Jeff is a Washington native who has been married to his wife, Pam, for 30 years. They have two adult daughters and four grandchildren. Jeff is also an avid fisher and a car racing enthusiast who was part of a race team at the local speedway for many years and even won a regional racing championship. In addition to this already impressive resume, Jeff has been a member of Local 66 for over 25 years in which he has done everything from serve as a sheet metal fabricator, installer and service technician to building controls and automation to working as a retrofit technician in charge of all phases of install and commissioning on building retrofits. As irony would have it, one day Jeff was approached by the grandson of his first shop foreman in hopes of recruiting him to the growing Hermanson Service Team. You can guess what happened next!

Jeff fits in well with the Hermanson culture because it aligns with his approach towards both excellent customer service and problem solving for the long run. He firmly believes in the “Hermanson Way” or as he calls it, the “Jeff Walcker Way” and takes great pride in the way we do business. A project that Jeff holds near and dear to his heart was our work for Vulcan at the Living Computer Museum. Jeff was selected to help restore microprocessor cooling systems and old school R-12 condensers installed on a 1965 vintage control data supercomputer. This work was successfully completed over a two-year period. Subsequently, Jeff was also chosen as the lead technician in charge of quarterly preventative maintenance on the machine. He is proud to have played a part in restoring such a significant piece of our community’s history. Jeff has also served as a shining star on several of our service jobs including Clover Park School District, North Thurston Public Schools, and the Washington State Fair grounds.

Jeff teaches apprenticeship classes for Sheet Metal JATC at the DuPont training center. In addition, his youngest son-in-law started a building trades apprenticeship this year. These two experiences have allowed Jeff to see first-hand what challenges young technicians face. With that being said, his advice is specifically for other foreman, “It is important to recognize that apprentices and young technicians are our future. It is up to us to teach them, mentor them, and help develop them into leadership roles. Don’t get too caught up in the clutter of time schedules and margins, and remember to pass along the how’s and why’s that make this industry so great.”

A family man with a need for speed, Jeff seems to be in a state of bliss with both of his lovely ladies!