MEET PAUL
Paul Friel is a local business owner, a husband, a father of four, Former president of the Owen J Roberts School Board, and a lifelong Pennsylvania resident. Paul is running for State Representative for the 26th district because he believes we deserve a representative who will focus on the issues that matter to our community. Paul grew up in Gilbertsville, PA and graduated from St. Pius X High School and Temple University. He married his high school sweetheart, Mary, and together they raised four children in the OJR school district. Over the years, Paul built a successful business career, holding leadership roles in organizations spanning retail, consumer goods, and manufacturing. Paul proudly owned and operated PACE Environmental, a Mid Atlantic environmental testing and engineering firm, where he created a culture of transparency with employees and investors and succesfully navigated PACE through the pandmeic with zero layoffs.
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Paul has deep executive management experience in public, private and family-owned organizations, at one time managing over 700 employees. At the same time, Paul has watched as the issues facing working families in the 26th district have continued to evolve and change. “The people of district 26 and Pennsylvania deserve to have a representative in the general assembly that will fight for them and take their concerns seriously...They deserve to have somebody in their corner," he says.
Paul believes that common sense reform, reflecting our shared values and the considerations of our local community, will lead to sound government actions. His experience as a businessperson informs his understanding of our local economy and its place as one of the most critical elements in the functioning of good government. He knows that a healthy local economy provides the means for businesses to hire, families to prosper, and investments to be made in our communities and schools.
Previously, Paul was the CEO and President of Swiss Farms, Saxby’s Coffee, and Agle Nutrition. He believes in the importance of giving back, and has served on the executive boards of the Philadelphia Boys Choir and Camp Rainbow, which provides free camp experiences for children who otherwise could not afford a camp experience. Paul knows that it takes resources and focus to make a difference in a community, and he’s committed to putting people before politics as your state representative. “We have the power to get legislators working for the good of our communities and for the individual families whose lives and struggles lie at the heart of them,” he says. “Together, we have the power to make a real difference.”
