Peter Gallerani is President and Chief Technology Officer at Integrated Technologies, Inc., an engineering, design, and consulting solutions firm for the finishing industry.
Gallerani is a Master Surface Finisher and a Fellow with the National Association for Surface Finishing and the AESF. He has decades of surface finishing and allied industry experience, including hundreds of process improvement, design, and design-build projects with aerospace, defense, MRO, automotive, electronics, and general metal finishing applications and clients. Visit www.processengineer.com
Peter GalleraniHow did you get your start in the finishing industry?
In 1979, right out of college, I bought 50% of a small electroplating job shop with a loan from my parents. I was 22, and I sure gained the equivalent of 21 years of experience in the seven years I was involved in this business; it was crazy to work hours. We sold the business in 1986, and I went to work for an environmental engineering firm for about a year. I then started Integrated Technologies, Inc. (ITI) with my wife, Jeanne, in 1987. ITI has now provided engineering, design, and design-build services to the surface finishing industry for the past 35 years. A special thank you goes to Pratt & Whitney for being a great key customer during the first 10 years we were in business. The contacts I developed through AESF and NASF have also been critical to ITI’s success.
What do you enjoy best about the industry?
There is always something new to learn.
Who is your hero?
Howard Roark, from The Fountainhead.
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
The same place I have lived for most of my life: Vermont.
What is your biggest fear?
Karaoke.
What is your favorite family vacation?
Gallerani's wife Jeanne, his son Nic and wife Johana in Miami this past Christmas.Egypt in 2003 with Jeanne and our son, Nic. We loved the art and history, the exotic (for us) landscape, the music of the daily calls to prayer, bartering with merchants in the Khan el-Khalili, and the kind people. I made 18 trips to Egypt between 2003 and 2005, and we even considered enrolling Nic in Cairo American College for his 8th-grade class.
What would you change about yourself if you could?
It is a constant process. I’ll never run out of opportunities for improvements.
What really makes you angry?
Intolerance.
What motivates you to work hard?
First, I was trained to work hard growing up in a family that owned a small livestock business. Second, I love my work. Industrial manufacturing processes are phenomenally interesting, and I get to study these processes and work creatively and analytically every day to improve processes that are critical to our customers’ businesses.
Integrated Technologies Inc.'s offices in Vermont.
What is your favorite thing about your career?
I had some great mentors throughout my career that helped me get to where I am today. And now, I have opportunities to pay it forward and mentor the next generations to help them love their work as much as I have loved mine.
What is your biggest complaint about your job?
More of a challenge than a complaint: balancing travel needs with personal needs.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Raising my son Nic with my wife, Jeanne. He has become a man that we could not be prouder of.
What is your favorite book?
I can’t give you one: Atlas Shrugged/The Fountainhead (Rand), Foundation Trilogy (Asimov), Methuselah’s Children/Time Enough for Love (Heinlein), and Narcissus and Goldmund (Hesse).
What makes you laugh the most?
Conversations with witty friends.
What was the last movie you went to?
Christian Richer, childhood friend Kevin, and Gallerani after finishing Century Ride to benefit Norris Cotton Cancer Center in 2019.I do not remember the last movie I saw in a theater, but the last movie that I should have seen in a theater was No Time to Die.
What did you want to be when you were small?
An astronaut.
If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be?
See the Northern Lights in Norway with Jeanne.
What is your favorite game or sport to watch and play?
I like to watch college football and basketball. My favorite sports to do are bicycling or skiing.
Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car?
Bike.
What would you sing at Karaoke night?
“I Saw Her Standing There.”
What would be your last meal?
Pasta with Bolognese sauce.
Who is your favorite author?
Isaac Asimov. I’m a big sci-fi fan, and his body of work is amazing.
Have you ever had a nickname?
No. I am named after my grandfather, and his nickname was Pete, so I was always Peter.
Do you like or dislike surprises?
I like good surprises.
In the evening, would you rather play a game, visit a relative, watch a movie, or read?
Read.
Would you rather win the lottery or work at the perfect job?
The perfect job, to me, includes opportunities to learn, express creativity, overcome challenges, collaborate with great colleagues and mentors, and build something lasting and positive. Rewards earned are much sweeter than those received by chance.
Who would you want to be stranded with on a deserted island?
Easy answer: my wife, Jeanne.
