From Drafting Class to Studio Director: A Career Built with Purpose

Verr Soltes is not afraid of a challenge. In fact, she has built a career tackling complexity head-on, driven by curiosity, creativity, and a commitment to mentoring others. As a Senior Associate and newly promoted Studio Director, Verr's leadership and management approach define her impact on the firm and her team, elevating Kirksey's success in healthcare and science and technology architecture. 

What began as a love for building models from boxes and recycled goods evolved into a career path as soon as she took a drafting class in high school. "I took drafting, presentation, and means and methods classes, learning to lay brick, draw drawings, and sketch," Verr recalls, "I graduated high school knowing I would become an architect." 

Solving Complexity and Designing at Every Scale

A strong sense of purpose and a love of learning work in tandem to fuel Verr's motivation in her career. Where complex projects or large, collaborative teams could be intimidating to some, they are Verr's sweet spot. A level of unpredictability and layers of complexity keep things interesting, allowing her to be creative and seek out innovative solutions. If you ask her, Verr's love of learning and ability to embrace challenges are two of the most important skills she has - "I  have always enjoyed jobs that have a certain amount of unpredictability." 

New clients, building types, and complex teams with layers of coordination are all opportunities to solve problems, try something new, or mentor a teammate. Complex projects are abundant in Verr's portfolio, and a few of her notable projects include work on everything from Tokyo Disney Seas in Japan and Disney Adventure Park in California to large campuses for Exxon and ConocoPhillips. Verr notes a recent project with the University of Texas as a particular achievement, "The renovation of the University of Texas' Pickle Campus Microelectronic Research Center was complex and layered, even if it wasn't overly large. We added four new cleanrooms and all of the infrastructure to support it."

Projects don't have to be large to be a challenge, and smaller-scale work is just as enjoyable to Verr, who once built Shaker-style furniture with Japanese joinery as a personal project. "I like to apply the same principles and sentiments from that experience to my architecture projects - from large scale to small scale interior projects with intricate detailing."

Building Culture and Process At Kirksey

Finding her way to Kirksey may have been a long journey, but Verr is excited to be part of the firm she has admired for years. The firm's work product and culture were two of the main draws that led her to make the leap. "It may have taken 35 years for God to get me ready for Kirksey, but I am so glad to be here and part of something bigger than myself."

Tackling challenges in her projects and an appreciation for the firm's culture carries over to other aspects of her job at Kirksey, where she is part of several initiatives to drive growth and refine processes. She leverages her experience as a senior project manager to review Kirksey's PM manual, aiming to create content and document new processes and guidelines that will support all of the firm's project managers. That same desire to help others led her to assist with Kirksey's internal learning program, 'Kirksey U.' Verr makes time to help develop topics and provide feedback during presentation creation and after the course. Mentoring developing team members is something she approached with intentionality and care. Helping her teammates navigate challenges or capitalize on opportunities is a point of pride and a way to give back. "I am a professional volunteer," Verr proclaims, "I volunteer over 350 hours each year across a dozen or so organizations, with a focus on helping students."

And what lesson might she pass on from her own experience? The importance of relationships in life and her career. "It is always easier to maintain a relationship than it is to rebuild a bridge; so, be kind, extend grace, ask a lot of questions, but aim to listen more and speak less."
The same energy and enthusiasm Verr brings to her projects and her career is evident in her life at home. She is an avid traveler, planning trips abroad every year, and she has an ambitious goal to visit all 62 national parks. In the last year alone, she has visited five parks and plans to see another in the fall. However, the world's natural beauty is not the only draw, as Verr also enjoys taking in the architecture of cities around the world, where she satisfies her hobby of documenting unusual or overlooked details in the buildings she visits. 

A Family of Architects and a Life Full of Details

The architect profession can often feel small when connecting with others, but Verr doesn't have to look far in her own family to find a few. Her husband, brother, and sister-in-law are all architects, and one of her two daughters is studying to be an architect in England. Verr still has plenty to discuss with her daughter, who is not pursuing architecture, as she is studying Biomedical Engineering, a topic not unrelated to the science and technology projects she manages at Kirksey. And at the end of the day, if she isn't volunteering or traveling or learning something new -  you might find her with her family and their three mini dachshunds, just reading, cooking, or planting something. "Just planting, not gardening, because it's on its own once I get it in the ground!"