Tarun Ganeriwal attributes his business success to two things: focusing on people and building a strong company culture.
“I interact with my employees a lot, and I think a lot of times, people don’t know that I’m the CEO—that’s great,” Ganeriwal MBA ‘09 says. “It’s so important to take care of your people. If you do, they’ll take care of your clients, which will eventually take care of the business.”
That philosophy has gotten him far and earned his company, KBH Solutions, the No. 1 spot on the 2025 Bulldog 100 list of the fastest-growing businesses owned or operated by University of Georgia alumni.
KBH Solutions specializes in providing highly skilled, technical professionals to the energy, power, and construction sectors, delivering far more than typical staffing. Ganeriwal’s team offers project management, engineering, and consulting expertise, helping clients tackle complex challenges in areas like nuclear energy, hydropower, and fossil fuels.
It’s so important to take care of your people. If you do, they’ll take care of your clients, which will eventually take care of the business.”
TARUN GANERIWAL, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF KBH SOLUTIONS, THE NO. 1 BUSINESS ON THE 2025 BULLDOG 100
But Ganeriwal didn’t always anticipate becoming an entrepreneur. He earned an undergraduate degree in engineering from Virginia Tech and went straight to work for General Electric, where he stayed for nearly two decades.
While working full time in Atlanta, Ganeriwal pursued an executive MBA at the Terry College of Business. He was drawn to the program’s flexibility, which allowed him to balance work, family, and his studies.
The program not only sharpened his financial expertise but also opened his eyes to entrepreneurship. Surrounded by classmates who were launching startups and steering big companies, Ganeriwal’s ambition to forge his own path intensified. In 2018, he launched KBH Solutions.
The company has grown steadily, and now employs around 120 people, including Ganeriwal’s son and fellow UGA grad Kyle BBA ’20. KBH Solutions has also expanded through joint ventures like its sister company, KBH Thompson, which focuses on construction services. Throughout this growth, Ganeriwal has focused on maintaining a close-knit team, like celebrating birthdays with handwritten notes to make sure his employees feel valued and supported.
Ganeriwal feels fortunate to find great talent, largely through employee referrals, and he believes the company’s culture makes that possible.
“If people feel valued in their work, they want more of their peers to experience that, too,” he says.
For Ganeriwal, giving back to his community is equally important. In 2007, he founded a chess organization, Chess2Children, for students in suburban Atlanta schools. What began as a small after-school club at his children’s elementary school has grown into a program that reaches more than 500 children.
“I thought it’d be one semester and done, and 18 years later, we’re still doing it,” he says.
Ganeriwal stays plugged into UGA’s Entrepreneurship Program, judging some student competitions, but wants to find new ways he and KBH Solutions can engage with young professionals in the Terry College of Business and the College of Engineering interested in careers in energy.
“How do we collaborate? How do we not only find the talent, but also educate them on what’s out there in the energy space?” he says. “So if we can help the schools and students find some good resources, we’ll absolutely do it.”
This story appears in the Fall 2025 issue of Georgia Magazine.
