Born April 15, 1937 in Englewood, NJ, Peter F. Secchia served in the United States Marine Corps (1956-59), graduated with a degree in economics from Michigan State University (1963) and is a resident of East Grand Rapids, Michigan. He holds honorary degrees from several universities. Mr. Secchia is Chairman of the Board of Universal Forest Products, Inc., a fortune 500 industrial company. UFP encompasses 40 manufacturing, wood preservation plants and distribution centers throughout the United States and Canada. He is also Chairman of River City Food Company, a company of 29 restaurants, catering and banquet facilities in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

  Honored in 1994 as Michigan’s Master Entrepreneur of the Year, he was recognized as the state’s outstanding self-made business man. In 1995 the Economic Club of West Michigan named him businessman of the Year. As the U.S. Ambassador to Italy from June 1989 through January 1993, he was hailed for his discretion, endless work hours and ceaseless travel throughout the country, and presented with the Cavaliere di Gran Croce (The Knight of the Great Cross). This is the Republic of Italy’s highest award given only on rare occasions for exceptional service in international affairs. He also received the Department of State Distinguished Honor Award for "having a major impact on U.S. foreign policy." He was the only serving U.S. Ambassador to receive this award in many years, an honor rarely accorded to non-career ambassadors.

  His civic activities have included: Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth (community centers and camps for underprivileged youth), Baxter (inner city) Community Center, Grand Rapids economic Club, Close-Up Program (high school students), Grand Rapids Rotary Club. He is a director of the board of Old Kent Financial Corporation. In his 1994 State of the State Address, Governor John Engler appointed him to chair "The Secchia Commission". The final report "Toward a User-Friendly Government" was presented to the Governor on January 10, 1995.

  A vigorous proponent of personal voluntarism, Ambassador Secchia has a background which includes numerous political, community and charitable concerns. Once chairman of the Kent County (MI)Republican Committee and later 5^th Congressional District chairman, he was elected by his party to be Michigan’s Republican National Committeeman, First in 1980 and again in 1984 and 1988. He was a Vice Chairman of the RNC, heading its13-state Midwest Region. He was host chairman of the 1985 RNC Midwest Leadership Conference in Grand Rapids(characterized by then-Vice President George Bush as "the most successful regional conference ever held").

  Ambassador Secchia is a close personal friend/advisor to President Gerald R. Ford. He served on the national advisory committee of the 1988 George Bush for President Committee. He also founded the Lake Michigan Conference, and is a National Co-Chair of the Dole for President Campaign.

   As a member of the Executive Committee of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation (overseer of the Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids and Library in Ann Arbor) and past chairman of its Endowment Committee, he chaired "Humor and the Presidency", a three day, celebrity-studded symposium sponsored by the foundation. This was made into a 90 minute HBO special. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the Bush Presidential Library Foundation, the Baker Institute of Rice University, and a Trustee for John Cabot University in Rome.

  Ambassador Secchia is a member of the National Italian-American Foundation Council of 1000. He was founding president of the West Michigan Lodge of the Order of Sons of Italy in America (OSIA), Michigan’s largest organization of Italian-American men and women; he inaugurated its Festa Italiana, the region’s biggest annual ethnic festival. He brought the 40^th biennial National Convention of the OSIA to Grand Rapids in 1987 and served as its general chairman. He was named Italian-American of the Year in 1995 and also chaired the national OSIA dinner in Washington DC. Ambassador Secchia is an enthusiastic supporter of Michigan State University, where he met his wife, the former Joan Peterson of Midland, MI. Married in 1964, they have two daughters and two sons.

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