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Familial banter is an unstated tenet of the CBS (Collins Business System). Asked what it’s like to share the CEO title with his brother Kevin, Brian Gini retorts, “Why do you think we’re co-CEOs?”

“You work well together?” He and Kevin laugh. “You can’t agree on who should be CEO?”

“There you go.”

Youngest brother, Craig, is chief transformation officer and senior vice president. Their mother, Dianne, is the other senior VP, and their father, Eugene “Gene” Gini, is chairman of the board. Gene started at Collins Electrical Company in the early 1960s as a warehouse worker and soon after enrolled in an electrical apprenticeship. Kevin, Brian and Craig grew up helping around the Modesto branch warehouse, which Gene managed for two decades alongside his secretary, Dianne.

“It wasn’t like somebody gave Gene and Dianne the golden ticket,” says Brian. “They were strong enough to make sacrifices so they could gain shares of the company and be able to become major shareholders.”

There’s some lingering resentment over vacations spent sweeping floors and polishing brass fixtures in the dead of winter, but the boys’ labor seems to have paid off. With branches throughout the Central Valley and Bay Area, Collins is one of the top electrical construction and engineering firms in Northern California and a global leader in large-scale solar installations.

Collins’ first major project was a state hospital in Stockton in 1929, followed by another in Mendocino. The company was founded in 1924 by Willard J. Collins and acquired five years later by sole employee (and Gene’s second cousin) A.J. “Gus” Sanguinetti. During the Korean War, the company formed a marine division in Stockton that wired Navy ships.

More recent projects include the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Candlestick and Sutter Health parks, and many casinos. The North Fork Mono Casino in Madera is the company’s largest single contract to date, projected to exceed $60 million.

Craig Gini led the foray into solar, though he was the least likely to join the family business. In a “Construction Genius” podcast episode, he shares feeling like “the black sheep” when he returned after a 15-year acting career, becoming an electrician apprentice at age 38. “It was going so well that I said, ‘I need to leave all this and move back to the family business,’” Craig quips about his L.A. years, though he did land a recurring role on “The Young and the Restless.”

Collins became 100 percent family-owned in 2000, when Kevin and Brian purchased the remaining stock. Craig bought in later. “None of us were given anything except for an opportunity,” Craig says. “We all had to earn our way … and I think that’s an important part of who we are as a family.”

The company dedicates significant energy to staying on the cutting edge. Lately, that’s floatovoltaics — floating solar panels that save space on land by using sites like water treatment plants. Collins is currently installing a floatovoltaic system at Vulcan Materials in Pleasanton that will be the largest in North America.

Another emerging market is solar batteries. Collins’ shiny Stockton headquarters is powered by solar and will soon incorporate a battery energy storage system, which the company sees a growing demand for in outage-prone regions.

Another key focus is improving efficiency for the next generation. “Our success is based upon the talents of our people,” says Brian, noting industrywide labor shortages and one electrician who has worked at Collins for over four decades, like his father before him. “It’s our job as ownership to maintain a stable workforce and train them in the way we conduct business.” One of Kevin’s sons, Grant, also works for the company.

This October, Collins’ 650 employees face a unique challenge: All three Gini brothers are taking the month off. They’re calling it the “Gini Wonka Experience.”

“Who are the people that are going to come in here and work their butts off?” says Kevin.

“There’s no gobstopper at the end,” Brian adds, “but we need to learn that our people can drive the company forward without us.”

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