 Welcome to JSA TV and JSA podcast the newsroom for the telecom and data center professionals I'm Lauren Oland at JSA We are getting to know the Helman Electric family and today We are featuring Carlos Casel senior vice president at Helman Electric Welcome to JSA TV Carlos. Good morning Tell our viewers if you could who might not be familiar with Helman Electric What Helman Electric is and what you do? Sure. So Helman Electric We're a company electrical contracting company based out of Bronx, New York We were Until only about eight years ago. We were primarily an outdoor heavy construction contracting Organization over the last eight years. We've opened up two separate divisions We've opened up a data comm division as well as an interiors division And the heavy construction division, which was once the organization itself Is is actually the division that I Overseas so We we get involved in a lot of government projects for the most part We're a public public works contractor. We do work for the different agencies throughout New York City In particular the mta New York state DOT New York City DOT DEP Every agency basically that Dells in the the Infrastructure roadway work airport lighting Bridges and tunnels. That's where we We we have our primary focus again on the heavy construction division side. So Interior's division they they deal with schools and and buildings corn shell operations and data comm in the private sector of telecommunications So Helman Electric touches a lot of our daily lives that we may not even and realize at this point Absolutely, absolutely every single day that you travel through the streets Somehow some way we probably were involved in one of the lighting or signals or something cameras on the highway Yeah, so We're yeah, we're pretty Pretty spread out throughout New York City Well, let's talk about you for a second. So thank you for that overview about Helman Electric But you have an interesting story with Helman Electric You started as an intern. I heard back in 1997 The company you were studying for college Your college degree in electrical engineering. So what drew you to the industry and then to helman? Sure. So yes, I did start as a as an intern here at helman in 1997 What drew me to the industry was actually my dad My dad I grew up Going to my father's projects and he built high rises for a living So the construction industry and engineering Were always something that captivated me You know going you know as a young kid going into these buildings And seeing them being constructed 60 stories in the air 70 stories in the air, you know, it was something that I just You know, I felt like I wanted to be a part of that. So I actually actually went to school To get my structural engineering degree And When I was in school 93 94 Started to see a shift into mobile There was a lot of A lot of telecommunication Um businesses were growing and thriving they started to really Explore wireless communications and that sort of thing and It just intrigued me. So I made a decision to shift From structural engineering to electrical engineering and I concentrated in in the communication systems and In my senior year I was working with my dad On my days off from school and My father the superintendent that worked with my father He would I would work 50% of the day half the day with my dad in as a labor physically working And the other 50% of my dad working the office with the superintendent Now the superintendent Knew that I was in school, you know getting my engineering degree and had a brother-in-law that Worked at an electrical contract and company and Was looking for intern help, you know young engineers to start in the organization. So um, I was offered an opportunity to Come and interview with them and The person was Steven Lazaro the owner of helman electric So at that time he was a project manager at helman electric And I interviewed with him I got the uh internship And uh, I guess the rest is kind of history Absolutely a great history years. Yeah, yeah 23 wow 23 years and and you know, you were talking about your early days starting as project engineer and Putting some hard knocks in and having a family pretty much a family affair, you know getting started Yeah You now are at a senior vice president's level You know you rose to the ranks over the years quite a journey there at helman electric Can you tell us a little bit about what that process looked like for you moving to where you are today? This was a blur Yeah, it's um It's been amazing actually, um you know Being an intern Then a project engineer project manager senior project manager vice president. I've gone through basically every position in the project management team and um, I I cherish that, you know, it's something that I tell all of all of uh all my staff Especially the young engineers that come in from school um to enjoy these moments because What often when you're young you just want to move and you want to to to grow quickly and you know, you you hope to be able to uh achieve project management status in a short period of time and the one thing that that I went through in my career in hitting all of those different um positions Is just I grew and I learned and you know, it's just it helped me develop into what I do now and um, you know that that internship was certainly very helpful working under The the admin which was amazing, you know, and It's it's something that gave me the organizational skills to allow me to succeed in the next stage of development. So, you know, you learn from everybody and and uh You know those 23 years I've I've come across some amazing people And learned a lot from those people and I just I hope I hope the the youth of the company You know follow the same path and understand the importance of listening and Going through those motions um to really provide you with a solid foundation to develop into you know a leader within the organization Great advice Carlos Well, tell us what you do in your current position and How your previous roles in the company prepared you for what you do today? I know that you talked about learning and making sure that you were growing along the way, but We'd love to know in your current position what you do now and then How those roles previously shaped you So currently as senior vice president again in the heavy construction division I oversee the construction of about 200 million dollars worth of contracts. Um, I have a staff of 25 office personnel coupled with 100 field forces, so It's really like an executive oversight of each of the projects. Um we have 40 50 different contracts with the different agencies and you know 11 different project managers that work with With me and each of them have various projects that they oversee. So My job is to make sure that they have all the tools they need to succeed um to try to help them be accurate in their projections and Their monitoring of the projects We're very into cost control and revenue control So we have a lot of we've established a lot of systems that we expect our project managers to utilize to help them better understand their job and the progression of their job. So um Part of my job is actually establishing those things is making sure that Those systems are in place. Uh, and those tools are available for their use um, I also get i'm heavily in Involved in the estimating side of the organization as well Um, so, you know seeking work opportunities Um There's project executive position is part of my role where Um, currently we have uh, we have a design build job Um, they're a very large security project, uh for the mta at two of their bridge facilities So, you know, it's a fantastic Fantastic job. Um Just building a team. So the design build uh Area that we're really getting into here at helman um in establishing a a team to Put together a proposal Pitch the proposal win Then start the building process the design and building process So I was very instrumental in putting that team together and and developing The proposal and ultimately winning the job and you know, then I you know, I help oversee Some certain operations within that job um Again from an executive level. So and that's that's kind of my day to day You know you were talking about the projects that um, you've had a hand in and and um, had oversight in what projects have been that you've been a part of Standout as some of your favorite or even most memorable Yeah, you know, I think the new york state d.o.t. i.t.s. Program That I was lucky enough to be a part of once I started in 97 as an intern uh that program Learning Fire off the communications and uh and and video Just we're we're building surveillance systems for the state and It just gave me such one it was it was a way for me to To finally utilize my communication background from school and apply it to something But I am applying it from a construction perspective, which is a little odd for an engineer often You know, you're so used to doing calculations and this and that is you know now is a physical application of of what we've learned Those jobs, uh, they kind of shape my career um They were my favorite jobs. I mean currently that i.t.s. I mean that design build job that I mentioned is Certainly one of my favorites um It's kind of like a baby, you know, it's I was able to see it from you know from From birth to where it's gone now, but those those other jobs they They taught me so much and I I just I learned so much and I was able to Really do very well in that space And you know, it just gave you know a young kid confidence to to be able to continue to grow and You know, it was it was uh, it was an amazing time. It was probably it probably lasted about 10 years You know in that i.t.s program, which is you know, unfortunately the way it works is you build the infrastructure You set it up so that you don't really need to do much to it for years to come so unfortunately we We haven't Really had much i.t.s. State DOT i.t.s work over the last 10 years Just a little bit here and there But those were amazing jobs. They just uh, they were a lot of fun Wow, you could see you could see it was fun on your face and and how proud you were of those projects. So With all those projects and and all the work that you've done and and with the family at home and electric What sets home and electric apart from other companies in this industry? I believe the talent I think that we we are blessed to have an amazing pool of Of personnel here from all walks of life different engineering disciplines field experience that we brought in to be project managers Uh The right mix of ages, you know, we have very experienced people That uh that have been in the business for 40 years um on our side and we have Some very young engineers have just started a year or two ago And then we have the middle, you know the the people that have been in the business for 15 or 20 years um with Highly specialized Individuals in the technical field. I think I think, you know, if I'm going to pick one thing The technology is probably what sets us apart. We just we know if we get it. We've we've been building it for a long time um I I couldn't be more proud of the team that we have and their capabilities and Um, their energy, you know, and they're they're they want to grow they want to learn they they love this stuff as much as I do Um, which is which is pretty amazing. And I don't think a lot of the companies that I guess we uh that would be consider a competition Hopefully they have that same level of talent that we do And uh that that that expertise and and that real desire to uh to to to grow and and uh Get another one, you know build another one win another one build it um have fun doing it and um, you know just uh Enjoying it enjoying every minute of it You've had great momentum Thus far with technology combined with talent as you were just talking about So what does the future look like for helmet electric? I think we're there. Um, I think the future is has uh Has manifested itself in this design build space, you know, I think um, You know, what what we're doing right now is what we're we will be doing more of going forward. Um We're going to utilize our talent our pool our resources In here and go after more design build projects um, I think that's not just The obvious shift of the industry right now, but um, certainly something that we're very uh excited about and uh You know The the beautiful thing is that the owners of the organization um have Have allowed me to Explore these options So, you know that that that ability to be creative and to seek Different things that you know, we we hadn't done before Um, it's pretty fun. And uh, I think that's something that we're going to keep Striving for in the next couple of years just keep going after these design builds and build more technology and infrastructure and you know, and of course it's going to be Coupled with all of the different type of work that we currently do as well. I mean this is certainly that um, but uh, if if i'm If i'm really being honest, I think I think design build is probably going to be a major focus of this organization Very exciting times and we look forward to Following helmet electrics journey. Where can our viewers go for more information? Sure, they can they can visit us at our website on www.helmetelectric.com Uh, also social media. We are we have linkedin accounts at helmin electric Uh, instagram at helmin electric Uh, and I believe facebook at helmin electric All right, we know where to find you. Thank you Thank you carlo so much for your time. It was such a pleasure and Love getting to know you and and to get your insight About helmet electrics. So thank you again. Thank you very much And thank you viewers for tuning in to jsa tv and jsa podcast. Happy networking