The O'Keefe House connection

When Mark Fazio, Architectural Science ’00, was a Ryerson student, an evening at O’Keefe House changed his life forever.

At the 35th O’Keefe House reunion in 1998, he was on a mission to meet Greg Flagler, architectural science ’81, an O’Keefe House and Ryerson alumni who co-owned Royalty General Construction based in Etobicoke, Ont.

Fazio was in his third year and looking for a summer job. He was focused, sitting at a table with the president of the university and other dignitaries. The night was for networking. “I could just tell he was enthusiastic and a go getter,” Flagler says. “He really fit the mould of what we wanted in the company.”

Fazio and Flagler clicked instantly. “Because of the Ryerson background, we knew he was going to be well schooled,” Flagler says. “He’s just a very enthusiastic young man who wanted to learn about our business and be involved.”

After an evening of getting to know each other, a little bit of persistence and following up monthly on the phone, Fazio was offered a job as a part-time driver and labourer. As a student he spent his summers pushing brooms and cleaning job sites.

“I liked the fact that he was eager. He was a good listener and he didn’t come in with a change-the-world attitude,” says Ron Crosby, who co-owned Royalty General Construction at the time. “He had a lot of thoughts and gradually implemented them.”

When he graduated, he was hired as a full-time project manager and started working on major projects for clients such as Shoppers Drug Mart, Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) and Petro-Canada.

Crosby says that Fazio, “could see the potential in our little company and he wanted to improve it and grow it.”

Fast-forward 11 years to 2009. Flagler and Crosby began thinking of retirement and presented Fazio with an offer to take over the company. After a lot of discussion and planning, they came up with a seven-year succession plan that would move Fazio into ownership. Those seven years have come and gone and on May 1, 2016 Flagler and Crosby officially retired and Fazio is now the sole owner of Royalty General Construction.

“You never know when that opportunity comes, just be prepared,” says Fazio when he thinks back to that O’Keefe House reunion. “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity and if you have the skills and that opportunity knocks, be ready for it.”

The three still stay in frequent contact and even play on a recreational hockey team made up of O’Keefe House alumni. “It’s just one of those things that bond us all together,” says Flagler.

“It’s a unique Ryerson story,” Flagler says who handed Royalty General Construction over to Fazio exactly 30 years after he founded the company with Crosby. “When you have a business as long as we did, we’re really proud of it. The fact we were able to hand it over to Mark was gratifying to know the one who had the same business idea as us is going to carry it on for hopefully another 30 years.”

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Alumni Weekend takes place Saturday, Oct. 1. Students are invited to join in the Gould Street party from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Enjoy music and entertainment, games, giveaways and plenty of great of food and drink samples.