Michael Procopio, the multifamily biz wiz has been named as Building+Construction’s 40 under 40 class of 2022.

By Robert Cassidy, John Caulfield, Quinn Purcell, and David Barista | October 19, 2022

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Led the company’s transformation from a small, local single-family homebuilder into a full-service regional real estate development firm, focusing on multifamily rental and for-sale projects (construction and development)
• Under his leadership, the firm’s revenue grew from $5 million in 2016 to some $350 million in 2021
• The firm has delivered nearly 2,000 residential units across some two million sf, and has $596 million in active developments in 2022
• Focused on building sustainable developments that help fuel economic and cultural growth. Procopio’s first high-rise development, Caldwell, in Lynn, Mass., is the largest LEED for Homes Platinum project in New England

EXTRACURRICULARS

• Member, Board of Directors, Spectrum Health Systems
• Member, Board of Directors, Greater Lynn Chamber of Commerce
• Treasurer, Finance & Audit Committee Chair, Board of Trustees, New England Behavioral Health
• Chair, Board of Directors, North Shore Christian School

OFF THE CLOCK

• Avid reader, taking in upward of 100 books a year, “with a slight tilt toward nonfiction business memoirs and leadership biographies.”
• Enjoys fishing, “especially alone, in the back country of the Florida Keys.”

SECRET LIFE
His brother, Scott, a decorated U.S. Marine with two combat deployments, was killed in action in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2006. Michael serves as President of the Scott J. Procopio Scholarship Foundation, which has raised more than $250,000 for local educational scholarships and assistance in honor of his brother. “This was a seminal moment in my life and had a profound impact shaping who I am and what I value, including my views on leadership, personal responsibility, sacrifice, and service to others.”

He is a technical rebreather diver who has explored sites well below 300 feet, including famous shipwrecks and caves around the world (Bow Mariner, Andrea Doria, U-869, Roy Jodery, USS YF-415, U-853, USS Murphy, and the USS Monitor, the world’s first Ironclad warship)

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT SO FAR?
“I’m most proud of leading our family enterprise through a game-changing pivot out of the single-family for-sale business and into institutional multifamily. After nearly 70 years in the single-family business, we made a deliberate and focused pivot into multifamily, and we were able to execute that successfully while still expanding revenues, headcount, and market share. We went from around $5 million in total single-family revenues in 2016 to just shy of $350 million in multifamily development in 2021.”

WHAT IS THE SINGLE BEST PIECE OF CAREER OR BUSINESS ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED?
“‘Success is born from hard work. Nothing of lasting value comes easy, nor should it.’

“I had the privilege of working alongside my grandfather in my early 20s, when I was a salesperson. He was old-school Italian, and it was his way or the highway. I was young, focused on the money, and always looking for the quick-win and painless success.

“I’d get lunch with him once a week, usually at Burger King, and he would never miss the opportunity to remind me that if I wanted to be successful, I needed to put in the hard work. I remember my 20-year-old self being highly skeptical (there had to be an easier way), but with age comes the benefit of perspective, and the old hard-nosed Italian was right. He’d grown up in the depression, sold fruit off a cart in East Boston, sold boats and snowmobiles, built homes, sold real estate, and ultimately built a legacy real estate portfolio—and absolutely none of it was easy. Nor should it have been.

“My grandfather has been gone for over 15 years, but I think of this often, especially leading a team of (mostly) younger and very driven individuals. There isn’t a shortcut. Success is born from hard work.”