Donor Highlight
A Family Service of Greater Boston Hero
When it comes to our agency donors, Michael Maggiacomo, is made of “The Right Stuff”. As he humbly tells his story, you see can see how genuinely grateful he is to his parents and for his modest upbringing. He attributes his business success to his beginnings and never loses sight of the fact that he was not brought up in affluent suburbs. Born in the Boston North End, his family migrated to Charlestown and then Revere. All along he believed he was living the American Dream until one day, he was denied access to board a new Yacht at a local boat show. He was given a brochure, which he has kept to this day. It dawned on him that he did not look rich enough to own such a boat. To be included in this “other society”, he was going to have to change his image and work even harder to be able to enjoy the finer things in life like a sailboat. He realized success was equated with getting a good education.
That is how Michael began his journey of becoming a successful entrepreneur and how he came to be one of Family Service of Greater Boston’s (FSGB) beloved friends and donors. The finer life for Michael began as a student in Northeastern, being one of the first classes to major in entrepreneurship. He was always told he knew how to “fix things”, “to sort things out”- not material things but relationships and business problems. He instinctively knew how to market specialty products, seeing the niche they provided and the value added for specific vertical segments. Fortunately he did not take the technology route. Instead he chose banking. Starting at Citizen Bank, he gained expertise in finance and strategic planning, especially for health care-related entities and not-for-profit. At Eastern Bank he helped to develop Bridge-to-Hud with East Mortgage Capital and a New Markets Tax Credit Program. Today he is Senior Vice President and Regional Manager of Commercial Banking of People’ United Bank.
Having a good sense that he might be able to assist social service organizations, he connected with Boston industry leaders offering his financial expertise, especially during the 2008 financial crunch. He became a close friend of Randal Rucker, Chief Executive Officer of FSGB. When it came time for the agency to renegotiate a balloon bond loan, Michael and his then current employer, were able to reduce the overall debt and free up more cash for much needed programs. So when other agencies were cutting back on programs, FSGB was business as usual.
So it is no surprise that Michael is our premier highlighted donor. He epitomizes the ideal donor. He is mentally engaged and gives back not only in funds but offers his professional expertise to solve real agency challenges. Randal sums it up when he says, “Michael offers unrelenting ‘sweat equity’ that has made a significant contribution to the longevity of our agency”.
So while many of Michael’s childhood friends may not have fared as well, he understands all too well what it takes to help our agency empower our families to be strong, to strive for a better education, and to reach for a better life. By the way, Michael owns that sailboat that he aspired to and says it is worth the journey.
