GENERAL MANGER DENNY LAWYER, ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER MIKE DRIER, OWNER MERV FINGAS AND OWNER MEIBING FINGAS
Sinclair Electric: Serving Edmonton’s Electrical Needs for 40 Years By Nerissa McNaughton
M
erv Fingas is a very busy man. He’s the former chief of Environment Canada’s Emergency Science Division, a position he held for over 30 years; holds a PhD in environmental physics; three master degrees (chemistry, business, mathematics); along with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, and a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana. He is the author of The Basics of Oil Spill Cleanup, which is in its third edition, and the Handbook of Oil Spill Science and Technology, which was released earlier this year. In 2010, Merv and his wife Meibing took on a new challenge and purchased Sinclair Electric. The Sinclair family opened the business in 1975. Ill health forced the original owner, Don Sinclair, to sell. The electrical contracting business was a new and exciting option for Merv and Meibing. They also purchased a larger property and office/shop at 11665 147 Street, allowing for more storage, material handling facilities and the construction of a tool room. The larger prop-
erty has also given them room for on-site storage of job site trailers, a bucket truck, and their ever-growing fleet of service vehicles that now stands at 22. In the beginning, the mainstay of Sinclair Electric was service and maintenance work, with a fleet of six trucks and eight employees. In August of 2010, Sinclair Electric hired Denny Lawyer, a semi-retired electrical contractor of 38 years, to be their new estimator. Denny soon realized that there were serious problems that were hampering growth as well as the bottom line. He spoke to Merv and Meibing about these issues and was shortly after appointed as general manager. In May of 2011 Denny hired Mike Drier as a service technician, and within a couple of months, through his hard work and customer satisfaction, Denny appointed Mike as the new manager of the service department and small projects. Mike was later promoted again to assistant general manager; and has been credited with increasing sales within the service division fourfold.
Sinclair Electric | 40 Years | Page 1