Member Spotlight

Jim Santoro--Gerdau Ameristeel, St Paul, MN

This month’s Member Spotlight features Jim Santoro of Gerdau Steel. Gerdau is the largest recycler in the state of Minnesota, producing over 200 grades of industrial steel for use in a variety of industries. The St Paul mill has been a member since 1996, with their electrical department utilizing MEA’s training services.

A member of the United Steelworkers Union since 1972, Jim has spent the last 35 years with Gerdau. He and his wife, Linda, have been happily married for 45 years. They are proud parents to their daughter Jennifer and two grandchildren.

What drew you to the industry and made you want to become an electrician?

It all started at the age of twelve and Thomas Edison was my hero! Growing up in Detroit, MI, we had an older house and one of my friend’s dad was an electrician. He taught me a bit about electrical and we started wiring my parent’s house. By the age of sixteen, I had my mind set that I wanted to be in heavy industry and become an industrial electrician.

What aspects of the job do you find the most rewarding?

Anything that uses a lot of power! I enjoy medium voltage, writing and implementing procedures, working with Xcel Energy, electrical contractors and anything involving troubleshooting. It’s really fun to find a complicated problem and be able to fix it.
 
What upcoming projects are you working on?

We will have a complete shutdown in November. We have some older, medium voltage motor control centers for one of the bag houses that will be replaced. We will also be relocating a 1,600 amp rectifier from a crane to the ground to reduce wear and tear and running DC power to the crane.

What do you enjoy the most about MEA’s training?

The best part is the knowledge of the instructors. As electrical code can be very dry, they keep our crew engaged on whatever the topic of conversation is and really know how to keep it interesting. Gerdau invests in their employees by offering paid training as a benefit. Most of us are licensed, but the company will pay for anyone that is test eligible to attend your Exam Prep Training. MEA schedules the training in a way that works best for us and I’d recommend it to any industrial or manufacturing company with an electrical staff.

What keeps you busy outside of work?

We’re on three acres of land at home, so I spend most of my time cutting grass and gardening! We even have his and hers lawn tractors. During the summer, we spend a lot of time at our daughter and son-in-law’s lake home with the family and grandkids, doing anything on the water, including swimming, fishing and boating.