Bill O’Neil, former W.E. O’Neil CEO, dies at 83

William “Invoice” O’Neil II, former CEO and board chairman of Chicago-based W.E. O’Neil, who labored on the firm for practically 50 years, died on April 10, according to the firm. O’Neil was 83.

The grandson of the corporate’s founder, William Edward O’Neil, Invoice O’Neil joined the agency’s ranks in 1967. From there, he labored his means by positions together with structure engineer, superintendent, mission supervisor and estimator, in line with the builder.

O’Neil turned CEO of the agency in 1985. He left the function in 2003, and transitioned to chairman of the board till 2020. Throughout his tenure, the corporate expanded throughout the nation — it opened its first places of work in Los Angeles in 1985; Denver in 1999; and Nashville in 2014, per the firm’s history page.

In 1994, the O’Neil household and firm management collaborated to determine the beginnings of W.E. O’Neil’s worker inventory possession plan, in line with its historical past web page.

ESOPs have since gained prominence in the industry each as a sustainable path for house owners to exit their companies whereas concurrently persevering with the legacy of the operation by way of worker possession. Main ESOP companies within the development business embody Omaha, Nebraska-based HDR, Kansas Metropolis, Phoenix-based Willmeng Development and San Jose, California-based Rosendin Electrical.  

“Placing them proper up entrance is the suitable factor to do,” O’Neil mentioned on the time.

The agency turned absolutely employee-owned underneath former CEO Brian Ramsay in 2020, who himself retired earlier this year.

“As I labored at W.E. O’Neil over the course of a number of many years, the one factor that turned increasingly obvious about Invoice O’Neil was that he had two nice loves in his life: the love he demonstrated for his household and the love and assist that he confirmed for the staff of O’Neil,” Ramsay mentioned within the information launch.

W.E. O’Neil was based in 1925 and can rejoice its one centesimal anniversary this yr. A few of the firm’s current milestones embody the acquisition of Austin, Texas-based DCA Construction and the $1.4 billion Midfield Satellite Concourse South mission at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport. The contractor introduced in October that preliminary development of the 9 segments of the Midfield Satellite tv for pc Concourse South have been completed offsite.

“He believed each worker ought to share in what we construct collectively,” mentioned John Finn, the agency’s present CEO, of O’Neil. “Invoice’s legacy lives on within the tradition he helped form and the lives he touched.”