The finishing touch

Ben Tornambe, '25, has transferred the skills and relationships he built at La Salle University into owning and running a successful painting business.

In May 2025, Tornambe Painting turned full time, and its first job was with La Salle Athletics, painting the office doors and the basement of Wister Hall.

Ben Tornambe, '25, loved La Salle University for the people and the experiences he had as an Explorer. After graduation, they're both still helping him find success as the owner of Tornambe Painting.

Tornambe started his Explorer journey as a nursing major. After three semesters, he realized it wasn't the right fit for him and transferred to the Integrated Science and Business Technology (ISBT) program, where he was one of the last graduates of the program, with a plan to go into the pharmaceutical industry.

Ben Tornambe, '25, speaking at La Salle University's 2025 commencement ceremony.

While he was never big on academics or classroom learning, Tornambe was always very social and took advantage of all the opportunities that La Salle presented in that regard.

"The extracurriculars are where I learned," he said. "They're the reason I am where I am today."

He was a member of Sigma Phi Lambda fraternity, on the President's Advisory Committee, a La Salle Ambassador, and the manager of the Men's Basketball team.

Because of the size of the community at 20^th and Olney, there are so many opportunities for students, Tornambe said, and if someone takes advantage of them like he did, they can be hugely beneficial.

All his activities also meant that he was immersed in his favorite thing about college: the people around him.

"My favorite thing was going to an event and seeing the staff I know, the students that I know, the alumni that I know," he said. "It's the people, and I'll say it over and over again, La Salle is about the people, and the people bring all the energy."

Even with a packed schedule of classes, activities, and organizations, Tornambe managed to find time for another project. He started Tornambe Painting in his freshman year after he and his brother painted a wall in a client's house.

"Painting kind of just fell in my lap," he said, adding that growing up on a working farm in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, he always enjoyed working with his hands.

Throughout his four years of college, Tornambe filled school breaks with painting jobs, teaching himself more about the trade, and making connections in the painting world.

In his final year, Tornambe was thinking about the future. He spent his time in the ISBT program learning about the pharmaceutical industry and realized he didn't see himself there. As graduation got closer, he kept thinking about the two things he loved, managing the basketball team and his business, going back and forth between painting and sports.

"Last summer I did an internship with La Salle Athletics two days a week and then I painted the other three days," he said. "The painting kind of took over my interest and was an opportunity. So, I took that opportunity and I'm still going now."

In May 2025, Tornambe Painting turned full time, and its first job was with La Salle Athletics, painting the office doors and the basement of Wister Hall. Tornambe's relationship with Athletics Director and Vice President of Athletics and Recreation Ash Puri helped him get that job.

One of Tornambe Painting's biggest projects, painting a barn built in the 1800s.

"It was a big moment," Tornambe said. "I'm comfortable with La Salle, and I was doing my new thing there, moving my new career to La Salle. It was super cool."

He's also done jobs for fraternity alumni and other faculty and staff members and will be painting the doors of College Hall in the Spring. These clients stemming from his Explorer days have been "a blessing of mine," he said.

As well as the relationships that started at La Salle, Tornambe also credits the things he learned outside the classroom for preparing him to manage his two crews of workers, both of which have three to four employees depending on the project.

Managing the basketball team helped him with organization and time management, the fraternity helped cultivate his leadership skills, and being an Ambassador, which involved interacting with alumni, has helped with the conversation and communication skills he needs to talk to his client base today.

"Those are the things that structured me and set me up for my business now," he said.

The more jobs Tornambe does, the more he knows he made the right decision.

"I fell in love with the fact that we're the final touch. The client loves the result. We're not an urgency company, people don't come to us with a problem, and they're mad. They come to us because they want to freshen up their house. They want it to look amazing, and then my job is to make it look amazing," he said. "I fell in love with the client satisfaction and the finished result."

And he has big plans for the future of his company, which focuses on residential jobs, starting with plans to hire a project manager and his first estimator by the end of the year.

"We're going to be the largest painting company in the Montgomery County area in a few years," he said.

Throughout it all, Tornambe is grateful for the fact that he owns his own business, something he always dreamed of doing.

"I never thought this would be possible. I never thought it would have grown this fast. I never thought I'd be this confident. I never knew these clients would trust me this much," he said. "So, whenever people ask about the business, I say it's amazing, I never thought it would be possible, I count my blessings and pinch myself every day. The good days come and the bad days come, but it all works out."

To learn more, visit Tornambe Painting or call 267-328-4756.

-Naomi Thomas