John F. Biagas, CEO/President

John Biagas started his career as an electrician trainee about the same time he started elementary school. The youngest of 14 children, John joined his brothers and sisters working in the family’s business, Biagas & Sons' Electric, owned and operated by his father, Alvin Biagas, Sr.

Growing up in Lake Charles, La., John spent his weekends and after school hours learning the electrical service business and helping his father and brothers. After studying business management and accounting and playing on the college baseball team at McNeese State University, he joined three of his older brothers in Maryland. There they formed their own Electrical and General Contracting business, AVA Electric.

At AVA for seven years, he not only honed his skills as an electrician, but he also learned to manage a fast-paced contacting company. In 1997, wanting to run his own company, he purchased Bay Electric and moved his family to Newport News, home of Bay Electric.

Under John’s direction, Bay has grown from a small electrical shop to one of the fastest growing, minority-owned contractors on the East Coast. In addition, the company has more than quadrupled in size and revenues in just three years. Bay received HubZone certification and certification as an 8(a) SBA company but has since graduated from those programs.

Most recently, President George W. Bush recognized Bay's amazing growth and John's leadership during a 2004 televised White House speech on the nation's economy.

John, a Master Electrician licensed in four states and the District of Columbia, previously served as the president of the leading independent electrical contracting group in the industry, the Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC) organization.

One of the founders of the Hampton Roads, Va., IEC chapter, he served as IEC's Senior Vice President, chaired the IEC Government Affairs Committee for two years, served on the organization's Executive Committee, was IEC National Treasurer and Vice President before being elected president by the organization membership.

John's professional memberships also include the following: National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) and National Association of Certified Government Business Enterprises (NACGBE). He has served as a member of the National Electrical Contractors Association NECA (Washington DC Chapter), and currently serves as a board member for An Achievable Dream and as a board member for Boys and Girls Club and was a founding member for the Virginia Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

John lives in Yorktown, Va., with his wife and their two daughters.

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