Leo Vecellio Jr., chairman, president and CEO of Vecellio Group and past chairman of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), is the 2020 recipient of the George S. Bartlett Award.
The award was presented during ARTBA’s national convention, held virtually due to the pandemic.
ARTBA co-sponsors the Bartlett Award, established in 1931, alongside the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The award recognizes an individual each year who made an outstanding contribution to highway progress.
Previous recipients of the award include members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, former U.S. Department of Transportation secretaries, state transportation department secretaries, and top transportation design and construction executives.
About Leo Vecellio Jr.
According to ARTBA, Vecellio was recognized for 40 years of business success, extraordinary volunteer leadership contributions to national and state construction groups, and his ongoing commitment to support education and research through the Vecellio Construction Engineering & Management Program at Virginia Tech University.
Vecellio Group, a fourth-generation-owned and -run company based in West Palm Beach, Florida, is one of America’s largest contractors, with extensive heavy and highway construction, mining and petroleum operations in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and other markets.
Vecellio served as ARTBA Foundation chairman from 2009 to 2016. In 2018, the Vecellio family was inducted into the ARTBA Foundation’s Transportation Development Hall of Fame.
Vecellio grew up in the family business and joined it full-time in the 1970s. He extended the reach of the company beyond its West Virginia roots and into the Southeast and beyond through a series of acquisitions, startups and expansions. Vecellio also diversified into aggregate production and energy services.
Companies operating under the Vecellio Group corporate umbrella include Vecellio & Grogan, Ranger Construction Industries, Sharpe Bros., White Rock Quarries, Vecenergy and Hal Jones Contractor.
About George Bartlett
According to ARTBA, George Bartlett was regarded as the greatest single influence on the use of concrete roads in the U.S. Bartlett was lauded by contemporaries in the concrete and highway industry during his career for his energetic and innovative promotion of concrete roads.
In 1909, he established experimental stretches of concrete pavement, working with the Wayne County Road Commission in Michigan – the birthplace of modern road construction – and the University Portland Cement Co.
