Angie Simon gets a laugh from friends and family whenever she tells people she retired from Western Allied Mechanical in Union City, California. After all, the former president of Western Allied and past president of SMACNA — where she was the first female president — almost seems busier now than ever before. 

Her next chapter began when she was still working at Western Allied, and today, she’s fostering the next generation of sheet metal and mechanical industry workers through the non-profit Heavy Metal Summer Experience, which she co-founded in 2021. 

“I was at Western Allied and at the same time I was national president and COVID hit, and I was talking to my partner about his son who was struggling with school a little bit,” Simon says. “He was very good with his hands and loved the arts class he had taken on welding, and so my partner was able to set up our shops to teach welding in the summer after school and after work was done.” 

Her business partner said it would be great if they could teach other kids about the trades, an idea clicked in Simon’s head. Together with Rick Hermanson, Simon formed a committee to design the summer camps and Heavy Metal Summer Experience was born. What started with two camps has grown exponentially and is expected to continue its growth in the years ahead. 

“This past summer in ’23, we had 21 camps across the United States and one in Canada, and we had 325 kids, and I think one thing that shows how great the camps were is that all 21 hosts are running camps again this upcoming summer. They all love doing it. It means a lot to their employees. But we're also seeing great numbers — we're averaging almost 30% women and about 50 to 60% minorities. But on top of that we are seeing a fair number of the kids very interested in the trades.”

Raising awareness and sparking interest in the trade industry is a priority for Simon, who strives to create a more diverse workforce. 

How it started

In 1986, Simon graduated from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo with a degree in mechanical engineering. She took a job at a small mechanical contractor and a year later, she started her job at Western Allied where she would continue to work for 35 years. 

Simon became partner in 1996, president in 2008 (she was also the president for the Bay Area SMACNA that same year) and CEO in 2019. That longevity was not uncommon for employees at Western Allied, Simon says. 

“It's amazing how long-term our employees have been. All our young partners all pretty much started their career at Western Allied, and they've all been there like 20 years now at least,” Simon says. “We have field union personnel that started their apprenticeship with us and then they retired with us. One of the focuses we've had, particularly from the time I became president, was really focused on culture and the people. It’s really the people that make the company,” she says. 

Each month, Simon would host one-on-one meetings with the next generation of partners to answer any questions and talk about different problems that could arise. Those meetings inspired two partners to start their own mentoring and soft skills program for project managers. 

SMACNA and the next generation

It’s no secret that the industry is male dominated. When Simon joined SMACNA’s national board in 2008, she discovered that she was the first female in 65 years.

“That was an eye opener for me,” she says. “I don't really think I thought much about me being a woman and being different in the industry, mainly because I got lucky Western Allied was very inclusive.”

Western Allied has always had diverse partners and employees and the company has attracted women because of it. Each summer, Simon says Western Allied brings in 6-10 interns and they always received a lot of female applicants for their internship program.

Diversity aside, Simon focused on building team camaraderie — and that started early on in her career.

“My very first five years I was at Western Allied, I learned more from the field folks than I did anybody else. And yes, they were all guys pretty much, but I also came in to work as a young engineer, not with a cocky attitude that some of the guy engineers came in with,” Simon says. “I told my foreman, ‘Listen, I know you guys know what you're doing. You've been doing it forever. You're great at it. We're a team, so just tell me what you need, and I'll get it for you. But you’ve got to promise me if I take care of you, you will teach me,’ and I think that attitude helped a lot.”