February 2017: Donor of the Month featuring Mike Gigliotti
Mike Gigliotti is one of our Ambassadors who increased his donation this past year by 50%
Michael Gigliotti was born and raised about 30 miles southeast of Villanova’s campus, in the town of Avondale, PA, in southern Chester County. Michael worked throughout his entire undergraduate experience, pumping gasoline at an Arco gas station in his hometown. He recalls that his first semester’s tuition was about $750; books, for all his first semester classes cost less than $100. Michael majored in Civil Engineering, graduating in May of 1970. While an undergraduate, he participated on the staff of the Villanova Engineer, and the American Society of Civil Engineers - Student Chapter. Because he worked Thursday nights, Friday nights, all day Saturday, and some Sunday nights – to fund his education, he was unable to participate in many more campus extracurricular activities.
Michael’s first job after graduation was for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation as a Civil Engineer. Prior to leaving Penn DOT in 1973, he was the Assistant Resident Engineer on the interchange of the Blue Route and Schuylkill Expressway construction project in West Conshohocken. Michael married his high school sweetheart, Linda McDowell, in 1972 when she was a senior at the University of Delaware. Michael and Linda just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in January 2017. After getting married, they lived in Newtown Square. Linda taught school, worked for Dairy Council, and taught at Abington Hospital School of Nursing. Michael became affiliated with the Newtown Square Fire Company. He became Fire Chief in 1981. While living in Newtown Square, Michael took a smattering of graduate courses in civil engineering at Villanova, where he was elected to Tau Beta Pi a national engineering honor society.
In 1973 Michael left Penn DOT and took a job with Paoli Construction Company (a.k.a. Exton Materials, Inc.), where he learned the highway and bridge construction business, first hand. In 1980 his daughter, Katherine, was born; followed by the birth of a son, Matthew, in 1984. Katie is now a practicing attorney living in Washington, DC; and Matt is in law school in Dallas, TX. Seeking more opportunity in highway and bridge construction, in 1985 Mike and Linda moved their young family to Phoenix, AZ, where he took a position with Tanner Construction Company. While in Phoenix, Michael managed several large highway construction projects, the most notable being the “Stack” interchange in downtown Phoenix; the interchange of I-10 and I-17, a $65 million project. At the time, it was the largest highway construction project built in AZ In 1991 the family again moved; this time to southern California where Michael took a position as a Project Manager for Steve P. Rados, Inc. His first project in California was the construction of a $70 million segment of the Metro Greeline, a lite rail transit system near LAX International Airport. Michael managed several large projects for Rados in the ensuing years. In 2000, he was promoted to Southern California Division Manager, overseeing all of the company’s construction operations in southern California. He remained in that position until 2012, when took over the operation of the company’s Contract Administration department. He currently serves as Vice President of Contract Administration, where his main role is negotiating Alternative Delivery pursuits; Design-Build and Construction Manager/General Contractor {CMGC} projects.
In CA Linda worked for 20 years as the Director of the Weight Management Program at U. of California – Irvine. She now works as a Wellness Consultant for the Diocese of in Orange County, CA. Both are active members of Our Lady Queen of Angels church.-Newport Beach, CA. Michael serves as a Eucharistic Minister, was a member of Parish Council 2006 -’09, and served 1 year as president. Linda serves as a Lector.
Michael has been an active and dedicated member of the Villanova Alumni Association. He has participated in the Alumni Recruitment Network (through the Admissions Office since 1992), conducting College Nights at many of the Orange County high schools, served as an alumni interviewer for the Villanova Scholarship and in 2011 he received the Goodwill Ambassador Award for his support of student recruitment for the Ad-missions Office. Between 2000 and 2012 he served as President of the Southern California Chapter of the Alumni Association. Michael and Linda have just recently completed donating a major gift toward the expansion of the Center for Engineering, Education, and Research (CEER).
