A throwback to Peter's CIL headshot in 2007

With retirement on the horizon after 24 years at CIL, Peter Benvie agreed to sit down and reflect on a working life that—remarkably—never included a commute.

“From the day I left college, I’ve never commuted,” Peter recalls. That quirk of geography carried him from the Caribbean surf to Massachusetts cul‑de‑sacs—and, for the last two decades, to CIL’s mission of building homes for people with disabilities.

Fresh out of the University of Maine in 1982, Peter booked what was supposed to be a ten‑day getaway to St. John. By day three he had traded his return ticket for a maintenance job at an eco‑resort—hired after a chance conversation in a beach bar. The gig was slated to end in the spring; eighteen years later he was still there, by then serving as the Vice President / Chief Operating Officer of Maho Bay Camps, INC.

Hurricanes turned the islands into a graduate course in logistics: importing lumber, rebuilding cottages, coaxing crews through 100‑degree days.

“One thing I became good at down there was rebuilding,” he says. “Every storm blew something away, and we had to figure it out. It really boiled down to logistics, importing materials in the states. Essentially, it was a lot of project management.”

Those skills carried Peter to Bermuda to oversee a $20 million resort on a former naval base and, ultimately, back to the mainland when his kids reached school age.

Scanning the classifieds in Massachusetts, he found an ad that blended real estate, public service, and autonomy: Senior Real Estate Developer at CIL.

Working remotely long before Zoom became a verb, Peter became CIL’s point man in Massachusetts, shepherding projects through funding labyrinths, zoning boards, and, often, stiff neighborhood resistance. He’s spoken before many zoning boards since, usually without an attorney. His own stint as chairman of the Dighton Planning Board gave him the gavel’s perspective—and the calm to face packed hearing rooms.

One project in Scituate, Massachusetts crystallized the challenge CIL will sometimes face. A neighbor planted a lawn sign mocking the future residents of a home CIL developed.

“It was ugly,” Peter recalls. The story hit the news, and the backlash was swift: firefighters offered landscaping help, local kids donated swing‑set parts, strangers dropped off cookies.

“Every home has its challenges, and NIMBYism is something we encounter in this work. That’s included neighbors and even towns refusing to issue building permits. But stories like that make you realize that people can have good attitudes,” says Peter. “Some neighborhoods have had resistance, but then after their kids are visiting the home and the people living there. People can surprise you in the best ways once they have the facts.”

As Peter prepares to trade his home office for a beach house on Florida’s east coast, the former charter‑boat captain has no plans to slow down entirely. He’ll be visiting his daughter in California, and plans on spending time in Spain.  Reflecting on his career at CIL, Peter thinks about the times he has driven into Boston to meet with a client or check on a potential site, and thinks about his good fortune – the mission at CIL, the work / life balance, the lack of a commute.

“Could I have made more money commuting into Boston and developing gas stations? Probably,” Peter admits. “But 24 years later, I’m more proud of having built over 120 homes for people with disabilities than I would have building a half a dozen gas stations or solar farms."