Jeff Head grew up in the mountains of Southwestern New Mexico. Values of hard work and enjoying the outdoors were instilled in him by his parents, who always led by example. His mom, Suzy, graduated college with a nursing degree, while raising teenage children, and continues her long career as a Registered Nurse. His dad, Jimmy, is a certified welder and a ‘jack of all trades’ in the construction industry. He built their 2-story home in the mid-1980’s. Summer jobs throughout high school and college for Jeff, consisted of either welding, building fence or corrals or working as an electrician’s assistant. Agriculture and raising animals through 4-H and FFA was also a big part of Jeff’s upbringing and led to him judging livestock on scholarship at New Mexico Junior College, where he earned his Associates in Science Degree. Knowing that he did not have a family ranch or farm to take over, Jeff went to New Mexico State University needing to shift his major from Agriculture. A NMSU counselor suggested civil engineering once he learned that Jeff had an enjoyment and background in building things and had always been good at math. In 2002, Jeff graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering, with an emphasis in Structural Engineering.

Jeff met his wife, Tammi, at the engineering college, while at NMSU. She is also a Structural Engineer. They married shortly after graduation and both worked for a Structural Engineering firm in Tucson, Arizona. Jeff grew up hearing the many stories of conflict between contractors and engineers, from his dad’s experiences, and was unsure if becoming a professional engineer and holding an office job would be for him. During his first week, Jeff accompanied his manager to a construction site observation and quickly recognized the relationship and mutual respect between the project superintendent and engineering manager. At this moment, structural design work and maintaining the relationships with builders made perfect sense with his background in construction, hands-on/common-sense approach to building, combined with his engineering education. After 6 years of structural design and some engineering management duties in Tucson, Jeff had an opportunity to move back to New Mexico and start a sister engineering firm. Jeff, Tammi, and their two young children moved to the East Mountains, just outside of Albuquerque. The new office only stayed open for a while due to the economic hardships and housing market collapse in 2008.

The year 2010 brought new opportunity as Jeff went to work for Unirac, Inc. a large solar racking manufacturer. Beginning as an applications engineer – brought in to support the structural needs of new steel ground and roof mount products, he quickly took over as the engineering services manager. Providing in-house project designs, coordinating with third party engineering firms for review and stamping services, and maintaining relationships with customers was a large part of the job duties for him and his engineering team. A new variety of skills were learned, from technical sales to product testing, manufacturing processes, and even supporting product development efforts.

In December of 2018, Jeff and longtime friend, Mark Medina, became co-owners and started Sol Engineering Solutions, LLC. This was something the two talked about while in college together. Jeff has combined his background and knowledge in construction, structural engineering, photovoltaic solar racking, and customer support services, into his own business. The relationships made along the way continue to flourish and lead to new opportunities.