WOMEN EMPOWERING WOMEN: Women’s Expo 2026
The 2026 Local 701 Women’s Committee Expo was held on Thursday, March 26th, 2026. Women from all over Chicagoland came out to learn more about a career in the union electrical contracting industry, even drawing coverage from NBC 5 Chicago!
The event was standing room only with close to 150 attendees and featured second-year apprentices who fielded questions from the crowd. Thank you to Jacquelyn Zavala, CiCi Chavez, and Janitssa Maldonado for sharing your stories! The panel was moderated by Debbie Erbach, a 36-year member of the IBEW and the founder of the Local 701 Women’s Committee.
Speakers included DuPage County Board Chair Deb Conroy; Yasmeen Bankole, Village of Hanover Park Trustee; Mike Clemmons, International Vice President of the IBEW 6th District; Anthony Giunti, IBEW 6th District Representative; Frank Gravina, IBEW Local 701 Business Manager; T.J. Jarman, JATC Training Director; Brian Swiatek of Continental Electric; and Karyn Charvat, Executive Director of PowerFoward DuPage. Photos and video from the event are below.
The next Women’s Expo will be held in the Spring of 2027. If you would like more information about applying for the apprenticeship program, please visit the DuPage JATC at DuPageJATC.org
