By Taylor Larsen

As Alex Karras speaks about his career, he jokes about designing the downtown apartments that would replace Calder Richards' previous office.

"It was like designing our own coffin," he said, pointing out that the firm is very much alive in their lovely new Salt Lake office. 

Offices changed; titles, too. Karras became Principal and Partner earlier this year, gaining a new appreciation for those who led the firm before him while changing how he views the entire project pipeline.

"I think about projects differently; I think about every interaction differently," he said of another change since becoming a fellow Calder Richards principal—the buck now stops with him. 

"Ownership was something I always wanted to aspire to, but it was a little daunting—I've got skin in the game," he said. "When the design goes out, my name is on it."

But he's excited for what that future brings.

"I looked around to who I would be sharing that risk with—you work here long enough and you know where the motivation lies and what the common goal is," he said. "And looking over the team when new partners will be brought in—I wanted to be part of it."

But before he literally bought into Calder Richards, he grew up in Harrisville in Weber County, eventually attending Utah State University and working for a small engineering firm in Brigham City. After graduation (B.S '15, MEng '16), a friend recommended he apply to Calder Richards to challenge Karras to work on bigger projects. 

What's kept him here since joining in 2016?

"There's no ceiling at Calder Richards. It allows employees to stretch themselves," he said. Whether embracing new techniques or new understanding, "it makes you feel fulfilled."

So much has changed from his early days as a new engineer—AI and computing technology, for starters. Still, he credits his mentors for teaching him to "trust but verify" what technological tools can do by staying up to date on fundamentals and hand calculations. "If you don't understand the concepts, you will probably fly past an error that you couldn't recognize."

To do so, he's joined organizations like the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and the Structural Engineering Association of Utah (SEAU). He's attended EERI events and conferences since joining the organization in 2019, gaining access to the latest research on innovative, resilient seismic design, and even attending a field training on earthquake reconnaissance in Seattle last year. 

SEAU has also helped him stay at the cutting edge of his profession, as well as being part of a great community of engineers. He credited the organization for covering the basic and the niche.

"SEAU is doing well and I've enjoyed being part of that," he said. "I've gone to the educational conference every year since I was a student."

He said that any chance to gain more knowledge is worth taking, advising fellow engineers, "Stay thirsty for knowledge, jump on every learning opportunity, every webinar you can, because it will serve you in the long run."

Following his own advice and working toward his goals put him in a position to structurally design The Residences at the Tower, a part of the Talisker Club in Deer Valley. 

"I grew to enjoy concrete design and what you could do with it," he said, crediting the project team for creating great memories as they collaborated on post-tensioned concrete decks and concrete shear walls.

Karras beamed about Hillcrest High School and the opportunity to work with the architectural team on the structural engineering of the four-story classroom wing. The school's steel structure, reinforced masonry, and an amazing auditorium with a column-free, cantilevered balcony provided opportunities to flex the breadth and depth of his engineering chops.

Karras said these and many other moments have given him a deep appreciation for contractors, an appreciation that began when he framed houses after returning to Utah from a religious service mission in Brazil in 2010.

"It was so hard," he laughed. "Whether it's the dead of winter or the middle of summer, you're hauling lumber, and you're up high." 

Being in the field made him realize, "This is serious work, "he said. "To this day, it's informed how I detail plans for wood structures."

He's welded, too, after completing a welding class at the local trade school. 

"I was completely ignorant," Karras said—he didn't even know what welding equipment looked like. "But that class informed how I call out welds because I know what welders can do and what angles and positions are impossible to complete."  

He joked that it's part of his trade secret.

"Having that understanding of what it takes better informs design and creates a more efficient design."

Karras wants to lay masonry block next, revealing the other part of his trade secret: his role in bringing good design to the table means physically meeting builders in the field and getting their input.

"I always like to quiz the different trades on how we did—'What was hard about building what we designed?'" Karras said. After all, "They know what is and isn't working."

In the industry, "there's a separation between designer and general contractor, and there's a bigger one between designer and subcontractor," he said. "And going out to the job site and asking them [these questions] bridges that just a little bit."

Karras has received a few curious glances and plenty of critiques and suggestions from those he's asked, which is fine by him.

"The more we learn, the better service we can provide."

By Taylor Larsen

Andrew Newbold never thought he'd be in construction, especially after his first job routing vinyl fence posts on a CNC machine. Nor did he think he'd end up in sales after spending one summer knocking doors for a pest control company in San Antonio.

"I wanted to be helping people," he said.

With that noble goal in mind, Newbold earned a soccer scholarship to Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, where he met and began dating Crystal Tebbs during their first year before serving an LDS mission in Chile. Upon his return, he married Crystal, then went back to Rock Springs and worked as a Field Representative for U.S. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, whom Newbold holds in high regard. 

After earning a B.A. in Communications from Utah Valley University in 2018, Newbold thought his future path would be public service. Shortly after, he and his wife moved into her grandmother's house as caretakers while Newbold prepared for a graduate program in public administration. 

A frequent guest at grandma's house was "Uncle John" Tebbs, Crystal's uncle and founder of Bonneville Builders. Newbold only knew him as the fun uncle he had met at a few family Christmas parties. But one night, as Newbold spoke to Tebbs about his graduate school plans, Tebbs blurted: "What are you doing?" Newbold recalled him saying, "I know you, and you belong in sales and marketing!"   

Newbold was shocked. "All I could think was, 'Okay, Crystal's uncle. Thank you for that.'"

But the idea percolated, and Tebbs called a few weeks later with an offer that sounded more like a demand: "I can't watch you do this," Newbold recalled him saying. "I want you to be an intern for us at Bonneville."

In 2018, Newbold started the internship and was hooked just two weeks in. The purpose and meaning he desired were readily available in the private sector.

"John was trying to show me that we could do good things, make money and leave a good impression on people without having to be a full-time public servant," Newbold said.

But with no leads, no contacts, and just a vinyl fence post's worth of construction knowledge, Newbold followed a coworker's advice, subscribing to every planning commission and city council email alert across Utah, and creating a system to navigate RFPs and other documents and find projects to pursue and people to contact.

"The deal I had was that if it were a new client or project that I found, I would get to be involved from the very beginning to the very end of the project," said Newbold. Sometimes, that meant he was "a fly on the wall, gaining information." But he kept building relationships, even when the deals didn't materialize right away. Over time, those relationships have flourished, helping the company grow significantly.

Bonneville's new tagline, "Built by relationships, defined by results," reflects Newbold's belief that positive relationships across the project team—not the cheapest bid—are what can steer his firm and the industry toward greater success. 

When Newbold started as an intern in 2018, Bonneville Builders' 30 employees earned $45 million in revenue. 

"We were excited about it. We had done some big projects."

Since then, the company has prioritized negotiated work—bringing on preconstruction experts and fostering a culture where superintendents care for the job, project managers care for the superintendents, and project engineers receive mentorship much like Newbold once did. This collaborative approach has helped Bonneville expand into new market verticals, grow its team to more than 80 employees, and achieve a record-breaking $205 million in revenue in 2024.

Newbold became a partner for Bonneville Builders in October 2024. He credits fellow partners Garrett and John Tebbs, and many others outside of Bonneville, for steering him toward success—Connie Gonzalez, Brad Boardman, Ruth Hill, Brett Hopper, and Doug Archibald were thanked by name. 

So how does the young business developer pay it forward?

For Newbold, LIHTC housing is the first thing that comes to mind. He points to multifamily developers such as Cowboy Partners and GIV Group as partners whose purpose extends beyond financial returns.

"The people that live in these [LIHTC] units often do not have the easiest of lives, and I think it's important that we're building projects like those—projects that matter," he said.

Whether it's the recently completed Nelson-Christensen project for Alliance House or the adaptive reuse of the former 515 Tower into the Arbor 515 multifamily project for Perpetual Housing Fund, Newbold is grateful for the work itself and for the team he works with.

"We've got some great employees here that are very capable, and we try to give them every opportunity to grow and participate in the process," he said, mentioning how the firm strives to keep those employees engaged throughout every phase of a project.  

"More hats to wear? Maybe." Newbold said, "But it also means more opportunities to recognize and celebrate those who help create meaning and purpose in what they build—and to bring a human-first value to the projects our Bonneville team helps advance."

Tebbs' original advice may have come from left field, but Newbold is immensely thankful for it.

"As much as he was just my wife's fun-loving uncle, now he's one of my dearest friends," said Newbold, who considers Tebbs his greatest mentor. "He gave me an opportunity to do something that I never would have thought to do, and I'm grateful that he saw something in me."

By Taylor Larsen

If you’re looking for someone to say “yes” to new experiences, look no further than Arika Morris. It started when her electrician father had the young Morris wire her bedroom in the family’s Yuma, Arizona home for internet access and wire her Honda Civic for the sound system she wanted.

“I didn’t do it properly, and it didn’t work most of the time, but I did it,” she said. She may not be an electrician, but somebody needed to step up—why not her? 

Saying “yes” and taking the reins are key in bringing great work to life and shaping great people in the process.

She started in the industry as an Administrative Assistant working under Carl Watkins (now retired) for a major general contractor. Morris described him as her favorite person and a father figure after Morris’s father passed a few months after she finished high school.

“Carl did not promote himself in any way, but he championed everybody else. He cared more about you than he did about the job—and he was excellent at his job,” she said. Watkins taught Morris the role of Field Engineer and gave her the responsibilities that would advance her career, even if she wasn’t eligible for the title because she didn’t have a bachelor’s degree. 

Many of her coworkers recommended that she pursue her studies to qualify for advancement, so off she went to Utah Valley University (B.S. Construction Management, 2021).

She has worked at heavy civil contractor Ames Construction for the last six years, rapidly making a name for herself by stepping up into important roles—Scheduler, association representative, and leader of Ames’s internship program in Utah and Nevada.

If you haven’t caught on yet, “I say ‘yes’ to too many things,” Morris laughed. She does so in hopes of following the example many in her life have set before her to empower others.

That “yes” attitude allowed her to join NAWIC’s Salt Lake Chapter in August 2023 and then volunteer to sponsor a Women in Construction Week lunch in 2024. Morris connected with Kaitlin Eaton, former Chapter President and now lifelong friend, as well as Tonya Timothy, current Chapter President and former mentor. Morris described her mentorship with Timothy as that of a cheerleading companion who helped to champion Morris as she grew into the industry. Morris also recently joined the NAWIC Salt Lake Chapter Board of Directors. 

Sometimes, taking on new duties takes a little cajoling. 

“When Chris Kemper, my PM, asked me if I wanted to be the scheduler, I was like, ‘No! No! No!’” she said. But after hearing the pitch and agreeing, “It's been a complete trajectory change, explosive, totally random, but it was because he saw that I was the right person to take on the challenge.”

Her advice to her younger self—and everyone in the industry—is to know when to say “no” and stand by it.

“Know your value and hold your boundaries,” she said. She’s passed that lesson along to her interns, calling for personal authenticity. “The most important things are the relationships,” she said. “And that the things you say are authentic.”

Adhering to boundaries is essential to her role on the project management team, especially when delineating the roles and responsibilities of general contractors and their trade partners. She spoke of the importance of reading contracts to ensure that Ames’s responsibilities and duties are covered.

“Contracts are our marriage agreement; our prenup,” she said. “They describe exactly how our relationship is going to go and how we are going to solve problems.” 

She even showed a trade partner that they hadn’t been compensated for a long-completed scope because they hadn’t billed for it, and told them to bill for it, she said, “Because that’s the contract we signed, and it’s important to be honest. […] I want subcontractors to want to work with us.”

She’s enjoyed scheduling so far, building the roadmap, recognizing the risks and challenges, and organizing the thousands of activities that go into construction projects so that superintendents can successfully manage work moving forward. 

The role has meant a lot of asking “why?” Which doesn’t always bring sympathetic responses to those she’s questioning.

“I’ve been called nosy, and I’ve accepted it,” she smiled. “Because those who say it recognize it’s the reason I’m in the room.”

Knowledge sharing and transparency are improving, and she hopes those efforts continue between owners, contractors, and trade partners. In the meantime, she hopes the industry will outline better career paths for employees. But she also hopes that professionals, especially those like her students who are newer to the industry, will continue to be nosy and curious as they grow in responsibility. In her words, “Tell them what you want to learn” and follow through.

Case in point, her message about scheduling to her students: “You may not have to be the scheduler, but you need to know how to ask the right questions, and get the schedule presented in a way you can understand,” she said, mentioning how gaining understanding and stepping up are prerequisites to success in the industry. “You have to be engaged.” 

Step up, ask questions, and hold to your boundaries and your word. Much as they have helped Morris, this level of engagement, ownership, and problem-solving will help move the industry forward.

By Bradley Fulmer

Brady Thorn always figured he'd wind up with a career in the construction industry, having been raised in a family with deep roots in heavy/civil construction dating back to great-grandfather Ashel O. Thorn, who founded Springville-based Thorn Construction in the 1920s. 

How Thorn ended up working in construction insurance came about while serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the now Sr. Vice President for Salt Lake-based Beehive Insurance—part of the Orem-based Clyde Companies—met a fellow church member who told Thorn he'd do well in this industry. 

"It was Chuck Eaglestone," recalled Thorn, who was one of three Haitian Creole-speaking missionaries in the Florida Tampa Mission (2004-2006). "We were standing outside the chapel in Fort Myers, and he said, 'When you get home, you should do what I do for a career.’ I came home and started in the industry, against my dad's wishes."

His father, Rich Thorn, who led the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Utah for more than 40 years before retiring in 2023, felt that Brady would be better off pursuing a different career. 

"He wanted me to do something else, but once he saw me going for it, he got behind me and was 100% supportive," said Thorn, who valued his father's role in the industry and appreciated the benefits the association provides to many construction-related companies. 

After returning home from his mission, he started working at a Salt Lake-based commercial insurance firm in 2007, where he spent four years honing his craft. During that time, he also attended the University of Utah, ultimately graduating with a Bachelor of Accounting (plus a Minor in Finance) in 2011, the same year he joined Beehive Insurance. 

It didn't take Thorn long to establish himself as a top performer at Beehive in part because of his interpersonal communication skills, which he attributes to his father, who was renowned for his genuine appreciation for others and ability to make everyone feel like a friend. 

"Dad was a tremendous influence—his genuine care for others was real," said Thorn. "That's just who he was. Anybody can sell a product. If you care about people and build that personal relationship, you'll succeed in life. Why am I experiencing success? It's because I genuinely care about my clients and want to be an extension of their business." 

Thorn estimates he has 75 main clients, for whom he provides construction insurance and surety bonding. His client list includes a mix of general contractors and specialty contractors working in both commercial and residential construction, all mid-to-large-sized companies.

Thorn considers himself a consultant, not a salesman, as he spends hours each month tracking myriad changes in the industry and how they may impact clients. 

"I care about my clients' best interest and never take their trust for granted," he said. "I know intimate details about a client's finances. There needs to be a lot of trust. My clients know I'm going to look after their best interest, always.”

"Whether it's a client of one year or 18 years, we study the market hard and offer multiple options, best practices, and advice on current trends," Thorn added. "Utah's climate is becoming more litigious, so we work hard figuring out how to protect clients from potential risks. I feel like I take more of a consulting role, not just peddling insurance."

By Bradley Fulmer

It's been a circuitous road for James Kilpatrick through the A/E/C and CRE industries, with a bevy of unique work experiences over the past 13 years that ultimately landed him in the fast-paced world of commercial development. 

Kilpatrick, 40, was hired as a Sr. Project Manager in April 2019 for Park City-based Columbus Pacific, a 30-year-old boutique real estate investment, development, and management firm that mainly deals in retail and multi-family/student housing projects, in addition to some custom residential and property management. 

An East High School graduate (2004), Kilpatrick earned a Bachelor of Marketing in 2010 from the University of Utah, spinning records as a hired DJ from 2005-2012, until landing a job with Salt Lake-based BNA Consulting in 2012 in a marketing/business development role. 

He didn't know anything about the A/E/C industry but quickly learned to appreciate its role in society and enjoyed the people he interacted with. After 3.5 years at BNA, Kilpatrick was the Business Development/Marketing lead for architectural 3D graphics/animation firm Bowen Studios of Salt Lake (2016-2018) and general contractor Cameron Construction of Salt Lake (2018-2019). 

"I wouldn't say that it was very mapped out," said Kilpatrick, who earned his Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) in 2019, also from the U of U, after deciding that was his ultimate career path while at Bowen and interacting with various owners and developers over a 2.5-year stretch. 

"At the time, I thought, ‘[Developers] have a cool life, they're making big-money decisions on great projects.’ It seemed like a fun gig." 

Right before earning his MRED, Kilpatrick saw a LinkedIn job posting about a PM position at Columbus Pacific and interviewed with Tony Tyler, Principal of Columbus Pacific, who has been a valuable mentor as Kilpatrick progresses from "drinking from a fire hose" the first couple of years to trying to master the finer nuances of the profession. 

"What I didn't realize about commercial real estate development is that problem-solving and learning something new daily go hand-in-hand," he said. "What keeps it interesting is the flow and progression of each project. I am involved with projects from acquisition all the way through building handoff and beyond, including working with property management. It's a more challenging job [...] one that forces me to grow and allows me to use my creative side and my analytical side in one role. It's a lot of coordination, meetings, job site visits, but I wouldn't have it any other way." 

Columbus Pacific moved to Park City in 2017, with early local projects including 438 Main Street and Kimball on Main. The firm has five current projects in the hopper—two under construction, two in entitlements, and one is a hotel remodel of Hyatt Centric Park City. 

Both projects under construction aim for completion in November of 2026 and are located in The Canyons Village—Elevation, which includes six $8 million condominiums in a ski-in/ski-out locale; and Sky View Phase II, two buildings containing 149 dorm-style units geared to resort management. 

Kilpatrick appreciates the wide network of people he's able to interact with and believes strongly in the type of projects Columbus Pacific is developing. 

"I feel that we're making a positive impact to communities with our affordable housing units," he said. "Some of skills I use every day are a carry over from my A/E/C time, like reading plan sets and knowing the processes and sequencing of a project. CRE has opened a whole new chapter of what all goes into making a project happen. It's exciting."