Alex Hamilton, Owner and CEO of CPI Service

Alex Hamilton is the owner and CEO of CPI Service, a Bay Area plumbing, heating and cooling company built on decades of trades experience. He took ownership in 2023, bringing a background in construction management, industrial field engineering and energy-sector business strategy to a company whose reputation was built by the technicians already on its team.

Rather than running the business from the trades floor, Alex focuses on the systems around it: how projects get planned, how field operations scale, and how a service company grows without losing the quality that earned its reputation.

Credentials and Background

• CSLB qualifying individual for CPI Service's contractor license, CSLB License #1101278 (opens CSLB in a new tab): C-36 Plumbing, C-20 HVAC and A General Engineering.
• B.S. in Construction Management, Western Carolina University (2011–2013).
• Field engineer on industrial projects with Amec Foster Wheeler, then project engineer at Wood, managing the planning, permitting and execution of large-scale mechanical and industrial work.
• MBA, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley (2020–2022), concentrating in energy, finance and entrepreneurship. Co-President of the Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative (BERC), a student-run organization connecting the energy and cleantech industries with the Berkeley community.

Alex's Path to CPI Service

A foundation in the field

Alex's path started on industrial job sites, not behind a desk. As a field engineer and later project engineer with Amec Foster Wheeler and Wood, he worked directly on how mechanical and industrial systems are designed, permitted and built. That gave him a ground-level understanding of the trades long before he owned a trades company.

Energy, finance and entrepreneurship at Haas

To pair his field experience with a stronger business foundation, Alex earned an MBA at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, focusing on energy, finance and entrepreneurship. Alongside his coursework, he co-led the Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative, deepening his focus on how energy and infrastructure businesses are run and scaled.

Taking ownership of CPI Service

In 2023, Alex took ownership of CPI Service, a company founded in the late 1980s and already staffed by technicians with decades of combined trades experience. Since then he has focused on operational efficiency, technician development and consistent service quality as the company grows across the Bay Area. The goal is not to reinvent CPI Service: it is to keep the technicians and standards that built its reputation, and run the business with more structure, consistency and discipline.

How Alex Runs CPI Service

Alex treats CPI Service as a trades-first company run with an operator's discipline. His priorities:

1. Invest in technicians. The technicians who do the hands-on plumbing and HVAC work come first; field staff are never treated as interchangeable.
2. Apply engineering standards. Construction and industrial engineering principles guide how projects are planned, permitted, coordinated and completed.
3. Grow without compromising quality. Operations are set up to support growth without sacrificing response, workmanship or the customer experience.
4. Prioritize long-term efficiency. An energy-sector perspective on HVAC and mechanical work, with an emphasis on system efficiency and long-term reliability.
5. Protect CPI Service's reputation. The company stays committed to the honest, high-quality work that built CPI Service across the Bay Area before Alex took ownership.

Connect with Alex and CPI Service

Have a question about a plumbing or HVAC project, or want to talk with the team? Call (408) 978-3093or send us a message. Connect with Alex on LinkedIn, and follow CPI Service on Facebook and Instagram.

Read Alex's articles on the CPI Service blog, or meet the rest of our team.