News

Thoma Family Sparks Successful Niche

Pacific Coast Business Times
February 6-12, 2009

Brothers Ed, back left, and Bill Thoma, back right, currently run the business their father, Clarence Thoma, front right, started in 1962. His wife, Pearl, is to his left.

When Clarence Thoma first started his small electrical contracting company in San Luis Obispo in 1962, he probably didn’t imagine that more than four decades later, it would be a multi-million dollar electrical contracting, engineering and design business.

Clarence Thoma retired in 1985, handing the already-successful business over to his sons, Bill and Ed Thoma. In the years that followed, Thoma Electric has worked on some of the largest electrical projects throughout the state. In the early years, the company had four engineers – today it employs about 65.

“My dad never would have believed it could get this big,” Ed Thoma said, laughing. “He always said, ‘You won’t get rich from this but you’ll make a good living.’”

Thoma Electric has worked on landmark projects, including the exterior lighting on Hearst Castle, the Alex P. Spanos Stadium at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, the San Luis Obispo Downtown Center and Tolosa Winery. Yet the company still stays committed to serving local residents too, knowing that those are the customers who hoisted the company to where it is now.

“To see how the company has grown since I first came to San Luis Obispo has been amazing. They’ve grown from being just a contractor to a business that does electrical construction and design work that is respected all over the state,” said Dave Garth, a longtime family friend and San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer.

The Thoma brothers have as big a presence in the community as the business they run, and that’s one of the reasons why Garth nominated the company for the Family Business Award, saying it was an obvious choice.
“I have never seen a company that has given more to the community than Thoma Electric in my whole 36 years at the chamber,” he said. “They’re really committed to the community. I think they feel like if they put something into the community and help it prosper they too will see the benefits of that.”

The Thoma brothers have used their business to offer free electrical installations to nonprofit groups throughout the area and have pushed for energy conservation and environmental sustainability. Their families have privately contributed money and support to many charities throughout the county, including the  San Luis Obispo Childrens Museum.

Throughout his almost half a century of living in San Luis Obispo, Bill Thoma has been involved in more community organizations than can easily be counted. He’s coached youth sports, was involved with the Boy Scouts and YMCA, was a founding member of the Youth Sports Association Board, a member of the Cal Poly Athletic Fund and on the steering committee for the Prado Day Center. He’s volunteered for Cal Poly’s capital campaign and various Cuesta College projects.

In 1997, Bill Thoma received the Chamber’s Citizen of the Year award from the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce for his dedication to the community. He had served as its president and vice president and on several of its committees in the 1990s.

Still, he remains humble about all of his philanthropic work. “There are a lot of people like me in this community who are very involved,” Bill Thoma said. “I think we all realize what a great place this is to live and just want to keep it like that.”

“Not only are Bill and Ed some of the best people I know, but they’ve extended that to their business. They run it with the highest of integrity and the highest service,” Garth said. “And that’s what has made them so successful.”

Both brothers attribute much of Thoma Electric’s success to its high employee retention rates; some of the employees have been with the company for more than 22 years.

“As a family business we consider all the employees who work for us as part of the family,” Ed Thoma said. “We have a lot of very loyal employees and that’s a fact we’re proud of.”

“Our greatest success as a business has probably been the ability of our team of people who have helped us grow,” Bill Thoma added.
As for the future, the brothers, who both have sons, hope to see the Thoma family stay in Thoma Electric.

“At some point in the future, there may be an opportunity for a third generation to take over the business,” Bill Thoma said. “That would just be great.”