Alumni Spotlight – Rod Krebs ‘58

Passion for the outdoors and a love of hard work are recurring themes that have guided the life and career of Rod Krebs, a proud member of Susquehannock’s Class of 1958.  He is the classic “self-made” man: chief executive officer of a very successful heavy construction firm, chairman of the board of directors for PeoplesBank (a billion-dollar, full service financial institution), and a widely respected community leader.  “But I’ve failed,” he said laughingly. “What I really wanted to be was a professional golfer!”

Indeed, it was golf that consumed Rod’s spare time in high school.  In 10th grade, he was the team’s number 2 player and by his junior year had taken over the top spot, winning several amateur championships along the way.  Among his titles were the Bon Air Junior Club Championship and a Chamber of Commerce tournament.  When he wasn’t golfing at Bon Air, he was working in the club’s pro-shop.

After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Second Armored Division, the storied “Hell on Wheels,” in Fort Hood, Texas.  He later served with NATO forces in Germany on the front lines of the Cold War.  While in the Army, Rod learned the science and art of surveying, a vocation that would serve him well in later life.

At the end of his Army enlistment, he returned to York County and worked as a machinist with the Allis Chalmers Company.  His job was interrupted after a year, when he was called back to the Army.  This time, he served as a trainer in the R.O.T.C. Officers Training Program at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Following his service to his country, Rod returned home to York County and married Constant Carlson, more affectionately known as Connie, a member of Susquehannock’s Class of 1961.  “We didn’t date in high school, and we barely knew each other then,” he recalls.  “But now I can’t remember a time when Connie and I have not been together.”

He returned to Allis Chalmers, but soon realized that he did not want to spend the rest of his life working indoors and took a job as a surveyor at William E. Sacra and Associates in York.  He remained with this prominent local engineering firm until 1972 and rose to the position of department head, eventually designing large public works projects and serving as a project engineer.

He then accepted a position as a job superintendent with Gerl Construction, an Ohio-based company that was expanding into Pennsylvania, and became responsible for overseeing a major construction project in Lancaster County.  Later, Rod began managing other area projects and eventually worked his way to vice-president of the company.  By the mid-1980s, the firm was also doing work in Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.  It was about that time that the company’s owner decided to sell the business and Rod was an eager buyer, renaming his new venture Springfield Contractors and setting up shop in Springfield Township outside of Glen Rock.

In the beginning, Springfield Contractors focused primarily on municipal infrastructure, but later ventured into the private arena, including some rather large housing developments.  “But after a few years, I realized that I was doing all the work and the developers were making all the money,” Rod says. So he embarked on a new path:  real estate development.

His first venture was a new housing project north of Shrewsbury, but it wasn’t long before he became one of the foremost developers in York County and beyond.  Today, thousands of Pennsylvanians make their homes in areas designed and developed by Rod and Springfield Contractors.  He takes the greatest pride in the development of the prestigious Pinehurst Hills Community on Harrisburg’s West Shore.

In 1988, Rod was elected to the board of directors of PeoplesBank of Glen Rock and its holding company, the Codorus Valley Bancorp.  Today, he serves as chairman of the board of directors for both PeoplesBank and the holding company.

Thanks to Rod Krebs, Class of 1958, for making us Warrior Proud!