A change of mind
Alice planned on joining the Royal Engineers, but the ELS programme changed her mind. “It challenged me to think about my skills and encouraged me to come up with a 10-year career plan. I remember thinking, maybe the Army isn’t for me.” She used her funding to do work experience at the Geotechnical Engineering Office in Hong Kong. The ELS also helped her build a professional network through the Academy’s Sainsbury Management Fellows.
Business leader
Alice forged a career in business consultancy before joining an engineering graduate scheme. “I was a couple of years older than the other graduates and at the time it felt hard, but in the long term, having business knowledge has given me a much wider skillset,” she says. Alice specialised in water and wastewater engineering, working on sites across the UK, before an opportunity to relocate to New Zealand arose, allowing her to work in hydropower, three waters and transportation.
I sit in an engineering leadership position now, so the award has done what it was supposed to!
Trained up
She was AECOM project manager on the Auckland rail electrification project. “That work encapsulates why I wanted to be an engineer. Every day I see trains running on the system and I think to myself, I played a part in making that happen. It’s pretty special,” she says.
Alice spent 16 years at AECOM. “I had amazing opportunities – I didn’t need to move from company to company,” she says. But when she was offered the chance to run Coffey’s New Zealand business, she couldn’t resist. “I thought it was an incredible opportunity to bring all my different skillsets that I had learnt over 18 years together,” she says.
Interested in participating in the Engineering Leaders Scholarship?
Visit the programme pages to find out more about how it could benefit you and your career.