Leon Tompkins
Leon started for Chicago Communications in 1968--giving him a whopping 43 years of experience! Though his time here has been the majority of his career, if it weren't for a couple minor gigs, he may have never made it to ChiComm in the first place. So how is it that he did stumble upon the company? Let's start from the beginning.
After serving in the U.S. army from 1963-66, Leon briefly worked both at a manufacturing company in Wisconsin and for Motorola in the mobiles department and the tech building. Next he got a job at Hallicrafters as a production technician for another year[where he also met his future wife]. At this job he basically stayed in a booth all day building radios and testing equipment. One day he made a remark about being cooped up in a booth all day to a colleague. Meanwhile Bill Litwin, who worked at Chicago Communications [and who's still employed at ChiComm today] had happened to give that same colleague a ChiComm pen. So when Leon said something, his friend at work handed him the pen and advised him to check into the place. Next thing you know, he was able to get in for an interview and started with the company soon after.
Fast forward: 43 years later, he's still here. Over the years he hasn't strayed far from what he was originally hired to do. The first 20 years contained a variety of different jobs with field and portable work. The last 20 years+ have been more focused on mobile work. At some point he acquired the nickname "Santa"...can you see why?
ChiComm is thankful for Leon's 40+ years of service.
