Rick Martellaro, president of Lathrop Construction Associates Inc., was elected as the 2010 president of the Construction Employers� Association during the group�s recent annual general membership dinner meeting held in Concord.
Other newly elected CEA officers are Patrick Callahan, senior vice president and director of operations for Northern California of Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co., CEA first vice president; Robert Hood, senior vice president of Clark Construction Group � California LP, CEA vice president; and Chuck Palley, president of Cahill Contractors, Inc., San Francisco, CEA past president/treasurer.
Michael Walton, president of Employers� Advocate Inc., continues to serve as secretary of the CEA, an association with over 100 unionized building contractor members who collectively perform billions of dollars each year in public and private construction work throughout Northern California. CEA�s membership list includes most of the leading commercial building contractors in Northern California.
Martellaro began his career in construction in 1978 after teaching school and coaching football and baseball for the Richmond Unified School District. He has spent his entire construction career at Lathrop Construction Associates Inc. of Benicia, which specializing in the construction of commercial projects in both the public and private sectors of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Martellaro has overseen and been involved in many projects with Lathrop, including educational, medical, detention and manufacturing type facilities. His responsibilities include managing the firm, business and project development, estimating and project management.
Martellaro earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology and a State Teaching Credential at California State University, Hayward. In addition to his active involvement as a board member and officer of CEA, he is a member of the Building Industry Conference Board. He also makes time for community and philanthropic efforts. He serves on the committee for the annual �Boys Towns of Italy� fundraising event in San Francisco that raises money for orphaned boys and girls. Along with several other associates, Martellaro started �Contractors FORE Kids,� an annual golf tournament that supports underprivileged children in the Bay Area.
Martellaro and Lathrop recently completed the new El Cerrito High School project, Pioneer Housing for Cal State University East Bay and Edna Hill Theatre for Brentwood Union School District. Among his clients are Napa Unified School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District, Brentwood Union School District, Liberty Unified School District, California State University East Bay, Las Positas Junior College, City of Brentwoood, Quattrocchi/Kwok Architects, WLC Architects and Rainforth Grau Architects.
Approximately 250 Northern California building industry executives attended CEA�s annual banquet. Robert Alvarado, executive officer of the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council and Chuck Pennoni, president of Drexel University, were the keynote speakers at the event.
CEA offers a number of services and programs to its members including negotiation of union agreements, professional labor relations representation, legislative representation, safety education and advocacy, labor-management partnering, builder networking opportunities, a public works/prevailing wage compliance assistance program and many other benefits. For the past 25 years, CEA has negotiated the Northern California Carpenters Master Agreement for the industry, covering some 40,000 carpenter employees and over 2,500 signatory contractors. CEA�s offices are located in Walnut Creek and Sacramento. For more information about CEA, visit www.cea-ca.org.
