time job. "I picked the perfect time to go into business," she said, noting how the economy was still slow enough to give her time to get her business in order.

Today Rose likes working the best jobs. "I don't want to work for every client in the world," she said. Aurora has done business with General Electric, Columbia University and NBC in Rockefeller Center. She is currently working at the New York Botanical Gardens and loving it. "I want the clients that pay and the clients that have the procedures and reputations to run a really good project." Other contracts include an automated cargo system for Rapistan Demag at the new Korean air cargo building at John F. Kennedy International Airport and the first of nine stations being built for the light rail that will connect the Jamaica Station with the airport. The pride and joy of the firm's projects to date is the new wireless voice and data system being installed at Newark, JFK and LaGuardia Airports. The new technology is being installed at every passenger terminal in all three airports. Rose has doubled revenues each year and at the end of 2000 will pass the $4-million mark. Her earnings are a far cry from the $18,000 she made her first year in business. Over the past half dozen years, the electrician has learned a lot about the world of business. "I know my clients get such a kick out of the fact that I can not only go over design and paperwork but can do design and engineering," she said, during a Sunday afternoon interview that took her away from something she misses, getting her hands dirty doing the electrical work herself. Hard work is something Rose has been used to since she was a girl bailing hay and picking soybeans during her childhood summers. The oldest of five spent her growing years bouncing around the country as the daughter of a power plant engineer.

Rose entered the world of electricity at just the right time since, as a woman, she was able to join the electricians union after a change in legislation during the President Carter years. It was right after high school that she took part in a program that reimbursed the union for education and job training. Her decision to become an electrician was spurred by guidance from her father who advised that if she were going to work outside the home she aim at a profession that paid the wages of a man. After researching a number of union-type fields, Rose chose electricity. Rose served her apprenticeship and early training as an electrician in Phoenix, Arizona, starting her career as an electrician in 1978. She later relocated to New York and from 1983 through 1995 worked in the Local number 3 jurisdiction with experience including work with L.K. Comstock, Arc Electric and Fischbach and Moore, Inc., where she worked for over 10 years. Rose started her own company after 15 years of working for others. "I was just frustrated with the fact that I was never going to be anything more than a journeywoman electrician," she said. Her decision was well accepted with family members standing strongly behind her. "I couldn't ask for any better support," she said. "He started doing the grocery shopping, he started picking up the dry cleaning," Rose said of her husband, who is also an electrician. Rose started the company in 1993 as the only employee out working weekends while still employed full time. It was in 1996 that she took the "plunge" and worked for herself solely hiring her first two employees in February. "I knew how to do electrical work but I didn't know business. Now I had to figure out who to order the materials from," she said, noting that it took her several years to learn administration and bidding. Getting customers was not a difficult task since Rose had been in the field for over a decade. Her former employer Fischbach and Moore, Inc. downsized and left the New York market. When Rose asked if she could approach their area customers she was given the go ahead.

Aurora Electric currently employs eight and uses anywhere from 30 and 50 union electricians working in the field. "We do a lot of the intelligence systems at the airports," said Rose, who is dealing with more than a dozen projects at any given time specializing in data, communication and electrical installation and maintenance. While Rose currently has more men working for her than women she makes a real effort to move women forward. "I give the women the opportunity to run work and it's a huge responsibility," she said, explaining that she can't choose the union electricians but she can pick who will run the jobs. Aurora Electric Inc. is also certified as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) with numerous authorities, agencies and firms. The talented electrician and businesswoman holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Empire State College of the State University of New York with an undergraduate certificate in Trades Union Women's Studies from Cornell University and various certificates and credits for seminars and classes attended. She was a member of the United States Air Force and received an Honorable Discharge in 1977. Recognition for her success as a businesswoman came just last month when she received the Regional Alliance of the Port Authority's Trailblazer Award. In the past, Rose has been honored by the Amber Light Society for her accomplishments as a female electrician and by the National Association of Women Business Owners for outstanding achievement. She received the J.E.T.S. VIP Award for charitable contributions in July of this year.

Rose is married to Walter Cannon, who is a member in good standing of the Local 3 for over 40 years. The couple lives in Long Beach and between the two of them they have five children. Walter, the oldest, is an electrician and a new proud father of a son named Wyatt. Bill is a high school science teacher in Oregon, Debra is a school teacher and mother of two girls, Emily and Grace, Joshua is a second year apprentice in the electrical industry and Robert, who is 19-years old, has not decided on a career path as yet.The proud mother and grandmother not only keeps busy with her business and family, but she's involved in numerous organizations. She's a board member of three organizations, the National Association of Women Business Owners Long Island Chapter, the Queens County Overall Economic Development Corporation and Joining Everyone to Share J.E.T.S., which is a group whose purpose is to raise funds for contributions to terminally ill children and their families. The money is used for the basic financial obligations associated with a dying child. Her list of professional memberships reaches a dozen including the Women's Philharmonic and The National Museum of Women in the Arts. Rose is also an avid supporter of the Girl Scouts of America. She is a member of Women Presidents' Organization (WPO), a peer and support association of women CEOs whose businesses do at least $1 million. Rose said, WPO is the one monthly meeting that I never miss because I get such value." "I try to work only six days a week. I never get a chance to get my hands dirty," she said, during a break from doing her own electrical work in her Jamaica offices which she has just doubled.

Although she doesn't have a lot of spare time, her hobbies including reading and cooking. This month she'll have the pleasure of preparing for her favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. Vacations are few and far between. "I feel the business is still a young child, it's hard to walk away," she said.

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