TEAM MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: JENNIFER SCHMIDT

JENNIFER SCHMIDT

Jennifer Schmidt is a (nearly) lifelong resident of Susquehanna County, PA. She grew up on a local dairy farm and attended Blue Ridge High School, where she met her husband, Todd. They celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first date this past January!

High school was also when Jennifer got her first experience doing bookkeeping. When she wasn’t throwing bales on the farm, she was able to pick up the basics by watching her mom help others with their ledgers, and before long she had opportunities to apply what she’d learned.

Jennifer started her career in banking and investing before picking up a job with New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) in their engineering department while simultaneously taking up the mantle of her township’s Secretary Treasurer. That’s when she really “dove in the deep end” of finance, navigating payroll, reporting, and regulations, while converting the township’s paper filing systems to computerized.

She resigned from NYSEG after the birth of her first child, leaving the Secretary Treasurer position a few years later to help her husband’s side business, Fox Engineering.

In October of 2009, when JHA Companies had just started, Jennifer and Todd met Joe Hunt at church and learned that the company needed help with bookkeeping. She offered her services and spent the next year working out of Joe’s house a few days a week. After that year, Jennifer left JHA to focus on helping her husband’s business, but in 2017 her husband shifted careers, JHA bought Fox Engineering, and she once again joined the JHA team. Jennifer’s first full-time role at JHA was as a Project Assistant, concentrating on mining permits, and Bookkeeper. In 2020, she was promoted to Controller, and in 2021 she earned the position of Chief Financial Officer.

Jennifer and Todd have been married for 35 years and have two children (and their spouses), a grandbaby, and one more on the way! They all enjoy getting together for a family meal once per month. Outside of the office, you can find Jennifer and Todd spending lots of time outside. They’ll brave any weather to take their dog on daily morning walks, and they love hiking and kayaking at local state parks and game lands.