During his 30-year military career, David Pelizzon ’81 served in many capacities, from helicopter mechanic to paratrooper to front-line soldier, while rising in the ranks from a private — as a 17-year-old who enlisted before graduating high school — to colonel, before retiring at age 47 in 2003.
While he credits the opportunities he found in the military for some of his success — like earning an engineering degree from West Point and a master’s from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government — Pelizzon says the most important lesson his three decades of military experience taught him is the value of servant leadership.
“In the infantry, leaders eat last,” he said.
It’s a formula that Pelizzon has found works well in business, too, and drives his leadership philosophy as CEO of Granby-based Squadron Capital, an industrial holding company that owns a handful of U.S.-based medical device and plastic manufacturers. Read more.