Meet Our Experienced Team
Professional. Reliable. Trustworthy
David Privette
President/Co-Owner
After being away from the Low Country for quite a few years, David has come back home. David worked for North State, a family-owned telecommunications company until the company was sold in 2020. During his 19-year tenure with North State, David wore many different hats. His latest position had him managing all aspects of the company's facilities and fleet programs and its many construction and renovation projects and electrical infrastructure upgrades from N to N+1 redundancy. Carolina Custom Electric was founded in August of 2018 to compliment his brother’s business, Carolina Custom Security & Sound. Having the ability to offer custom electrical services in conjunction with low voltage services just made sense.
David has been married to Kellie, his partner in crime, for 24 years. David and Kellie have one son, Davis who is a senior at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fl studying Ocean Engineering/Naval Architecture. Davis ultimately wants to design and build his own semi-custom line boats. David loves the water and anything to do with it so helping Davis will be a hobby of his in the future. When not in the field with the team David enjoys being on the boat with his family, renovating their home, cooking, and enjoying those evening golf cart rides with Kellie and their 2 four-legged girls, Charlie & Finley. The girls also come to the office daily to greet the family and wish them a good day in the field.
Kellie Privette
VP of Operations, Co-Owner
From Healthcare to Electrical contractor just seemed like a normal progression for Kellie. Being in a mobile, preventive healthcare setting for over 20 years managing remote teams and people across the US led to being able to manage the day-to-day aspects of local teams with ease. The terminology and acronyms have been the adjustment as a monkey knuckle surely was not in the Healthcare acronyms but the crew has helped her to be able to get the terminology down so she can prepare them for the daily projects. Kellie has THAT job that not many people care for as she manages the schedule, vendor ordering, payments, and billing aspect of the company with a little mothering touch/push to her crew, Mike & David. She takes it in stride from the occasional birthday celebration to the occasional “really, you know better” conversation, it just comes naturally to her.
Kellie and David talked about how to get back to the Lowcountry from their dating stage and throughout their marriage, so the opportunity brought them home. Kellie and David have one son, Davis who is a senior at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Fl studying Ocean Engineering/Naval Architecture. She considers Davis their best accomplishment in life to date but having a larger family, her crew makes Davis’ absence a little easier. Kellie also shares David and Davis’ love for boating but adds that finding the creek for Sunday swimming, reading, and napping to the top of her list. She enjoys gardening, cooking, and friend gatherings every chance she gets. While moving away from her beautiful home and dear girlfriends was not the easiest transition, she said at least they can come to visit her at the beach. Her favorite part of the day is the golf cart ride to watch the sunset over the harbor with David and their 2 four-legged girls, Charlie & Finley. The girls are with her 90% of the time and love their beds behind her desk to sleep most of the day away.
Michael Lusita
Director of Project Management, Master Electrician
After 30+ years of owning his own company, Northern Lights, Mike decided to sell the business and move south. As Mike and his beautiful wife, Joanne went through the process of selling a company, he decided he was not truly ready to retire but wanted to be back infield training and helping technicians achieve greater experience without the hassle of scheduling, payroll, taxes, etc.
Mike’s experience in the larger custom home market in Greenwich, CT has vastly helped our company grow. From an average square footage of 11,000 with luxury LED lighting, smart home technology, Generators, to design-build, he brings a wealth of knowledge like none other, as well as his charismatic personality is a welcome addition by all.
Mike has been married to Joanne for 32 years, bless her heart. They have three beautiful children, Megan, Brooke, and Scott with one Granddaughter, Carmela. Although the children are grown and gone, they enjoy Chenzo & Teddy’s company, their two dogs, at home. A man with many hobbies which include the making of Maple syrup, amazing pizza fritz, homemade wine, and fishing. We are fortunate to say in the multitude of opportunities offered, his choice was Carolina Custom Electric. The Lusita’s are a welcome addition to our family.
Joseph (Jinx) Jenkins
Team Manager, Electrician
Joseph (Jinx) Jenkins joined Carolina Custom Electric in January 2020 with 15 years’ experience in the Electrical field in the Custom home market. Jinx came into the company helping to finish existing projects with a smile on his face. When leaving the office every morning, he would say we are off to the see wizard as he had no idea what he was getting into for the day but went with stride, pride and made it happen. Jinx genuinely enjoys being onsite from start to finish, coaching the team around him to better understand the logic behind electricity and building codes. Recently, one builder asked if there was a time that he did not have a smile on his face and remarked on how refreshing it was to work with a team that spoke, introduced themselves, helped other subcontractors on the jobsite, as well as left the site cleaner than they found it. This is the basis of Jinx. As Jinx would say, “if you are going to do something, do it right. If you make a mistake, admit it, ask for help and learn from it.”
Jinx is the proud father of one son, Jacquez. When he talks about Jaquez, his eyes light up. Jinx enjoys watching him play football as he did growing up. We know when the game was good when Jinx comes in Monday horse from cheering, and we always get to see the videos. Family is especially important to Jinx as he is one of nine children, 5 sisters and 3 brothers. He enjoys getting together with them any chance he gets. His personal values are what makes having him as our lead electrician even more special. We are blessed to have him.