Respondent’s Name: David Musto
Company: U.S. Pavement Services, Inc.
What was your greatest professional accomplishment in 2015? After being promoted to sales manager in January 2015, I lead a new team of 8 reps that was able to increase our in-house New England based sales by over 40% from 2014 year end numbers. We more than doubled our market presence on the South Shore of Massachusetts from 2014 and increased profits in our New England division by over 100% from 2014. Receiving the promotion allowed me to focus on my core customers while my team expanded our market reach, working with new and first time customers at a rate not seen in over a decade.
What was your most notable project, deal, or transaction in 2015? U.S. Pavement has been an exclusive paving partner of Harvard University for over 5 years and 2015 was no different. We worked on three major projects for the University this year. A full repave of Harvard Way, the main drag at Harvard Business School was completed over the summer. It was a time sensitive and high profile project that was completed with no issues and even included paving the Dean’s driveway. We also recently paved the Harvard Medical School Quadrangle. This greenspace originally designed by noted architect Fredrick Law Olmsted in the early 1900s has never had an asphalt pavement system until USP installed one in 2015.
What are your predictions for commercial real estate in 2016? U.S. Pavement has provided more budget quotes and proposals for parking lot repaving projects than ever before to commercial real estate property managers, owners and developers for 2016 work. I am optimistic that this high number, both in total proposals and dollar value will translate into a substantial amount of capital work for the coming year. If managers and owners are investing in new parking lots, I believe we can directly correlate this with an uptick in real estate transactions and new tenant leases for 2016. Remember, a parking lot is a potential buyer’s first impression of a commercial building upon pulling into a property. Owners must make sure this initial reaction is a positive one.