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UCANE’s Contractor Member of the Year
Richard, Jr. and Nancy Pacella with their daughters Adriana, Sophia, and Isabelle, and son Rocco
UCANE’s Contractor of the Year Award is the highest honor bestowed on a member by their peers. Previous recipients are some of the most respected men and women who continue, year after year, to work for the betterment of our industry. They each represent the high standard of business excellence that our Association has come to expect, and this year’s recipient fits this high standard perfectly.
Our members voted Richard Pacella, Jr. of R.M. Pacella, Inc. as UCANE’s 2022 Contractor of the Year. Rich is a successful third-generation contractor who comes from a family whose name is synonymous with quality workmanship, and the ability to take on difficult projects.
In the early 1990s he began working at R. M. Pacella, Inc., the family business founded by his father, Richard Pacella, Sr., in 1977. In 1995, after completing his first two years of undergraduate studies at Lynn University, Rich joined his father and mother full time in the business, while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in construction management at Wentworth Institute of Technology nights and weekends. In July 2004, he became president of the company.
Rich has carried on his family’s tradition of involvement and support of our Association. He has earned the respect and admiration of his co-workers and peers within the utility construction industry, and his ongoing commitment to UCANE is evident through his hard work in effectively communicating the issues of vital importance to our industry. He served on our Board of Directors prior to moving up the ladder and taking on the positions of Secretary, Treasurer, President-elect, and then UCANE President.
In his community, Rich serves as Commissioner for both the Foxboro Water and Sewer Commission and the Mansfield-Foxboro-Norton Regional Wastewater District. Most importantly, his free time and weekends are dedicated to his family, his wife, Nancy, and children Isabelle, Sophia, Adriana, and Rocco, all of whom attended our Banquet and shared in Rich’s well-deserved honor.
His parents, Richard Sr. and Mary, who were also in attendance, wrote this about him: “As soon as he learned to talk, we knew the direction he would go in his career….His preschool teacher informed us that he was managing a construction project in the sandbox. The first Christmas picture he drew at school was a tractor trailer hauling a Christmas tree. His placement in the family is in the middle of two sisters, Stacey and Nicole. They would refer to him as boy wonder, and they were right…he was the boy wonder, and we are so proud of the man he has become.”
It was a great pleasure to present UCANE’s 2022 Contractor of the Year Award to Richard Pacella, Jr., and we look forward to his continued support of our Association. n
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