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“The Builder” is a fitting vocation for the 2017 civil engineering alumnus, who comes from a family of builders.

His grandfather had a farm and was a carpenter. One uncle was a homebuilder, and another was a cabinet maker.

“I was always pretty savvy about how to put things together and take them apart,” Marsala says.

The Oneida, New York, native went from helping on his grandfather’s farm and building carpentry projects at home to assisting a large team with managing the construction of an NFL football stadium.

Though he’s already achieved many career milestones after graduating from ²©88ÑÇÖÞ, he didn’t originally intend to go to college. As a teenager, Marsala wanted to join the Marines.

“I started going to Marine recruiting and training events in the 9th grade,” he says.

Marsala enlisted at 17 and attended boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, a week after his 18th birthday. From there, he completed Marine combat training at Camp Lejeune and military occupational specialty school at Fort Lee, Virginia. Marsala spent his entire time stationed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms in the Mojave Desert, working as an aviation bulk fuel specialist. In 2008, Marsala became a combat veteran, deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

After four years of honorable service, he used his GI Bill benefits at Long Beach City College. He later transferred to ²©88ÑÇÖÞ in 2012, the same year that the Veterans Resource Center opened at ²©88ÑÇÖÞ.

“Veterans are the volunteers, we’re the yes people, we’re the doers,” he says. “We put the mission before ourselves and if there is an opportunity to help someone else, that’s what we do.”

Initially, he didn’t want people to know he was a veteran. He just wanted to be a college student and fit in to society. But over time, he found that he was missing vital camaraderie with other student veterans. From then on, not a day went by without him stopping by the Veterans Resource Center on campus.

Marsala credits the VRC with helping change his life, and he tries to give back by returning to campus and participating in veteran events.

“Without the VRC, I don’t know that I would have graduated college,” he says.

The VRC provided a space where Marsala could connect with other veterans and utilize valuable educational resources. He eventually applied for an open position at the VRC and became the first veteran student ambassador for the College of Engineering. In 2017, Marsala was the recipient of the Student Veteran of the Year award.

“Veterans are the volunteers, we’re the yes people, we’re the doers,” he says. “We put the mission before ourselves and if there is an opportunity to help someone else, that’s what we do.”

While at CPP, Marsala found opportunities early.

As a junior at CPP, he got an internship with Shimmick Construction and did quality control on the replacement of the iconic Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach. The experience made such an impression that he knew he wanted a career in construction.

As a senior, he attended the engineering career fair and connected with a CPP engineering alumnus who was recruiting for Turner Construction Co., which led to his first career job in the field.

His first assignment was the $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium, the most expensive stadium ever built. The week after graduation, he was working in Inglewood as a quality control engineer for Turner Construction. Within a few months, Marsala became a superintendent and worked at SoFi until its completion in 2021, serving on a team that oversaw project safety, construction quality, site logistics, budget and construction schedule.

“Everyone has their own blueprint,” says Marsala. “There’s no one path to success or failure. It takes everyone working together to accomplish anything. Being able to impact a person, a community and be part of monumental projects is truly gratifying.”

Marsala’s next stop was in San Diego, where he now works as the self-perform operations and lean manager on several Turner projects including the New Terminal 1 San Diego International Airport and the Research and Development District (RADD), 8 acres along the waterfront. The RADD, California’s largest waterfront project, will include space for mixed-use life sciences, commercial office space, restaurants, and retail space across six city blocks.

Even though he had opportunities to work on major projects from the start of his career, Marsala says that being part of a team of builders and building relationships is what he has enjoyed the most about what he does.

“Everyone has their own blueprint,” says Marsala. “There’s no one path to success or failure. It takes everyone working together to accomplish anything. Being able to impact a person, a community and be part of monumental projects is truly gratifying.”