When Kara joined Gray, she was unsure about her future career path but one thing was clear — she was drawn to the people, environment and culture at Gray. Kara started off working for the company that handled Gray’s mail delivery and blueprint production. After a year of making blueprints, she was hired as a full-time Gray team member. Today Kara is a project coordinator and one of Gray’s LEED Accredited Professionals.

Kara loves horses and the equestrian sport of dressage in which a horse is guided through a series of complex maneuvers through slight body movements of the rider. She rides regularly and occasionally competes.

"After high school, I held off on going to college because I wanted to get some job experience before deciding on a specific career.

Although I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, I was certain that I wanted to work for Gray Construction because of the people, environment and culture. To get my foot in the door, I accepted a job in 2001 with Ikon, the company that handled Gray’s mail delivery and blueprint production for the Lexington office. For a year, I worked in the basement making blueprints.

Since I didn’t want to be making blueprints forever, I did what I could to get noticed by the people at Gray. I went straight to the human resources director and offered to cover the switchboard in the mornings from 7:30 until 8 a.m.

After covering the switchboard for six months, I was hired as a receptionist on a full-time basis in 2002.

I was promoted to administrative assistant, business development and marketing in 2004. In that role, my knowledge of Gray and the work we do deepened. I developed a real understanding of our sales process — how we find, track, document and respond to new leads and RFPs and how we develop proposals.

In 2006, after Gray was awarded the Lowe’s project in Lebanon, Ore., a position opened up in the distribution market. I applied for a transfer and was hired as the project’s expeditor. I found myself developing an entirely different skill set which included estimating, buy out, subcontractor prequalification and selection, project financial management, bid analysis and status reporting.

While working on the Academy Sports project, I obtained my LEED Professional Accreditation. I was promoted to project coordinator shortly afterward. The Academy project received a LEED silver certification in May 2009. The Academy project was the first project that Gray achieved LEED certification on without the assistance of an outside consultant.

I’m closing in on my eighth year with Gray and my journey is proof that Gray Construction puts faith in a person’s innate talents, skills and abilities.

If this is a success story, I’d like to think that this isn’t the last chapter. I plan to continue learning and growing with Gray for years to come. This is the career that I wanted — one built the Gray Way."

This is Kara and horse, Phancy, taking a break after competing in the Kentucky Dressage Association Annual Summer Show at the Kentucky Horse Park. They were awarded 2^nd place for their performance.