Boak & Sons Announces New Hires, Retirements

Boak & Sons, a residential and commercial exterior contracting company based in Youngstown, Ohio, is bidding a fond farewell to a 16-year employee while welcoming its new general counsel.

Many of Boak’s employees chose Boak & Sons as a lasting career choice, not just another job. One of those employees, Ken Opperman, recently decided to retire after 16 years. Boak & Sons extended its thanks to Opperman for his hard work and commitment in providing customers with the quality they have come to expect from the company.

Opperman started off at Boak & Sons in September of 2005. He eventually worked his way up to maintenance department supervisor.

“Ken has a tremendous asset to this company for the past 16 years,” said Sam Boak, president and founder of Boak & Sons, Inc. “We hate to lose such a trusted and valued member of our team, but he will always be a member of the Boak family. We wish him all the best and congratulate him on his retirement.”

Opperman plans on spending his days in retirement with his grandchildren and his wife. He also looks forward to tending to his garden.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 1, John McNally joined Boak & Sons as general counsel to provide advice and counsel to Boak & Sons staff on a variety of workplace issues, such as COVID-19 federal regulations and rules, workplace human resource policies, insurance and cybersecurity issues, and unemployment and workers’ compensation.

“John has already had such a positive impact on the Boak & Sons employees,” said Boak. “He is well-known and widely respected throughout the Mahoning Valley and our community and is an active presence for this company.”

McNally was born and raised in Youngstown and graduated from Ursuline High School in 1987. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1991 and a Juris Doctor and Master of Public Administration from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University in 1996.

“I look forward to using my legal and governmental experience on a daily basis to help Boak & Sons and its employees to continue to grow and expand our operations in the Mahoning Valley, eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania,” said McNally.

McNally has been a licensed attorney in Ohio since 1996. He served as assistant law director for Youngstown from 1998 to 2002, later serving as law director from 2002 to 2004. He served as Mahoning County Commissioner from 2005-2012 and as mayor of Youngstown from 2014 to 2017. He has also worked for numerous years in private practice with the firms of John A. McNally, III, Co., LPA and Roth Blair, focusing his practice on employment and human resource issues, criminal defense, domestic relations, and administrative law issues and compliance.

“John has a unique perspective as former mayor and his experience in a workplace of over 700 employees will be invaluable to the 180 employees of Boak & Sons and our customers,” said Chris White, vice president, operations of Boak & Sons, Inc. “We’re thrilled to have him on the Boak team and we look forward to seeing the impact he makes here.”