Davey 8W5 Receives the Isaiah V. Williamson Award

Nicholas J. Davey 8W5, a trustee since 2005, received the board of trustee’s Isaiah V. Williamson Award from board chairman William J. Bonenberger 7W9 during a special chapel recently.

The award is intended to honor those who exemplify in their life and work the ideals of the founder of Williamson College of the Trades.

Davey is chair of the board’s Governance Committee and vice chair of the Disciplinary Review Committee.

He is founder and president of Davey Utility Services, outside Chicago, Illinois, a company he founded in 2003. It is a consulting business that works to ensure projects are completed on time in a cost-effective manner and has offices in several states.

His business handles vegetation management consulting, environmental consulting services, emergency storm response, asset management consulting, utility line clearance, and communications construction services. His business now has an annual revenue of $1.5 million.

After studying power plant technology at Williamson, he gained extensive experience in the power industry working in the electrical utility business in both nuclear and transmission and distribution areas and extensive experience in planning, managing, and scheduling as well as start-up initiatives and reorganizations.

His experience in the power industry began at PECO in Philadelphia as a technical assistant, electrical design engineer, system manager, planning supervisor, and work management supervisor.

He furthered his education, earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering at Widener University and a master’s degree in organizational dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania. He also studied supervisory development at PECO and finance for executives at Penn’s Wharton Business School.

He is active with his church, New Life Covenant in Humboldt Park, Chicago; once a week feeds the homeless in Chicago with Bridge to Life; and is active with the Pregnancy Center in Elgin, Illinois, and has served as president. In 2008, he was inducted into the Sun Valley High School Hall of Fame for his outstanding career accomplishments.

He once said “Williamson has played a huge role in my life. If not for Williamson, I don’t know what I would have done. I learned a trade, gained a good work ethic, and learned to have higher expectations of myself. I grew up without a father and the men at Williamson helped fill that void in my life. My mother was there for me, but it is important in a young man’s life to have a man as a role model. The men at Williamson helped teach me how to be a good man. I also learned a lot running the power plant with the guys.”