Team Member Spotlight: Chris Karelus

JHA Utility Project Leader Chris Karelus grew up in Rochester, NY, studied Environmental Design at the University of Buffalo, and has been a civil engineer his entire career.

He and his wife Kristie have been married for twenty-three years and have a son and two daughters. Their eldest daughter Jaycee is entering her senior year in college, their youngest daughter Camryn will be a sophomore, and their son Luke will be a senior in high school.

“Home life is busy. All three of my children are in sports, my son baseball, volleyball, basketball. My daughters play collegiate volleyball together on the same team.” And the sports bug doesn’t stop with the youngsters. Last summer Chris and Kristie decided to try their hand at something new. “We get to enjoy whatever spare time we have learning how to play pickleball, and I will stress ‘learning’.” Chris also loves hunting and fishing, believing that “just spending time in the woods is a good thing. We also enjoy being part of our home church’s extracurricular activities, to be helping hands in whatever capacity Pastor needs of us.”

How did Chris end up at JHA? “At the previous company I had worked with, we did the gas system in Montrose. I interacted with Joe a couple of times, met him for easement work that we were doing with the gas company. And then in passing, Joe and I had a conversation, and he asked if I’d have an interest in coming on board with the company.”

Chris immediately saw something special going on at JHA. “We have a great bunch of leaders here, all running in the same direction. That truly is unique in our business. We all have our talents; I think God gives us those talents. As a company we stand as servants to our clients, to each other and to those that we are accountable for. And I really, truly feel that’s one of the best aspects of our company, as we hold God in the highest position, we understand Jesus Chris leads our lives, and all of us are given special talents, that as a team collectively we come together, and our clients benefit from that.”