Award Winners
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Ambassador for Children
John Guadagno, President IBEW Local 25
John Guadagno began his electrification career with Local 25 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1983. He was elected to the Examining Board, Executive Board and appointed Treasurer in 2006. From 2006 he served as Business Representative/Organizer/Employment Manager for Local 25 until he was elected President in June 2014. John was also elected as Delegate to the International Office Convention of IBEW in 2011 and 2016.
Born in Brooklyn in 1962, John moved to St. James in 1966 and attended Smithtown East High School. He graduated with a four-year Electrical Technology Degree from SCCC. He also completed NJATC Train the Trainer Program from the University of Tennessee.
John has been active in his community as an Assistance Scout Master for Boy Scouts of America Troop 7 in St. James and has volunteered his time in a number of community projects throughout Long Island.
John is also an active member of The Crime Victims Center, dba Parents for Megan's Law board of directors, where he and IBEW Local 25 members have graciously volunteered their time and talent to support children and families in Suffolk County.
John and his wife, Anne, live in St. James and have four children: Lisa, married to Scott; Adam, married to Kristen; Kimberly and Michael. They also have two grandchildren, Abigail and Dylan.
Ambassador for Children
Matthew Aracich, President The Building and Construction
Trades Council of Nassau & Suffolk, AFL-CIO
Matthew Aracich is one of four children born to his Heat and Frost Insulator father, including a set of identical twins, of which he is one. His father’s father was also a Heat and Frost Insulator eclipsing a 100 year heritage in his Local Union. Born in the Bronx, he moved to Bayshore, Long Island in his teens. He initially worked as a commercial diver, and then went to work for the U.S. government, first doing geological surveys, then as a Heavy Equipment Operator for the U.S. Navy. In July of 1985, he followed in the family footsteps by becoming a Heat and Frost Insulator in his own right. In 1988, he became a Mechanic, and a Foreman. He worked for one company almost exclusively while he was employed as a mechanic in the construction trade.
In 1999, he became President of Local 12, then, in 2004, Financial Secretary. In 2012 he started his tenure as Business Manager and Financial Secretary, which continued until January 2018 where he was unanimously elected the President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties representing 37 Affiliates. Matthew represents the Council in all capacities in political activities while securing strategies to grown more market share for the Labor Unions.
His accomplishments during his tenure are many and his talents have not gone unnoticed from those in the sphere of government. He has often been asked to testify on energy issues to legislators and government agencies, and was even invited to the White House during the Obama Administration, where he gave a presentation on the benefits of Mechanical Insulation.