Giovanni Marcelli Earns ELECTRI International’s Wendt Award
Giovanni Marcelli, founder of a leading company providing software and education and training for electrical and mechanical contractors, has been selected by ELECTRI International-The Foundation for Electrical Construction, Inc. as one of the recipients of its prestigious Wendt Award in 2009. The award, which recognizes exemplary leadership and service to the electrical industry, is the highest form of tribute bestowed annually by the research organization and is named in honor of the philosophical and financial commitments made to the industry by one of its premier members, Albert G. Wendt, president of Cannon & Wendt Electric in Phoenix, Arizona.
After completing his education in Electrical Engineering in Italy, Giovanni Marcelli moved to Canada and became an electrical contractor with a master’s license. His firm initially specialized in rewiring/refurbishing punch presses and heat treating furnaces and later expanded to serve small industrial manufacturing plants, schools, airports, and water and wastewater treatment plants.
However, Marcelli began investigating software development after 14 years in the business and consistent disappointment with the then-available construction packages that lacked the core functionality needed to make bidding on contracts and managing projects more efficient. This pursuit led him to interact with thousands of estimators and project managers and what he learned from them resulted in his 1985 founding of Accubid to provide “software solutions that work the way contractors do.” Today, Accubid provides not only estimating software but proven solutions for all aspects of the construction process — including purchasing, project management and billing — that are used in more than 4400 electrical, mechanical, and structured cabling contracting companies throughout North America.
Accubid was an early contributor to the research foundation established by NECA in 1989 and received a permanent appointment to the ELECTRI Council. The company became a Regents ($250,000) level contributor in 1996. More recently, Accubid upgraded its commitment to the Diplomat ($350,000) level and, by doing so, became the first firm to step up and meet a 2009 Challenge Grant which added an additional return of 20 percent for its contribution. (The challenge was issued anonymously by an industry leader who has pledged to contribute an additional $10,000 to ELECTRI?International for each new gift of $50,000 donated to the Foundation this year.)
As his firm’s representative to the ELECTRI Council, Marcelli has been most active on the Program Review Committee which reviews research proposals submitted by universities and research institutes and recommend major initiatives for project funding. Council members are also involved in analyzing industry trends and overseeing the progress of commissioned project.
When Accubid provided its Regents-level gift, Marcelli said that he was primarily interested in supporting the Foundation’s Education Center, particularly as related to research and information dissemination on change orders and bid anaylsis. He has concentrated on these topics through his leadership of Accubid and his services to ELECTRI International, and he is now spearheading an effort to standardize the change order process by developing a uniform protocol for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing trades in Toronto.
His commitment to improving the electrical industry through education and technology is also readily visible at both a corporate and personal level. Accubid offers a wide range of professional development courses — ranging from basic estimating and change order estimating to project schedule management — and product training labs that have thus far reached more than 16,000 users.
In addition, Marcelli has participated on a number of educational committees for electrical and mechanical contracting organizations since 1995, and he has been a frequent and well received presenter at various industry associations and trade shows. Accubid is a consistent presence at the annual NECA?Show and each issue of ELECTRICAL?CONTRACTOR?magazine.
To see a brief videotaped presentation of Giovanni Marcelli’s perspective on the Foundation, click on the link following this article
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