Meet the Team:

Father

Mike Finelli was introduced to woodworking as a child in his grandfather’s shop. The seed was planted and he has spent his life in the construction and design industry. Mike has been a licensed building since 1989. He has worked as a laborer, a carpenter, a construction coordinator, and a contractor in his time in the construction industry. In his 30 years as a College Professor of construction and architecture at Delta College he became passionate about sustainability, especially as it relates to the construction process. Mike was the first faculty member to be named the Academic Sustainability Officer. In this capacity he led an effort to develop a “sustainability related” course designation. During this time Mike developed two new courses committed to teaching the fundamentals of sustainability and tying the course content to sustainability goals; Sustainable Building Principles, and Energy Auditing and Weatherization. These courses are now part of the construction and architecture programs. Now ready to retire from teaching, Mike hopes to continue to build woodworking pieces, his true passion, and to incorporate sustainability in everything he produces.

Son

Carmine is an environmental engineer who is dedicated to sustainability and improving the environment in many capacities – personally and professionally. While he studied Chemical Engineering in college, the courses covering topics such as global warming, food insecurity, and conservation were always the most appealing to him. Now, he helps to mitigate pollution and offset emissions in his professional life. R-Purpose gives him a creative outlet to reimagine unique pieces of furniture and décor from discarded items. Carmine was enamored by his dad’s ability to create unique, long lasting, and one-of-a-kind furniture pieces growing up. R-Purpose has given him a chance to learn his dad’s craft first hand while pursuing a shared passion.

Daughter

Chiara graduated with a degree in environmental science with a focus in conservation biology from the University of Michigan. She earned the Excellence in Sustainability Honors Cord for her dedication to sustainability on campus. Chiara has always been passionate about and advocated for sustainability. She is the team's sustainability coordinator, and social media specialist.

Mother

Cindy is an engineering professor at the University of Michigan. She supports the R-Purpose mission behind the scenes by finding discarded items for repurposing, working with the team to design and create t-shirts, and selling items at sales.