CANCO adds leadership to industrial projects team

9 months, 2 weeks ago

Chris Carroll brings CM degree and 20 years of experience to Carl A. Nelson & Company.

Carl A. Nelson & Company is pleased to welcome Project Manager Chris Carroll to its industrial projects leadership team. The 2006 graduate of Western Illinois University arrived this month with 20 years of experience in the construction industry in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest.

Carroll is a southeast Iowa native who will work from CANCO's office in Burlington, Iowa. His project experience leans heavily into piping projects for industrial and power clients. In addition to project management, he is an experienced safety manager and surveyor.

After entring WIU without a major, Carroll discovered construction as a career option while working summers for a local construction company, where he became interested in estimating and drafting. The hands-on portion of his training at Western Illinois focused on stick-built construction, but after graduation, Carroll got his first job with a piping company and developed a strong preference for work on the industrial side of the industry. His first couple of projects, the firm worked as a subcontractor to CANCO, giving him his first exposure to his future employer. Eventually, he moved on and took a job in the St. Louis area, but returned home to Keokuk, Iowa, during the COVID slowdown. That is when he was recruited for a job with a company that sent him to Washington state, where he was working on a renewable natural gas project. 

A recruiter for another firm reached out to him about an opportunity back home, and had him in for him an interview. But Carroll decided to go in another direction.

"CANCO's always been, in my opinion, the cream of the crop in the area," he said. "The biggest general. They were the gold standard."

Away from work, Carroll is father to a 17-year-old son who will be a senior at Hamilton, Illinois, High School. He enjoys time with family, and his father, brother and grandfather all still reside in Keokuk. Outdoor activities top his interests, including golf and cooking on the grill.