45 MARCH 2026 Second, Zack D’Alesandro, who was our general manag- er. He was going to be let go the day I came in, and I was going to become general manager, which would have been like chickens to the slaughter. But there was a flood, and somehow John Connelly had the wisdom, even though he didn’t like Zack at that point, to keep him on because he realized he was the only one that could really handle the flood watches, set up the organization. I’m around for a few weeks; Zack thought I was just another family member hanging around. Over time, I gained respect. After a couple months I told my grand- father, “Zack D’Alesandro is the only guy in this whole outfit that really has the interest of the Gateway Clipper at heart.” Until he passed in 2013, he [D’Alesandro] was a big part of my life. The other one was Floyd Ganassi. My grandfather got me in touch with Floyd at one point. For some reason, Floyd took me under his wing from a business standpoint. I learned so much from him about how to handle big situations and not be afraid and just go do it. Nothing to do with the boat business, but it had everything to do with life. Lake: Is there any trend or change in the industry that the next generation coming in has maybe missed the mark on it and you want to make sure doesn’t get lost? Borgstrom: I think we’re in a society where a lot of stuff is being driven by social media. I don’t mean like sales and marketing but forming opinions and learning from social media. With the advent of AI, a lot of people are becoming more reliant on that. What I see in general is AI might be great for some things, but it can’t replace wisdom—that’s acquired over time. There’s a lot of collective wisdom here. If there are peo- ple that can share that wisdom with you, I would advise that you listen to that and not look so much to all these other forms. Wirginis: Well said. Study history. History doesn’t neces- sarily repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes, as they say. Frommelt: I’ll just share, Mark Twain said, “Wisdom may come with age, or age may come alone.” Lake: We’ve talked a little about how PVA has evolved over the years. It started out as all owners, and now there’s probably as many employees as there are own‑ ers here. What advice would you give to them as somebody coming to the table and being able to take advantage of what PVA has to offer? Wirginis: I would say bring more people than you could af- ford. I have 11 people here, counting myself. It is expensive, but they gain so much knowledge. They find out this is just not a little boat operation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This is an industry, and there are so many people, there’s so much to learn. Get as many people as you can to the conferences, to the regional meetings, get them involved. Get those folks in- volved in the committees. And don't be afraid. You’re going to lose some to somebody else, but what you gain is so much more important from a standpoint of rounded knowledge and not having to do everything by yourself. Borgstrom: Exactly. We’ve been doing this for many years; we don’t know everything. Individuals that we bring along
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