MADISON — Dave Jones, former president and CEO of Dave Jones, Inc., received the Hall of Fame Award from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards (BAS) Apprenticeship Advisory Council. Jones received the award at the 2019 Hall of Fame Awards Banquet hosted by the Wisconsin Biennial Labor-Management-Government Apprenticeship Conference.
The award is presented to individuals who bear a distinguished record of contributions to Wisconsin’s apprenticeship systems and having more than 25 years of contributions for their apprenticeship-related occupation.
“My passion for apprenticeship was learned through going through apprenticeship myself and appreciating the opportunity that I had,” Jones said. “I enjoy seeing all the young people that go through apprenticeship that end up being journeymen or masters and have a very successful career.”
Dave completed a five-year plumbing apprenticeship in 1977 through his employer, Mt. Horeb Ace Hardware. After his apprenticeship, Dave started Dave Jones Plumbing out of his garage in 1977. Since that time, Dave directly trained numerous apprentices, with his first plumbing apprentices being Chris Booth, Chris Johnson, Brandon Engen, Tom Darrow and Billy Meudt. Chris Booth now owns his own plumbing company and Chris Johnson and Billy Meudt both played a huge part in the apprenticeship program for many years. Brandon Engen went on to become a master plumber in 1999; he is currently the vice president of Service and Remodel for Dave Jones, Inc. and just celebrated 25 years with the company.
