Jeff Howell | Co-Founder & Director of Development

Jeff Howell grew up in Southern California just north of the Santa Monica Mountains in Westlake Village.  As an avid outdoorsman and waterman, he has always had a close connection with nature. After graduating from Westlake High School he joined the union as a decorator in the trade show industry. After four years of back breaking work, he returned to college to receive a BS in Business Administration with an emphasis on marketing from California State University, Chico.

After graduating from college, Jeff began a career with State Farm Insurance as a property claims specialist handling small to large homeowners losses. He also served on the National Catastrophe Team at State Farm which offered him the opportunity to experience many aspects of the insurance casualty market. Jeff then transitioned out of insurance and served as an estimator and salesman for construction companies in Southern California.  After 20 years of estimating losses and working for others, Jeff began the process of creating his own design and build company, now known as Tamarindo Bay Construction Group. He is focused on creating a sustainable construction company which designs superior homes that last.

With so much experience as an estimator for losses caused by fire, flood, earthquake, and wind, Jeff embarked on a product survey and study of every sustainable product in the marketplace and started to integrate the most appropriate materials in his designs. Today Jeff and his team create and build some of the strongest, most efficient homes on the market today, and they are what we like to call 'sexy'. Great natural looking homes that incorporate nature instead of separating us from it. Jeff utilizes a four prong approach to design, which includes sustainable energy, water, and waste systems which are all encompassed in his preferred building technology - Nudura Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs). Along with his goal to bring strong, long lasting and efficient buildings to communities, he wanted them to be affordable to all people.

Email | jeff@88groupllc.com

Gregory Howell | Co-Founder & Director of Creative Solutions

Storyteller, curator and creative economy consultant, Gregory made his way to Pueblo via Tokyo to join a team of innovative physicians in the launch of a network of medical clinics in Colorado and Texas. While living in Pueblo, Gregory immediately realized the powerful and yet untold story of the new creative economy in one of America's great industrial landscapes which was once dominated by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. Gregory is the owner of Kadoya Gallery and since his arrival in southern Colorado has launched the Shoe Factory, the ARTery, the Underground in the Historic Federal Building, Konverge • Center for Creativity, and Cars & Lettuce. He is a former Board Member of the Steelworks Center of the West. As a branding and marketing specialist in the arts, Gregory is preparing the launch of his new methodology called the Tray of Life to help creatives amplify the narrative of their story.

In the fall of 2016, Gregory began a 14 month sabbatical to study in more depth the history, culture and the arts of Pueblo, Colorado. He felt that if he were to invest in Pueblo for the long term, he needed to understand in greater depth and ease the layers of Pueblo's unique community fabric. When studying many of the issues confronting the community today, Gregory was struck by the 1.7% vacancy rate in Pueblo, which means that whether you are homeless or even wealthy, there is not enough housing inventory to sustain stable and thoughtful economic growth. This was the start of Pueblo Sustainable Solutions L3C and the partnership with his brother Jeff, who has for the past 15 years been actively engaged in sustainable development in Costa Rica. Now Pueblo Sustainable Solutions L3C joins forces with the 88 Group LLC to make change happen in real time.

Email | gregory@88groupllc.com