Jeff Acorn - Ontario Power Generation

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Feb 22, 2017 - “I started out working as a boilermaker, following in my dad's footsteps, and 20years later, here I am,
FROM BOILERMAKER TO OPERATIONS MANAGER: A CAREER IN NUCLEAR With 16 years of experience and 60 nuclear reactor maintenance outages under his belt, Jeff Acorn isn’t new to nuclear power. As an operations manager with Aecon, he is now working on Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington Refurbishment project, the largest clean energy initiative in Canada. For Acorn, it was a natural step to get into the “family business.”  “I started out working as a boilermaker, following in my dad’s footsteps, and 20 years later, here I am, working on the Darlington Refurbishment,” he said. “It’s a really exciting time to be working in the industry.” Acorn’s father retired in 2012 after 40 years with a large construction company serving the energy industry. His younger brother Mike works with Aecon too and is also assigned to the Darlington Refurbishment project. Before landing in his current profession, Acorn thought about a career in engineering or law enforcement. But when the opportunity to train as a boilermaker presented itself, he went in that direction. Boilermakers are trained craftspeople who repair, test and maintain all types of boilers, tanks and pressure vessels. Nowadays, as an operations manager on the Darlington Refurbishment, Acorn is more focused on the project management side of work. 

“When I started with Aecon, it was a three-person team setting up Aecon’s Maintenance Program at Darlington. We hired roughly 35 employees, won some contracts and got everyone up and running in about eight months,” he said. “What I do is a lot of problem-solving, looking ahead at the schedule and setting the team up for success.” That team now consists of about 300 trades people of diverse professional backgrounds, and Acorn is constantly looking for good workers with the right skil s and attitude. “In addition to having the necessary trade qualifications, I look for people who take ownership, have a questioning attitude and can adapt quickly to new work environments,” Acorn said. “These three behaviors combined with communicating effectively are what make someone stand out from the rest.” When he’s not managing operations, you can find Acorn skydiving, woodworking, metalworking, travelling with his wife and kids or renovating the 10-acre horse farm in Uxbridge, where he and his family live. “It takes me 45 minutes each way to get to work,” Acorn said. “But it’s worth it. I enjoy what I do, and I’m happy to be part of a team working on such an impactful project.” @opg

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