National Apprenticeship Week 2023

Co-founder and CEO Mitch Permuy started his career in the trades as an apprentice. After completing his apprenticeship, he and his wife (and co-founder) Dana sat down at the kitchen table, and before you knew it — Power Design was born in 1989. Hear from the man, the Mitch, the legend himself on how jumping head-first into apprenticeship helped get him to where he is today.

Rewarding our people and honoring their hard work is the foundation of what makes Power Design what it is. Our #PDIFamily puts their best foot forward each day, and that includes our apprentices across the nation. From maintaining perfect attendance to completing after-work courses with nearly perfect GPA scores, Power Design apprentices are leading the industry while advancing their careers.  

Let us introduce you to our federally accredited PowerU apprenticeship program — a four-year program that pays for schooling, on-the-job training, and more. We reward attendance, performance, and grades with Apprentice All-Star awards each year and are excited to announce and celebrate that we had more than 100 winners! In addition, we’re proud of the eight Golden Hard Hat winners who demonstrate their leadership skills in the classroom and on the job site – fun fact, these apprentices are nominated by leaders of the organizations: their Regional Vice President, Project Executive, or Superintendent. (Hard) hats off to our winners!  

This summer’s trade advocacy fun kicked off with our PowerYouth Summer Camp – Not Your Average Summer Camp as we’d call it. Fifteen high school-aged members of our extended #PDIFamily from all over the country joined us on the GRID for a week of hands-on activities, job site visits, and more!  

The good times carried on when more than 150 students from Pinellas and Hillsborough counties' 3DE Junior Achievement program, took a field trip to the GRID — they spent a day learning all about Power Design and the endless career opportunities offered, including apprenticeships.  

 Our #PDIFamily continued taking mentorship into their own hands by visiting local high schools during the Great American Teach-In to show students possible career paths, including introducing them to opportunities aside from the standard four-year college degree. After all, we heard it from Mitch himself — college isn’t for everyone! 

Power Design Project Executive with the Compliance and Workforce Development team, community leader, advocate, and mentor are just a few of his titles, but Chris Riley got his start — you guessed it — as an apprentice. Through his efforts, opportunities for apprentices and students alike who aren’t exactly sure what path is right for them. Learn from Chris’ journey and find out what apprenticeship means to him.  

Meet David Satchell: once an apprentice, but now a successful Senior Superintendent who’s been with Power Design for more than a decade. See how his path to success all started with apprenticeship.