The Massachusetts Retail Lumber Dealers Association (MRLDA) honored three industry greats at its 124th Annual Meeting on November 1, at Gillette Stadium, the home of the six-time World Champion New England Patriots. MRLDA Past President Leah Fennell was celebrated as Lumber Person of the Year, with Harvey Hurvitz of Cape Cod Lumber and Manny Pina, recently retired from National Lumber, recognized as Lifetime Achievement Award recipients.
Left: MRLDA President T.J. McNulty congratulates Lumber Person of the Year Leah Fennell, along with Jim Baker. Right: A standing ovation and a warm embrace from Jim Baker for Lumber Person of the Year Leah Fennell.
Click to Read Leah Fennell’s Full Biography
“If you’re willing to put in effort and remain open to learning, opportunities will present themselves,” says Leah Fennell of her 25-year career in the lumber and building materials industry.
A western Massachusetts native, born and raised in Springfield, Leah enjoyed spending summers on Cape Cod. In the mid-1980’s, she made Cape Cod her permanent home, and subsequently, she has dedicated her efforts to supporting local businesses and associations that promote housing and development in the region.
Leah’s journey in the lumber industry began in 1998, when she joined Mid-Cape Home Centers to help solve a dilemma unique to that time. “Do you remember the Y2K panic? Computers around the globe were destined to implode as the calendar turned to the year 2000,” Leah recalls. Mid-Cape, then a third-generation family-owned company, had an archaic system in need of upgrading. She helped implement a software system that was so state-of-the-art that Mid-Cape was actually the first company to use it. Getting it up and running was no simple desk job, either.
“At the time, Mid-Cape had nine locations. I was running cable, installing new computers, and training employees to use the system,” she recalls. “It was very challenging for employees to go through this change.”
After a successful implementation, she took on a more customer-facing role, launching the company’s first website and customer portal. She eventually was appointed interim marketing director, a role in which she served for two years before taking a permanent marketing director position at Shepley Wood Products in 2006. Again, she was building something from the ground up, taking the marketing office from essentially a part-time operation to a full-time department with multiple employees.
Along the way, Tony Shepley encouraged her to get more involved with the MRLDA and NRLA. She began participating in state and national legislative efforts, then served on the MRLDA board of directors, including terms as vice president and president. She also sat on the NRLA’s inaugural Rising Women Roundtable, a group she was fiercely committed to and credits for providing immeasurable professional development tools and lifetime relationships.
When Leah’s term as MRLDA president ended in 2018, so did her time with Shepley, and she turned her attention to her bucket list. “We had the MRLDA annual dinner where I passed the baton to the next president, then my husband and I got in the car and drove cross-country,” she says. “I took a six-month sabbatical. We traveled 14,000 miles and visited 34 states. An incredible experience!”
The following year, Leah’s career came full circle when she returned to Mid-Cape, now under new ownership. Starting in corporate training, she stepped in during the pandemic to fill the vacant HR director role and earned her professional certification from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Grateful for her somewhat circuitous path, she notes, “I’ve got 25 years in this industry, with two great companies, that have afforded me wonderful opportunities to grow professionally and personally.” Along the way, she’s picked up a few awards, too, including Volunteer Member of the Year from the Cape Cod Homebuilders and Remodelers Association (2017) and the NYLE Redwood Award (2018). Holding the latter in the highest regard, stating, “The mentors in my life helped me navigate my journey through this industry. It is beyond humbling to be recognized as someone who helps guide the careers of young professionals, where I once stood.”
In June 2023, Leah took on the role of Human Resources Director for a family-owned home health care company based in Cape Cod. A new opportunity to invest in the community she cares for.
Even though she’s moved on to a different sector, Leah’s immense affection for the lumber industry remains. It was how a “washashore” from Springfield found her people on the Cape. “I met some of my very best friends through this industry,” she says. An industry that has also embraced her husband as one of their own. Leah and Skip look forward to their continual involvement in industry events and time spent with the great friends they’ve made throughout the decades.
Left: Lifetime Achievement recipient Harvey Hurvitz is congratulated by Tom McManus and MRLDA President T.J. McNulty. Right: Lifetime Achievement recipient Manny Pina is congratulated by MRLDA President T.J. McNulty and Steven Kaitz.
Click Here to Read Harvey Hurvitz’s Full Biography
Succession planning can be a challenge in a family business, whether it’s multiple shareholders jockeying for control or younger generations preferring different career paths, but Harvey Hurvitz has known for quite some time whom to entrust with the future of Cape Cod Lumber: the very same people who keep it running every day.
In 1958, Sam and Ruth Hurvitz purchased the Cape Cod Wrecking and Salvage Company, later to become Cape Cod Lumber (CCL), on Rt. 18 in Abington. In 2021, their son Harvey completed a seven-year project to transition CCL to a 100 percent employee-owned company. The journey in between encompasses more than one lifetime of achievement.
Harvey’s time at the company began in 1972, when he came on as his parents’ second employee. There was also a small truck and a single forklift. “The business was very basic,” he recalls. “The early years were very challenging, and we had very limited funding to work with. I serviced customers, from selling to loading their vehicles to making deliveries, receiving vendor shipments, and anything else that had to be done.”
By the time he was 20, Harvey was handling most of the purchasing and pricing. When his parents retired in 1985, he purchased the remainder of the company and served as the sole owner until 2014. That’s when he decided to convert the company to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The first stock sale was in 2015, and by 2021, the transition was complete.
Harvey believes strongly that it was the right move for both him and the company. “I love being the former owner of an employee-owned company and providing the opportunity for the employee-owners to build wealth,” he says.
During a period of time in Harvey’s 51-year (and counting) career in the lumber industry, he was quite involved in politics. He served as chairman of the Abington Republican Town Committee from 1991–94 and managed multiple campaigns. “I was considered an expert in special and low-turnout elections,” he notes. “I am no longer party-affiliated , although I still have a strong interest in civics and public policy.” He was elected to the town’s board of selectmen in 1994 and served on both the finance committee and personnel board. He’s a current member of the Research and Program committee for the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank whose mission is “to develop and communicate dynamic ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond.”
Perhaps it’s no surprise then that the MRLDA appointed him to two separate terms as legislative chair from 1991–98 and 2018–21 and President in 1998-1999. He served more than 20 years on the board of directors in two separate stints ranging from 1991 to 2021 and was on the NRLA executive committee from 2007 to 2010. He’s also a former MRLDA Lumber Person of the Year (2003).
Harvey and his wife Gail live in Westwood with their dog Reggie. He is close to Gail’s two adult children from a previous marriage, and his two step-grandchildren call him “Zayde,” the Yiddish term for grandfather. He also remains close to his stepson from his previous marriage. In his spare time, he maintains his interests in U.S. history, economics, finance, and politics, as well living and encouraging others to practice a healthy lifestyle.
With such a unique legacy in both his industry and community, Harvey’s advice to others is fittingly civic-minded: “Be a positive influence on the people surrounding you. Seek out opportunities where you can make strong contributions to society. Be kind.”
Click Here to Read Manny Pina’s Full Biography
In his 54 years in the lumber business, Manny Pina never stopped learning and always challenged himself to be the best. That’s how he worked his way up to the top job in the top company.
That wasn’t initially his goal, however. “I didn’t particularly want to be a boss; I just wanted to learn and absorb everything,” Manny recalls. “I had drive and ambition and a thirst for knowledge.”
He started in the industry by necessity. Fresh out of the Marines after a tour in Vietnam, Manny already had a wife and son to support. He took a job at Reliable Homes by day and worked a series of other gigs by night, including a year as a policeman.
“One day I was directing traffic. My boss from Reliable stopped by and said, ‘You’re too smart to be doing this for the rest of your life,’” he remembers. “That’s when I got a better position at Reliable and really got engaged with the building business.”
Manny was also going to college at night, focusing on courses he thought would help him in business. But his job at Reliable was increasingly providing both the success he aspired to and the education he desired. “It was like a nine-year college course,” he says of his rise from loading trucks to becoming the general manager, during which he learned all aspects of the business. The next nine years were spent at Wood Structures, where he took a job as an account executive as a way to round out his industry education.
Much of the business came naturally to Manny; it was practically in his blood. His grandfather emigrated from Cape Verde and helped raise Manny after his mother died when he was just a toddler. “He was an all-purpose guy,” Manny says. “My grandfather taught me how to do masonry, carpentry, and a lot of other things. I always liked it.”
Manny also gravitated towards the building trades in school, taking drafting classes and aspiring to be an architect. He excelled in math. The lumber industry gave him the opportunity to put all those interests to work.
It all came together in Manny’s 36-year career with National Lumber. The Kaitz family recruited him for two years before he finally joined them in March of 1987 as vice president of engineering. He weathered the economic downturn of the late ‘80s, and the company emerged a little smaller but stronger, elevating Manny to vice president of operations. Years of success and expansion followed. “We started to thrive in the ‘90s, and by the turn of the decade, we had reached the $100 million mark. We could see opportunities for great growth,” he says.
In 2001, Manny was appointed president, with the goal “to be not only the largest but the best lumber yard in New England.” His many employees, vendors, and customers would attest to him achieving that goal.
This past April, Manny retired. The Pina family, however, remains well represented at National. His two eldest sons have worked there for nearly 30 years apiece; his youngest son has been in sales for 12 years; and even his grandson has logged 10 years as a buyer.
Now Manny is excited to shift his focus from ambition and drive to “relaxation, comfort, and love” along with his wife of 40 years. “This year I finally did all the things around my house that I’ve wanted to do,” he says.
“It was very rewarding,” Manny says in summation of his career. “I still have great friends in the industry. My life worked out perfectly.”
Steven Kaitz, retired of National Lumber, feted Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Pina by saluting his outstanding 54-year career in the building material industry, a career that began with Manny fresh out of the Marines after a tour in Vietnam, taking an entry-level position at Reliable Truss, and concluded with his retiring in early 2023 as the successful president of National Lumber. Through it all, Pina never stopped learning and challenging himself to be the best.
MRLDA Past President Tom McManus of Cape Cod Lumber was next to the podium to honor Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Harvey Hurvitz. Hurvitz’s time at CCL began in 1972, when he came on as his parents’ second employee. Fifty-one years (and counting) later, CCL is now a 100% employee-owned company. Along the way, Harvey has created a unique legacy, not only by providing opportunities for CCL’s employee-owners but also through his dedication to industry and community causes.
MRLDA Past President Jim Baker of US LBM capped off the evening by paying tribute to Lumber Person of the Year Leah Fennell, whose industry involvement began with participating in state and national legislative efforts, then serving on the MRLDA board of directors, including terms as vice president and then president. She also sat on the inaugural Rising Women’s Roundtable and earned Volunteer Member of the Year from the Cape Cod Homebuilders and Remodelers Association (2017), and the NYLE Redwood Award (2018). She noted, “I’ve got 25 years in this industry with two great companies that have afforded me wonderful opportunities to grow professionally and personally.”
The newly elected 2023-2024 MRLDA Board of Directors.
Earlier in the afternoon, the MRLDA held a board of directors meeting, followed by an open business meeting where the 2023-2024 board of directors was installed. Then it was on to the traditional cocktail reception and awards banquet. The cocktail reception this year featured a celebrity appearance by Patriots alum and radio personality Scott Zolak (sponsored by Boise Cascade) and an opportunity to try on all six Patriots Super Bowl rings (sponsored by Wolf Home Products).
Left: Incoming MRLDA President T.J. McNulty thanks Outgoing President Kevin Costa for his service. Right: A couple of Maryland Terrapins reminiscing: QB and radio personality Scott Zolak and Patti Heintzelman.
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