Worcester Business Journal

16 Worcester Business Journal | November 16, 2026 | wbjournal.com BY PAULA J. OWEN WBJ Senior Staff Writer S erving in the construction battalion as a Navy Seabee, John M. La Stella was a favorite with the troops, making sure everyone got paid and fed. A lieutenant junior grade, part of U.S. Navy Mobile Construction Battal- ion 5 stationed in Oxnard, California, with deployments to Puerto Rico, Diego Garcia and Guam, he served as disbursing officer paying everyone, food service officer feeding everyone, and material liaison officer coordinat- ing construction materials ensuring everyone had what they needed, when and where they needed it. La Stella, 72, quickly adopted the Navy Seabees' "can do" motto. He carried it with him throughout his military career when he continued in the reserves for four years in Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 27 in Brunswick, Maine, the "cold weather battalion" commonly referred to as the "Skibees" reserve unit of the Sea- bees – in total serving in the military from 1977 to 1981. And La Stella, who lives in West- minster, brought that "can do" mindset into play in his later roles as a businessman and entrepreneur as founder and president of one of the most successful roofing companies in the state, NorthStar Construction Services Corp. with gross volume of $18 to $20 million a year. "La Stella is the biggest star — the North Star, a customer told me," he said. "I didn't know that when I named the company." Growing up in an Italian family His father, Michele La Stella, one of 10 children, was a Navy World War II veteran and electrical contractor. His mother, Philomena La Stella (Can- talini), was also one of 10 children. Both parents were born in Leominster and were second-generation Italians. "My mother cooked everything from scratch and was always sewing and knitting … your typical Italian mother," he said. "I have fond memo- ries of childhood." Before joining the Navy, La Stella, one of eight siblings, was the only one who played football at Leominster High School. ree of his brothers are master electricians. "ey wouldn't let me near it (elec- trical work) and I took their word for it," he said. "I had a lot of energy and I used it roofing." Aer high school, he worked in roofing at Rockwell Roofing in Leominster to pay for college at the University of Massachusetts Am- herst, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in business adminis- tration, majoring in accounting. "But I didn't want to grow up yet so I joined the Navy for a while," he said. "I had a college degree, so they made me an officer. I was a supply officer who paid and fed everybody and had construction experience. In the battal- ion, they let me manage materials and usually an engineer had that job." Return to roofing When La Stella returned from active duty, discharged as a lieutenant at age 26, the "can-do" Seabee attitude still ingrained in him, he became manager at his old employer's compa- ny, Rockwell Roofing. "e day I got back in town, my old boss hired me to be office manager and estimator in his commercial roof- ing company for 10 years," he said. His can-do attitude led La Stella to start his own full-service com- mercial roofing company in 1992 with NorthStar, headquartered in a 20,000-square-foot building at 200 Mount Laurel Circle, Shirley. "I started before there was a thing called 'safety,'" La Stella said, laugh- ing. at is where his experience in the Seabees came into play again. PHOTO | PAULA J. OWEN Former Navy Seabee La Stella's 'can-do' mindset builds success John M. La Stella, 72, owner of NorthStar Construction Services Corp., stands in his comany's headquarters in Shirley. F O C U S NOTABLE VETERANS IN BUSINESS

• Cover