ST. LOUIS – The venerable St. Louis Irish fraternal organization, the Ancient Order of the Hibernians, is honoring IBEW Local 1 Business Manager Frank Jacobs with its 2019 labor leader of the year award. Jacobs will be honored on March 7, 2019 along with civic leaders and first responders at the "Judge James Dailey Wahl Memorial Hoses, Handcuffs and Hardhats" memorial at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 Hall at 2319 Chouteau Avenue. 

Jacobs, a proud 37-year member of IBEW Local 1, leads the more than 7,000 member Union which for 128 years has supplied the construction industry with the highest skilled and safest electrical and communications workforce.  Jacobs chairs the Electrical Connection, a partnership of IBEW Local One and the St. Louis Chapter, National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). Under Jacobs and St. Louis NECA Executive Vice President Doug Martin’s leadership the IBEW/NECA Electrical Connection partnership was honored in 2018 with an Inclusion Award from the St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers.  It also earned the Ameren Corporate Citizenship Award from the St. Louis Regional Chamber in its 2018 Arcus Awards.  

Jacobs chairs the IBEW/NECA Joint Apprenticeship Trust Fund, which oversees workforce training at the IBEW/NECA Electrical Industry Training Center in St. Louis. He also serves on the board of the Regional Union Construction Center (RUCC), which helps minority and women owners of union construction companies grow businesses via a structured program that helps them improve their business skills.

In addition to workforce development, Jacobs and Martin help guide the Electrical Connection IBEW/NECA partnership in supporting economic development and a number of community betterment initiatives including Rebuilding Together St. Louis, Habitat for Humanity, STEM initiatives and more.  Jacobs is a Saint Louis Science Center advisory board member.

Jacobs’ service to labor also includes vice president of the St Louis Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO; executive board member of the Missouri AFL-CIO; the St Louis Labor Council executive board; and the St. Louis Construction Cooperative governance board.

He served on the Ballwin Athletic Association executive board for more than 20 years and also served as the St. Louis County Athletic Association president.  

The Ancient Order of the Hibernians is also saluting St. Louis Collector of Revenue Gregory F.X. Daly as its 2019 civic leader of the year and former St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch, who has been named the grand marshal for the order's annual St. Patrick's Day parade.

In addition the organization will honor Arnold police officer Ryan O’Connor, who was shot in the line of duty in 2017; St. Louis assistant chief Lt Col. Lawrence O’Toole; St. Louis County firefighter Sean Murray; and St. Louis city firefighter and Deputy Chief Ken Smith.

For more information on Ancient Order of the Hibernians, visit www.stlhibernians.com.