John Karras

Vice President, Strategic Accounts
Atlas Integrated
Austin, TX


John has devoted his career to the bold idea that every community has the potential to become a more vibrant place. As VP of Strategic Accounts for Atlas Integrated, John channels his energies to empower economic development professionals and civic leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to make their communities more vibrant.

Prior to joining Atlas, John spent a decade working as a national economic development strategist. John worked with thousands of community and business leaders who shared their insights and contributed to the strategic growth of big cities, suburbs, and rural communities.

In addition to his national strategic consulting portfolio, John has built a reputation as a leading thinker on urban revitalization trends and their impact on economic development. He founded urbanSCALE.com in 2013, which introduced the first comprehensive measure of how urban a city is on a scale of 1 to 10. Through regular blog posts, urbanSCALE reaches an audience of thousands of economic development professionals, urban planners, and local government leaders. Opinion pieces and research from urbanSCALE have been featured in Planetizen, Outside Magazine’s annual “Best Places to Live” feature, and dozens of local media outlets around the US.

John lives in Austin, Texas with his wife (Cyndy) and son (Gavin) where he lives out his obsession of finding and tasting the world’s best tacos and barbeque.