IHI Power Services chief Tony Dabbene says success is “really more about the people you surround yourself with than you yourself.”
Dabbene serves as both CEO and CFO of the Aliso Viejo-based company, which is a subsidiary of IHI Corp. of Japan. It is scheduled to be sold to Kyuden International Corp., also of Japan.
The company’s results have “proven us to be worthy of an investment by somebody else,” according to Dabbene.
He was honored last May with a lifetime achievement award at the Business Journal’s CFO of the Year Awards. During his career, he’s also worked for companies such as LG&E Energy, ExaDigm and Metalclad Corp.
The company provides operations and maintenance, asset management, technical and compliance services for the power generation industry.
IHI Power Services manages 31 power plants in the U.S., Dabbene says.
More Than 500 Employees, 40 in OC
IHI Power Services has more than 40 employees at corporate headquarters out of a total workforce of more than 500.
Two months after he retired following a 40-plus-year career in finance and business, a friend in 2022 asked Dabbene to temporarily fill in as the chief financial officer of IHI Power Services. He has kept that role since then and added the CEO role as well.
“I’m still wearing both hats,” he told the Business Journal on March 18. “I was hopeful that I’d only have one. But it’s worked out, and it was best for the company that I continue to do that for a while.”
He said that after the sale is final “we’ll revisit.”
Excited about the sale
Dabbene says he and the staff are thrilled about the pending sale to Kyuden International.
“The acquirer is a great company to work for. They’re as excited as we are about going forward,” according to the CEO/CFO.
“We’re looking to continue to grow. We’re looking to continue to expand our business. We’ll be much more aggressive as we go forward with our new partner,” Dabbene says.
He was raised in New York City and came to Southern California for a job in 1978 with his wife and stayed.
“We don’t really go back much,” the Laguna Hills resident says. “We have family there but they’d rather come here.”
