Perspectivas
J.S. Held adquiere GLI Advisors para fortalecer sus servicios de apoyo a proyectos de construcción en el oeste de EE. UU. y Hawái
LEER MÁS
Brandon Davis found his inspiration to pursue a career in the military and engineering at a young age. As a former U.S. Army Engineer Officer, Brandon served in Iraq and earned his professional engineering license. His education and military service contribute to the proficiency and resourcefulness required every day in his current role as a Senior Engineer in the Forensic Architecture & Engineering group of J.S. Held.
Read more of our conversation with Brandon below.
Engineering was a natural fit for me. I was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in the suburb of Mesquite. My father was a contractor, so my job as the oldest of three children was to help him by swinging a hammer, cutting boards, or cleaning up around a construction site. In my high school years, we built houses from the ground up in Colorado. It was a very formative experience that I draw on to this day.
My father also served in the Army in his younger days before I was born, and I looked up to him in that way, too. I joined JROTC in high school and eventually became the highest-ranked cadet among the five high schools in our district. The regimented lifestyle of the military academies always appealed to me. So, I applied and was accepted to West Point, and declared civil engineering as my major during my sophomore year, which seemed like a perfect marriage between my interests in engineering and the military.
Upon graduation from West Point, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Engineer Corps. My first duty station was at Fort Stewart, Georgia, from which I was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom for 15 months, from October 2007 to December 2008. I was in Babil Province - south of Baghdad - with the 3rd Infantry Division, where I served as the Brigade Construction Officer, overseeing construction and maintenance projects across more than a dozen coalition bases. In this role, I supervised a team of construction personnel that strategically rotated between bases to build and improve force protection barriers, soldier housing, sanitation services, and maintenance facilities.
It was an exciting time for me to hold that role and be considered the construction expert among a brigade of over 3,000 troops at such an early stage of my career. I got a lot of pleasure out of showing up to a base and being welcomed by the soldiers there because they knew: "Here comes Lieutenant Davis. He's going to have a convoy full of plywood, plumbing supplies, and air conditioners, and he's going to make our lives a little more tolerable."
I left the Army in August 2011 after five years of active-duty service. Returning to civilian life can be difficult for veterans, so I thought returning to graduate school would be a good way to smooth the transition, resharpen my engineering skills, and enhance my qualifications. I applied to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in part, because it was close to Connecticut, where my wife is from.
I completed MIT's Master of Engineering program with a focus on High-Performance Structures and was surrounded by a lot of really smart people. The other students were mostly straight out of undergraduate school and found the program really intensive. However, for me, as an older student with a military background, it was truly an enjoyable atmosphere compared to working 60 hours a week and being deployed for months at a time. After graduation, I worked for a short time as a structural design engineer until I found my niche in forensics.
Our everyday forensic engineering work involves determining the cause of damage to a building or structure, or providing a scope of damage if the cause is known, such as a fire or vehicle impact. The challenge often revolves around the unknown. Many people liken forensic engineering to a jigsaw puzzle where you collect various pieces from on-site inspections, interviews with various parties, weather research, review of building codes and plans, engineering calculations, etc. You may never get all 100 pieces of the puzzle, but if you can collect 90 pieces, you can be pretty confident in what the picture looks like.
Increasingly, I provide expert witness services in litigated matters involving property damage or construction defects. These are sometimes newsworthy events and present their own challenges because they can involve an accident, personal injury, or millions of dollars in disputed damages. As such, there is almost always an expert on the opposing side, which is another reason why I must remain diligent in my work.
We talk about collaboration at J.S. Held - that it's in our DNA - and it's true. However, there is no more collaborative team where the stakes are higher than those of the military, where lives and freedoms are literally on the line. Everybody who comes out of the military knows how to collaborate as a team. It is truly in your DNA and not something you have to be taught once you get to a place like J.S. Held.
Resourcefulness is another attribute. In the military, you are given a task and a purpose, not fully knowing what's on the other side of the divide. You take your team, your gear, and your training, and failure is not an option. Forensic engineers often know very little at the onset of a project but are expected to figure it out along the way.
Finally, the physical and mental challenges of the military prepare you to stay cool under pressure. The nature of our work as forensic engineers and the consequences thereof often mean our deadlines are tight, and our opinions are challenged, sometimes harshly. Verbal bullets may fly during a deposition or in the courtroom, but they are of little comparison to the real thing.
I am based in Connecticut, and most of my work is located between New York City and Boston. Although I regularly travel throughout New England and New York State, I have also been assigned to work in England. The Northeast is both the oldest and most densely populated region in the country. We have the tallest skyscrapers, buildings that predate the formation of the United States, and everything in between.
Between 2022 and 2024, I served in a management role as the Northeast Regional Lead for J.S. Held's FA&E group, overseeing growth in the region and providing administrative oversight for our team of over 10 engineers and architects. At the beginning of 2025, I voluntarily stepped back from management to focus solely on being a subject matter expert. My top priority is to do that to the best of my ability and ensure that my clients have the best experience when they need an engineering consultant. That means a commitment to continued learning, thorough and honest investigations, and regular communication.
Most of my life outside of work centers around my family. My wife, Emily, is a star biomedical engineer who works on surgical robots, and I have two rambunctious boys - James, who is 12, and Jack, who is 7. We live on 13 acres, and upkeep of "the farm" can seem like a job of its own sometimes. But we love the outdoors, gardening, and raising our ever-growing flock of chickens.
To view Brandon’s professional bio and contact details, click here.
Visit the Culture & Careers page on our website to learn more about J.S. Held, including our Military Hiring Program. There, you can also find additional stories about team members from across the firm.
What truly differentiates J.S. Held is our people — world-class talent driven by a common set of core values. ...
What truly differentiates J.S. Held is our people — world-class talent driven by a common set of core values. ...
What truly differentiates J.S. Held is our people — world-class talent driven by a common set of core values. ...