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Cianbro CEO’s roots
run deep in Maine
Saturday, June 02, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
 Peter
G. Vigue was born in Caribou on Sept. 27, 1947. When he was 8 years old
his family moved to Pittsfield where he grew up and resides today.
The local boy went
to Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, then Maine Maritime Academy in
Castine, and he spent a year at sea. He describes his childhood as
"blessed" because of the opportunities he was given.
"I got some very
early lessons in economy — it’s called survival," he said this week
while sitting in a conference room at Cianbro Corp. headquarters in
Pittsfield. "To survive, you have to work."
He was appointed
president and CEO of the company in January 1991 and introduces himself
as "Pete."
Vigue was 11 years
old when he first met the Cianchette family, who started Cianbro in the
late 1940s. Members of the family were on his 100-house newspaper route.
He said seeing them leave early for work and the fact that they always
paid him on time and "treated him right" made the young Vigue look up to
them.
He spent seven of
his junior high and high school years working road construction jobs for
another company, and once was given the task of cleaning out culverts in
Carmel using a bucket.
After graduating
from MMA, he was sent to sea. Even though he made good money, working on
a ship was not the lifestyle he wanted, and he returned to the area.
He took his first
job with Cianbro as a laborer on the waterfront in Portland in 1970.
Over the years, he has climbed the corporate ladder and now leads the
employee-owned company, which was started by Chuck, Carl, Ken and Bud
Cianchette in 1946 and incorporated in 1949.
Since mid-April, a
yellow bumper sticker has appeared on cars locally bearing the message
"Pete Vigue, Please Run for Governor." When asked if he has any
political aspirations, Vigue said he "is fully engaged" in his work at
Cianbro right now.
"I can best make a
difference in the state by doing what I’m doing," Vigue said. "That’s
for today. But you don’t know what’s in the future. From what I’ve
learned so far, things have a way of changing quickly."
A copyright story from the
Bangor Daily News, Saturday, June 2, 2007.
BDN writer Anne
Ravana contributed to this report.
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