Team Member Spotlight: Sierra Simko

“I grew up in Susquehanna County. I lived on Elk Mountain, and then I moved to Hop Bottom.”

That’s how the story begins for JHA’s VP and Director of Architecture Sierra Simko—a journey rooted in the mountains of Pennsylvania, shaped by world travel, and grounded in a love for people and place.

From a young age, home and environment have always been central themes. After attending Temple University in Philadelphia and spending six years immersed in city life, she found herself pulled back north. “I transplanted back to the area, Lackawanna County, and I’ve been here ever since,” she says. Now living in Dalton with her two children—Emery, 7, and Ellis, 3—along with their dog Rooney and cat Pita, family life is full and rich. “I’m close with my parents and my brother, so we spend a lot of time with family.”

That deep sense of connection—to people, to place—is part of what drew her to architecture. But it wasn’t just about the beauty of buildings. It was about something much deeper.

“I like the way a space makes me feel, and I want to be a part of making space for other people,” she explains. “That’s the first and foremost reason I love architecture—it informs how we interact with our world. I love its impact on why you want to be in a place. Why do you like to go to that park? Why do you like to go to that restaurant? Why are there certain cities that we’re drawn to over others? Paintings make us feel a certain way, but buildings make us feel a certain way–and also provide cover from storms. It’s that pragmatism, form and function.”

Her appreciation for thoughtful design blossomed during a pivotal moment in college: studying abroad in Rome. “It was sort of a rite of passage within architecture. It was a huge experience. I had to learn how to speak Italian, by the end I was pretty fluent.” She lived in the heart of the city, just minutes from the Vatican, renting an apartment with roommates and diving headfirst into European life. “We did some really fun stuff, traveled to seven or eight countries. I feel like I caught the travel bug—I never really stopped after that. I still travel with some of the same friends that I did that with.”

A global perspective helped shape not just her design philosophy, but her collaborative mindset—which is essential in her role today. “There’s often this misconception that architects make pretty things. Engineers make things stand up and operate, but architects make it pretty,” she says. “The unsung scope of the architect is often the overall coordination. We’re pulling it all together. We’re facilitating those conversations, finding conflicts, making sure that everything works together. It takes an army to get a building built, but having someone to oversee and pull all those pieces together and make sure that they all work together—that’s the role of the architect.”

And at JHA Companies, she’s found a team that shares her values of coordination, service, and purpose. “We truly believe that if you treat people well, if you treat your team members well, if you treat your clients well, if you act in service of other people, then the projects will go exceedingly well. Happy people are going to perform better. I feel like we practice what we preach when it comes to people. They are everything. They are our business.”