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Press and Journal
4 days ago
- Business
- Press and Journal
Aberdeenshire engineering boss Jim Craig on how he created £10m family business empire
Jim Craig's journey from a hands-on apprentice to the founder of Aberdeen-headquartered JCE Group is a story of determination, family values, and entrepreneurial spirit. Growing up he had a knack for fixing things and showed particular interest in radios. After leaving Torry Academy at the age of 15, he started an apprenticeship which was the start of his journey to building a successful business. Now the 79-year-old is founder and chairman of off-grid and grid-connected renewable energy solutions specialist JCE Group with a turnover of £9.8 million. The dad-of-three always had a 'hankering' to be his own boss but to be able to share it with his family has 'made it all worth it'. During his time at school Jim wasn't entirely sure what career path he wanted to take. But he did know that he had a keen interest in fixing things. It was this which led him to join Dow & Nicholson as an apprentice winder in 1960. He said: 'My father tried to get me to go into engineering but I wasn't very keen on it. 'I dabbled a lot with radios and stuff like that and had a knack for electrical things. So I ignored my father's advice and followed my own gut feeling. 'Dow & Nicholson were seen as the premier electrical company in Aberdeen. 'So I went there and served my time as an apprentice winder.' In the late 1960s Dow & Nicholson was then taken over by mechanical and engineering firm Balfour Kilpatrick. Jim, also dad to Jackie, said: 'My boss at that time was reading things in the P&J, regarding some kind of activity that was going on in the North Sea. He asked if I would like to go and find out about it. 'So they gave me a little white van and I started going around the doors to find out what this activity was.' It was of course the start of the oil and gas industry and Jim found himself speaking to a number of companies including BP and Shell. The company transitioned from quarries and granite manufacturers to the marine oil and gas. Jim, who married Sandra in 1963, said: 'As the momentum grew, so did the amount of companies switching to oil and gas. 'I remember bumping in to Ian Wood as a young lad when he worked for his father's company Wood and Davidson. He was a bit of a hippie then. 'I also saw Jimmy Milne. There was a whole bunch of young, enthusiastic people.' In his mid 20s, Jim became offshore manager for the firm and travelled around the world to places such as Norway and the Middle East describing it as 'an exciting time for a young lad'. By 1979, Jim had 100 people working for him but it was then he started to realise the ambition to be his own boss and a 'hankering' to work for himself. JCE Group was formed and he started to work for Shell, specialising in the explosion proof (EX) business. Turnover for his first year of business was £55,000 with only himself as an employee. Two years later, in 1981, he made the decision to stop working offshore and started his own control engineering business onshore. The great-grandad-of-three said: 'By that time, I felt confident enough because of my connections in the industry. 'I knew a lot of people. I could go knocking on doors, which I had to do to gain business. 'One of the first things was approach an old school pal of mine who was the managing director of Richard Irvin. 'He gave me an office in the Richard Irvin building in the quay and a shed in York Place and we started building control panels.' One of Jim's first members of staff was his daughter Alison Cox who joined straight from school at the age of 16. A short time later Jim was given the opportunity to buy the European assets of American company Crouse-Hinds. To do the deal he and Sandra had to remortgage their home and he admits it's a move that kept him awake for 'many nights'. It was then Jim's son Martin joined the firm. Both Alison and Martin are now joint managing directors of the JCE Group which currently employs 55 people. JCE continued to grow and they made the move to a new factory in Tullos before relocating to Wellheads Industrial Estate in Dyce in 1988. JCE Group was there for 10 years before, in 1999, Jim decided to take another big step for the business. He said: 'We made a decision that we didn't want to pay rent anymore. 'Because we were reasonably well off, we decided to build our own factory in Blackburn Industrial Estate which was new and starting off. 'It's ironic. The industry was dead again as there'd been another crash. 'I remember standing outside with Martin and we looked at this huge building and said, 'are we mad?' 'And we both said, 'no, we're not mad, we're going to carry on'. '26 years later it's the best move we ever made.' The industry recovered and JCE Group became the only EX manufacturer in Scotland. Jim, who is chairman of the Grampian MS Therapy Centre, said: 'We're the only one left and I think we will soon be the only one in the UK. 'Our competition is mainly in Spain and Italy. We're in a niche market. 'EX needs a lot of professionalism, intelligence, and making sure that whatever you do is 100% correct and safe. 'We've been in business since the early 80s, in the EX market, and we've never had one complaint. 'Not even a murmur.' Although Jim turns 80 in September he's got no intentions of stepping back from the business. The keen gardener has hopes one day of his grandchildren taking over the running of the firm. He said: 'We're a true family company. 'It is my intention, my wish, or my hope that the grandchildren within the company will take over from their parents. 'Martin and Alison run the business and I do business development and look after the youngsters. 'As long as I'm happy and healthy I'll still be here.' Jim has come a long way from his time as a young boy growing up in Torry and would always encourage anyone who dreams of starting their own business to give it a go. He said: 'I would congratulate the person and let them know the easiest stage is starting a business. 'The difficulty comes from staying in business. But this is overcome by hard work and keeping on top of cash flow. Try not to borrow and work within your means. 'If you do this, you'll enjoy the experience. 'I really take my hat off to anybody who wants to start a business, because I think everybody should.'
Belfast Telegraph
26-05-2025
- Belfast Telegraph
UDA tried to kill leader Andy Tyrie ‘over links to rogue loyalist'
Exclusive | Late UDA godfather Andy Tyrie was targeted for murder by the terror gang over allegations he was receiving kickbacks from loyalist racketeer Jim Craig. Details of the plot are revealed in prison journals written by Army agent Brian Nelson, who with the help of his handlers shipped South African weapons into Northern Ireland which were used in hundreds of UDA and UVF murders during the 1980s and 1990s.
Boston Globe
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Veterans flocked to government jobs. Now thousands are being fired.
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Roughly 6,000 veterans have been laid off in recent weeks by the U.S. DOGE Service, according to federal data compiled by Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee. A spokesperson for the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee said that number is probably understated amid ongoing job cuts at the Social Security Administration, the General Services Administration and other agencies. Veterans Affairs, where military veterans make up about 26 percent of the workforce, announced plans Wednesday to cut 80,000 jobs. Advertisement Veterans make up about 30 percent of the federal workforce, serving in every department. The cuts, many of which target probationary employees, cast a shadow on the implicit promise the United States makes to military members that they'll get preference in federal hiring - leading to a secure job that can ease them into the civilian workforce. Those roles, veterans said, also give them opportunities to keep serving their country, flexibility to seek treatment for service-related disabilities and, in many cases, a sense of purpose. Whether many of those veterans will remain fired is uncertain. Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which serves as human resources for the federal government, to temporarily rescind directives to fire probationary employees inside more than two dozen agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Science Foundation and others identified in a lawsuit seeking to permanently reverse the job cuts. After that ruling, the Trump administration said the firings will be up to the agencies themselves. Advertisement But the current precarity of those jobs could impact military recruitment and make veterans think twice about joining the civil service, said Jim Craig, a veterans studies and sociology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. 'They are a symbol of the best of us,' Craig said, 'and when they're affected, that means something.' McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson for OPM, said Tuesday that it 'recognizes the dedication and service of all federal employees, including our veteran workforce, and remains committed to supporting them during this transition.' 'While workforce restructuring can be a difficult process, we are working to ensure affected employees have access to available resources and opportunities,' Pinover said in a statement. Spokespeople for the White House and DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, did not respond to questions from The Washington Post. Democratic lawmakers have been sounding the alarm about the firings at town halls, in letters to the Trump administration and at the U.S. Capitol. Several Senate Democrats invited laid-off veterans to be their guests at President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday evening. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) said he is pushing for amendments in the federal budget reconciliation process that would create financial penalties for agencies that fire, furlough or reclassify veterans on a large scale. 'It's really hard to get people into the military these days,' Kaine, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. 'And these kinds of contemptuous actions directed toward the veterans community and directed toward active duty, it's not going to make it any easier.' Advertisement Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, introduced a resolution Tuesday condemning the mass firings at the Department of Veterans Affairs. On the Senate floor, he said the layoffs represent 'an assault on the veterans of America.' Senate Republicans blocked the resolution. 'This resolution divides the Congress and the administration and makes it more difficult for us to find consensus,' Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), who chairs the Veterans' Affairs Committee, said on the floor. 'We should work together to determine what is the right kind of workforce at the VA.' On Thursday, Blumenthal said the plan for 80,000 additional job cuts adds to the department's crisis. He told reporters during a news conference that the agency plans to move its pharmacy operations to the Defense Department and 'effectively end' most of its research, though he declined to cite a source for that statement. A Veterans Affairs spokesperson, Peter Kasperowicz, said no such plans exist. Blumenthal also noted that non-veterans benefit from research done by the VA on topics like prosthetic limbs. 'The VA is approaching a seismic disaster, historic in proportions in terms of the effect on veterans employed in the United States government, but also veterans who benefit from its services, its care and disability benefits that will be disastrously impacted,' Blumenthal said. 'There is no way to put a smiley face on this monster.' The federal government provided a pathway to civilian employment for Aaron Fontenot, who deployed to Europe, Asia and the Middle East as a U.S. Marine Corps infantryman, suffering hearing loss, anxiety, and knee and feet issues. His military service helped him get a human resources job at a VA hospital in Denver last year, although he had little experience in HR. Advertisement But when Fontenot recently checked his email after a post-work hike, he learned that he had been fired during his one-year probationary period. He was stunned that his veteran status hadn't protected him, he said. 'You're told from the time you join, if you sign your name on the dotted line, that we'll take care of you when you get back,' said Fontenot, who, like about one-third of veterans who work for the government, is disabled as a result of his service. 'And that just seems, at this point, to be a lie.' Al Lipphardt, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said laying off veterans deprives the United States of public servants who are committed to their mission. 'On top of all this, studies show having gainful employment is a social [determinant] of health and gets ahead of arguably one of the root causes of veteran suicide,' Lipphardt, whose organization is the largest of its kind in the United States, said in a statement. 'Since the federal government is the single largest employer of veterans in the nation, it's veterans who are being indiscriminately harmed in this bull-'DOGE'-ing of the federal work force.' Lipphardt added in an interview Thursday that his group is now concerned about what the cuts will mean for veterans' care, despite assurances on social media from Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins that the cuts would not reduce health care or benefits for veterans and their beneficiaries. Advertisement Lyndsay Butts, a 38-year-old former Air Force medic, loved her job as an executive assistant for the U.S. Forest Service. It was gratifying to take notes during meetings and serve as the member of her southern Utah office who knew how to get things done, she said. After Butts was terminated, she struggled with the feeling that the administration was treating veterans with indifference despite all they had done for their country. 'I just can't imagine that they would be doing this if they knew what they were doing,' said Butts, who said she has service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder. 'But they have to know what they're doing, because they're doing it.' Other veterans who still have their government jobs are trying to stay out of the spotlight. For Melissa P., a psychiatric nurse practitioner for the VA who spoke on the condition that her full name not be used due to fear of retaliation, that means putting a screen in front of the LGBTQ Pride flag that is in the background of her telehealth calls, in accordance with Trump's order banning Pride flags at government buildings - even though she works from home. Melissa said she has also started using gender-neutral terminology when taking notes on her calls with transgender patients. Instead of 'Mr. Smith' or 'Mrs. Smith,' she writes 'Veteran Smith' to protect the patient from being outed and herself from being accused of acknowledging a gender different from sex assigned at birth. She worries that, if she gets fired, her patients will never know what happened to her. Even the possibility of being laid off can be destabilizing for veterans, said Melissa, who spent 14 years in the U.S. Army Reserve and participates in multiple veterans groups where the firings have been discussed. 'They feel betrayed,' she said. 'They feel like they had this expectation and this social contract and this literal, 'This is what you will get for signing this blank check.'' In Melissa's view, that social contract can't be made whole by simply reinstating fired veterans. Veterans who do get hired back, she said, will never again trust their departments in the same way and the feelings of having been written off will linger. 'These things are not reparable,' she said. - - - Andrew Ba Tran contributed to this report.
USA Today
25-02-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Highly ranked Wisconsin resort announces opening plans for newest golf course
Highly ranked Wisconsin resort announces opening plans for newest golf course The Commons, a new 12-hole golf course designed by Jim Craig, is scheduled to open in 2026 at Sand Valley in Nekoosa, Wisconsin. The new course, set on the northwestern side of the main resort area near the new Sedge Valley neighborhood, should play somewhere near 4,000 yards long and offer dramatic fairway contouring and bold greens. The Commons will be the sixth course at the popular resort, joining the eponymous Sand Valley, Mammoth Dunes, the Lido, Sedge Valley and the par-3 course Sandbox. Each of the four 18-hole courses at Sand Valley is ranked by Golfweek's Best among the top 25 resort courses in the U.S. Craig has long been a boots-on-the-ground associate for architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, and the Commons will be his first solo design to open. In addition to The Commons, he is building a course at Rodeo Dunes near Denver, the new resort being built by Sand Valley founders Michael and Chris Keiser. The Keiser brothers also have announced new projects underway in Texas and Florida.
