Quanta Services is an American corporation that provides infrastructure services for electric power, pipeline, industrial and communications industries. Capabilities include the planning, design, installation, program management, maintenance and repair of most types of network infrastructure. In June 2009, Quanta Services was added to the S&P 500 index, replacing Ingersoll-Rand. Quanta Services employs about 40,000 people. Its operating companies achieved combined revenues of about $11 billion in 2018. It is headquartered in Houston, Texas. In 1998, Quanta went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol, PWR. Current leadership On March 14, 2016, Earl C. “Duke” Austin succeeded former chief executive officer, Jim O’Neil. Austin is currently president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer. He is a graduate of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and is the former president of Quanta's Operating Unit, North Houston Pole Line. On April 2, 2012, Derrick A. Jensen succeed former chief financial officer, James H. Haddox. Jensen is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. Colson and PAR The man behind the creation of Quanta Services is former executive chairman, John R. Colson. After earning a degree in geology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Colson entered the military and served one year in Vietnam. He was discharged from the Army in 1971 and returned to Kansas City, taking temporary employment at PAR Electrical Contractors, Inc., which built high-voltage transmission lines, distribution lines, and substations, and provided other electric utility infrastructure services. Colson's initial job was to carry stakes for a survey team. Within three years, he was named manager of engineering services, and after six, he had worked his way up to vice-president of operations. After becoming executive vice-president and general manager in the early 1980s, he began buying the company, became president in 1991, and ultimately emerged as its owner. Initial formation In the 1990s, the electrical contracting business was highly fragmented, populated by more than 50,000 companies, the vast majority of which were small, owner-operated enterprises. Deregulation in the electric utility industries in a number of states prompted utilities to become more cost-competitive, leading to the outsourcing of infrastructure work to contractors who could do the job more efficiently. Moreover, much of the transmission and distribution infrastructure in the United States was aging and in need of repair or replacement. In 1997, Colson spearheaded the combination of four contractors to form Quanta Services, Inc., which