Cruz Companies President and CEO John B. Cruz, III addressed hundreds of graduates at Madison Park Technical Vocational School.

Careers in the building trades can lead to a promising and financially secure future for young graduates.

That was the message of Cruz Companies President and CEO John B. Cruz, III, as he addressed hundreds of graduates at Madison Park Technical Vocational School this June.

The commencement was held at Northeastern University’s Roxbury campus, not far from where Cruz has grown his own company. Originally launched by his father, John “Bertie” Cruz, 70 years ago, today, Cruz Companies is the oldest and largest minority-owned construction and real estate development firm in the region.

Cruz said the industry could use more skilled minority workers, like many of the hundreds of graduates assembled.

“I’m fiercely proud of the fact that we’re a third-generation, black-owned firm that my father started 70 years ago,” said Cruz. Under Cruz’s direction, Cruz Companies has achieved a MBE contractor participation rate as high as 82 percent, serving as an industry leader in diversity and inclusion, and recognized by organizations like the NAACP and Lawyers Committee for Economic Justice.

“The problem is, there should be five Cruz Companies here,” added Cruz, urging the graduates to go into the industry and launch careers and businesses of their own.

Learn more at: www.CruzCompanies.com.