Joel grew up in Maumee, Ohio (a suburb of Toledo.) He has one brother, Jason, who lives in Powell. His parents moved to the Columbus area in 1998 after they retired. If you read our post about Molly from September, you will know that they met while at OSU, where they graduated in 1990. Joel and Molly married on February 29, 1992. Joel is an avid sports fan, especially basketball, and follows all things Buckeye!
Early in Joel’s career, he gained experience working for various landscape companies in Detroit, Sandusky, Dayton and Columbus. In 1996, he went to work for NBBJ, an engineering and architecture firm, in their Landscape Architecture studio. From that experience, he could sit for the Landscape Architect Exam—thus became a Registered Landscape Architect in 1998.
Joel loves to share his knowledge and love for plants with the staff and even clients. Joel is fluent in Spanish. It’s not often that the Hispanic staff correct him or claim they don’t understand what he has said. He claims he is fluent in “Spanglish.”
Joel’s perfect day would start about 5 am, with an Orange Theory Fitness workout, head back home to make his famous Kale, peanut butter, berry smoothie then out to the garden to weed, transplant a few plants, maybe even add a new bed or two, then clean up, head to Donatos for a Meat Lovers pizza, return home to watch the Buckeyes beat Notre Dame (or Michigan) with Molly and his kids, Ali and Drew—plus the family dog, Tucker. Throughout his typical day, he may only stop for a break when there are chocolate chip cookies offered.
Joel currently sits on the Tolles Career & Tech Landscape Advisory Board—hoping to inspire the next generation of landscapers.
