Taking Photo of Front Loader
Picture of WiDF filming a promotional video in Thatcher staging yard.

Our People

Thatcher has been in the construction business since 1946. The backbone of Thatcher is our people. We take great pride in the Thatcher Team, and in turn some of our employees are 4th generation. Our engineering background (including PE, SE, PhD) of the officers and key personnel has resulted in innovative design-build solutions to job problems, as well as the development and modification of specialized equipment.

Diversity and Inclusion

Thatcher’s 4th generation workers strive to create an inclusive work culture, environment, and business model that leverages the strengths and capabilities of our diverse team. People of different backgrounds, opinions, perspectives, experiences, and ideas bring creativity that maximizes team member engagement at all levels.

Thatcher’s efforts at diversity and Inclusion go back many years. In keeping with our spirit of always looking for new ways of solving problems, Thatcher has been hiring people from traditionally underrepresented groups before owner-imposed requirements were common. Our most recent challenge is replacing people like Sheila Jackson after her retirement from a long successful Thatcher career mostly operating large forklifts that could pick and carry 20,000 lbs. Good luck in California, Sheila we’ll miss you.

Michael Wysockey is currently the Trustee Liaison for the Deep Foundation Institute’s committee, Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF). This organization has been very successful raising money and more importantly raising awareness of women in deep foundations industry. The involvement covers engineering, material and equipment supply, and construction.

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History

Harry Thatcher founded the company in 1946 in Waukegan, IL after serving in World War II with the US Navy Seabees. Tom Wysockey started in 1957 coming out of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Tom and two partners ran the company starting in the early 1970’s with offices in Chicago and Gary, IN. Tom became the sole owner in the 1980’s when Michael and John Wysockey started working during their school years. They came to work full time in the 1990’s and were running the business in the early 2000’s.

Thatcher has been known for Safety, Quality, Innovation, and Productivity for many years. Tom Wysockey was a founding board member of the Chicagoland Construction Safety Council and often said that we cared about safety back when OSHA was just a town in Wisconsin. The true safety culture that other companies strive for exists fundamentally at Thatcher.

The ability to achieve high productivity levels without sacrificing quality or safety requires constant innovation. Team Thatcher is always looking to find ways to do things better. Whether it’s earth retention design or deep foundations, we take testing and measurements to another level. This has been the way throughout Thatcher’s great history and continues forward as the way we do things.

THOMAS J. WYSOCKEY SCHOLARSHIP

Established in 2014 with a donation from Thatcher Foundations and several industry partners and friends, the scholarship is named for Thomas J. Wysockey who was the Chairman Emeritus of Thatcher Foundations until his passing in 2019. He was an inspiration to young engineers throughout the construction industry.

The Scholarship is administered by the DFI Educational Trust and has been awarded each year since 2015. It is currently providing 2 annual scholarships per year at $5,000 each to undergraduate or graduate students in Civil Engineering with an interest in Deep Foundations. In applying for this scholarship, the candidate is actually applying for an at large scholarship with the DFI educational trust. This has the effect of simultaneously applying for several scholarships with one application.

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Thomas J. Wysockey, S.H.K, graduated from The Citadel in 1953 with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. Following graduation, he was a company commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He joined Thatcher Engineering Corporation in 1957 and served as president for many years and, most recently, chairman and owner.

His commitment to the industry is evident by his active involvement in several industry associations including as board member of American Subcontractors Association (ASA), Chicago Chapter; director at the Builders Association of Greater Chicago and the Chicagoland Construction Safety Council; trustee of the Construction Advancement Foundation; trustee of the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI); president of the Industrial Contractors and Builders Association of Indiana; board member of the Society of American Military Engineers; and member of the Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings.

Wysockey lectured at several colleges and universities including The Citadel, MIT, Northwestern University, University of Illinois and Purdue University. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the ASA, Chicago Chapter. He was recognized as a Legend in Construction by the DFi with Da Vinci Legends Award. He received the MacGruder Lifetime Achievement Award from the Great Lakes Construction Association.

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