Irby is pleased to announce Bryson Ryker’s recent promotion to Vice President of Operations.

Bryson started with Irby in October of 2018 in the Florida Region as a Superintendent, and was promoted to General Superintendent in April of 2019 and then Regional Operations Manager in September of 2020.

When asked about Bryson’s promotion, Irby President Jason Clayton said he is “…confident that Bryson will continue to represent Irby with the utmost professionalism and will assist our continuing journey to be the best in the industry.”

Congratulations, Bryson! All of us at Irby look forward to working with you in your new role.

Congratulations to Irby Foremen Cody Chandler and Garry Jones, and Legend Foundation Services Foreman Juan Sanchez. They were selected by Irby and Quanta Services to be part of the Quanta Elite Program. This program recognizes top-tier foremen across all Quanta operating units. Advanced training and other unique opportunities will be made available to this elite group. As this program continues, we will provide more information.

“Cody, Garry, and Juan showcase exceptional leadership skills, field experience, attitude, and work ethic. They set the bar for distinction in their craft,” said Rick Shouse, Irby Executive Vice President of Operations. “Each of these men mentors our teams – day in and day out – through the toughest situations while never sacrificing quality or compromising on safety. Irby is proud to have these top-notch leaders on our team and recognized by Quanta.”

Honorees of the program were recognized in November at a reception at the Lazy Q Ranch, Quanta’s premier training facility in LaGrange, Texas. They also participated in classroom training where they heard from Quanta and operating unit leaders and toured the Lazy Q facilities and grounds including the Lineworker Museum, training areas and shop.

As part of the program, Cody, Garry, and Juan will receive advanced leadership training with regular group engagement with other Quanta Elite members. This will allow the elite group of first-class leaders to share ideas and best practices and foster growth among themselves as well as with their teams. A goal of the program is for these leaders to develop other linemen and foremen in their business unit to this Elite level.

Click on the photo below to scroll through more photos.

Did you know that Irby’s Current Flashes employee magazine is over 60 years young? Having debuted in 1962, it is 61 years old this year. The Current Flashes has deep roots in Irby’s rich history and culture.

This anthology is an archive of the company’s jobs, crews, locations, partnerships, and customers over the years. From California to Florida, our crews are proud to showcase their work in each issue of the Current Flashes.

One of Current Flashes‘ biggest fans is Bennett Johnson in Oklahoma. He has collected every issue since he got hired on and is more excited about receiving each issue than a kid at Christmas! Thank you, Bennett, for showing such great pride in your work and the company! 

Randy Berry, Vice President of Operations, is also a Current Flashes enthusiast. He is our resident historian, having collected issues dating back to the second issue ever published. He is still on the hunt for the very first issue.

Next time you pick up a copy of the Current Flashes, just know that you are holding Irby pride in jobs well done and a piece of Irby history in your hands.

The focus of Irby’s publications is to tell your stories. Should you have information or photos you would like to be considered for publication in the Current Flashes, the Irby Insider, or on social media, please email [email protected]

Alongside Entergy Louisiana, Irby Construction Company has completed the Mud Lake – Big Lake Transmission Project. For over a year, Irby has been working tirelessly to bring energy reliability to the people of Southwest Louisiana through transmission and grid improvements. These improvements included 15 miles of transmission line construction, a new substation build, upgrades to three existing substations, and the installation of approximately 150 poles and structures.

The Mud Lake – Big Lake project spans Southwest Louisiana from an existing substation just west of Mud Lake near the Calcasieu and Cameron parish line to a new substation near Tank Farm and Big Lake roads in Lake Charles. Entergy knows the importance of grid resiliency when it comes to the strong wind storms and hurricanes that attack the Gulf, and that is why many portions of the new transmission lines were built to withstand winds of up to 140 and 150 mph, with a crossing at Calcasieu River and Intercoastal waterway built to withstand up to 175 mph winds.

Click here to learn more. 

Irby crews hard at work completing the Calcasieu River crossing portion of the Mud Lake – Big Lake 230kV Transmission project. 

When a major storm is heading toward landfall and most people are evacuating, Irby crews move in instead. Following storm outages, our top priority is to bring residents a sense of normalcy by safely restoring power as quickly as possible. Hurricane Idalia was no different, and in the wake of the storm, Irby deployed over 520 crew members across Florida to perform storm restoration work. These crews included line workers, supervisors, mechanics, safety coordinators, and storm damage assessors who performed transmission, distribution, logistics, and storm damage assessment work. In addition to this, Irby also provided various types of equipment and assisted with mobilizing the Quanta Mobile Command Center to a staged area in Perry, Florida. Project managers and supervisors from several organizations utilized the command center to conduct storm restoration operations.

Less than a week after Hurricane Idalia made landfall, Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, announced that 96% of power had been restored. He went on to praise the thousands of brave linemen by saying “…restoring power to the homes and businesses of impacted Floridians is an important step in the recovery process and would not be possible without the hard work of our utility linemen.” Irby is proud to have assisted our customers, the residents of Florida, and our fellow line workers in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia.

Read more about Florida’s speedy restoration efforts at the link HERE.

Irby’s top of the line equipment empowers our people and projects to be the best they can be. Casey Lawrence, Irby Truck Driver, and his family recently attended the annual Gulf Coast Big Rig Truck Show. This event promotes the trucking industry through competition and community with the core goal of supporting the Wounded Warrior Project.

The show took place on Friday, July 21st and Saturday, July 22nd in Biloxi at the Mississippi Coast Convention Center. Casey entered his Irby truck into the “Combo” truck class competition, which includes truck and trailer combination rigs.

Casey’s truck ended up being the very last truck to be judged in the Combo category. There were more than 90 trucks entered in the contest, and Casey’s Irby truck won two awards! Irby won First Place for Combo Best Interior, and Third Place Combo Overall. Casey said it was an honor to win. More importantly, though, Casey enjoyed the camaraderie, industry networking, and showing that he holds his truck to the highest standards.

Way to go, Casey!