“They manufacture really complex assemblies for the defense industry, aerospace, and quite a few others,” said Logan, 35, who will be the chief engineering officer.
Logan studied welding engineering at Ohio State University, graduating in 2010. He went to work for the Norfolk naval shipyard as a civilian employee, dealing with aircraft, submarines and surface ships for the Navy. He later moved to Evansville, Ind., to work for BWX Technologies, which manufactures high-tolerance parts for the Navy.
At that time, he received his MBA from the University of Southern Indiana.
His move to oversee Hamilton’s utilities and engineering operations was a natural jump, he said, because people who work on submarines and ships deal with water-treatment systems, sewage systems and power generation. That is made even more difficult because those systems are located in very confined spaces.
Logan, who was paid $187,200 by Hamilton, earlier this year received a nationwide American Public Power Association “Rising Star” award.
“The chance to bring a shipyard back on line, to be a pretty substantial company, that’s a challenge I’ve never had, and one that I’m really looking forward to.”
His new position “is a highly technical engineering field, where your tolerances are, at times, smaller than the thickness of a piece of paper,” he said.
City Manager Joshua Smith said about him: “Jim is an amazing talent, and I knew it was a matter of time before he was provided an opportunity he simply could not say no to. Jim is one of three individuals I interviewed in the past twenty years, that I knew after the first five minutes that I wanted to hire.”
Logan is married to Leslie, and is father to daughter Remi, 4½; and sons Charlie 2½, and Cameron, 4 months. He was a member of the Fairfield High School Class of 2004 and is son of Charlie and Jamie Logan.
For the rest of this year, Smith will assume most of Logan’s responsibilities, before deciding whether January 2021 is the best time to start a national search for Logan’s replacement.
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