Lucy Maddin-Uden | Keltbray Group
As Group Strategic Project Manager at Keltbray, Lucy is responsible for delivering & implementing strategy for group-wide projects, ensuring joined-up thinking and a tactical approach to major opportunities.
Currently focusing on Heathrow Expansion, with a remint to assist, challenge & advise Board Directors in strategic & tactical thought processes.
Lucy has worked at Keltbray Group for over 5 years, beginning her career in the construction industry as Group Business Development Manager. Following 2 successful years in this role, Lucy saw an opportunity to thrive in a position that spoke to a direct business need. This new role was & is the first of its kind at Keltbray & provides a singular strategic approach across 20+ business units, offering cohesive & integrated delivery, right from inception.
Lucy has a 10 year background in Event & Hospitality Management working for clients including Google & Samsung.
Elisabeth Pywell | CBRE
Following a stroke at the age of 19 whilst undertaking her undergraduate degree and inspired by her Great Great Aunt Alice Hawkins (a leading suffragette among the boot and shoe machinists of Leicester) Beth has dedicated herself to living life to the fullest and ensuring equal opportunities for all within Planning and the wider property sector.
After the completion of her undergraduate and master’s degrees Beth started at CBRE in September 2017, where she has since become a Chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and been promoted to Planner.
As a Chartered Town Planner Beth has been involved in a number of large-scale planning applications, including the High-Speed Interchange Rail Station at Solihull and is also the Planning client lead for one of the largest operators of restaurants, pubs and bar chains in the UK.
Within CBRE Beth also sits on the Junior Board and is the regional chair of the CBRE Birmingham Women’s Network, through which she has organised multiple successful events including a number of charity collaborations with Suited for Success, career engagement events and female-focused panel discussions. Beth is also a Committee Member of the West Midlands Branch of Women in Planning, an organisation dedicated to championing gender equality in the planning and wider property industry. Through which she has co-organised multiple events and chaired a seminar event for over 70 attendees.
Alongside her work within the Property sector Beth is an Ambassador for the Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospital, with a specific focus on raising funds for their Woodland House appeal (a purpose built baby-loss bereavement centre), and a co-chair of a women in business roundtable discussion group called eight@8, who gather monthly to discuss topical cross-industry subjects and develop relevant skills through peer to peer learning.
In her personal life Beth is an enthusiastic Cellist, amateur runner and has just started tap dancing.
Simona Stanynaite | Transport for London
My career started during University years when, due to parent’s financial struggles, I had to juggle full time studies and work on a 32h/week minimum work contract.
Due to my persistence, resilience and time management, I’ve successfully graduated with a 2:1 BA degree in Politics with International Relations. Even when working during university years, I have always sought and have been awarded leadership positions – be it performing the role of a front of house leader on duty at Pret A Manger or training to become a manager at busiest Caffe Nero in the area.
After working briefly in the localisation industry, I have applied to and been successful in joining extremely competitive TfL’s Project Management graduate scheme. Whilst on the programme, I have worked on diverse portfolio of projects including the £1bn Silvertown Tunnel, Central Line Improvements Programme (CLIP), property management and retail projects. Leading teams as a young female graduate has been challenging due to preconceptions that exist around younger people but my drive and persistence proved to be working and brought the results despite my non-technical background. I have been recognized as an Emerging Leader within the company and rolled off to a Project Manager role.
After rolling-off, I have been leading a portfolio of retail construction projects across in London zones 1-2. The projects aim to identify and create new commercial space within underground stations in order to increase non-fare revenue for the company. Managing retail construction projects in an operational railway environment safely and without disruption to the customers is a challenging, however, extremely rewarding work as it helps improve customer experience within stations and allow TfL to be a self-sufficient organisation.
During my career, I have quickly realized that for TfL to be successful and self-sufficient, it is not enough to deliver projects successfully myself. It is crucial to enable my colleagues to be able to do the same by changing the way we work. For this reason, I have volunteered in multiple departmental initiatives and projects to improve the way projects are managed within my Renewals & Enhancements (R&E) directorate whilst still managing retail projects. I have become a leader for R&E 2020 ‘Scope’ workstream where I worked on improving the way we scope our projects as well as has been selected to lead on ‘Optimum Delivery Model’ project aimed at identifying evidence based delivery model(s) best suited for the construction projects R&E delivers.
Being extremely passionate about improving the way we work, I have recently been selected to set up and run a new portfolio of change projects as ‘R&E 2021’ full time alongside Senior Project Manager. This includes working with Heads of Delivery in identifying the issues present in the directorate that need addressing, designing improvement actions and implementing them.
I believe that there is still much to improve in the way construction projects are delivered within R&E, TFL and the industry as a whole. I feel excited about the prospects of leading this much-needed change.
Amie McCabe | AHR Architects
I am a Senior Project Architect with over 5 years post qualification experience, leading multidisciplinary teams to deliver multi million-pound projects across the UK.
My first job as a qualified Architect was the remodelling and refurbishment of the impressive Grade II* Listed City Hall building for Bristol City Council which ignited a passion for refurbishments and sustainability for me, and particularly the reuse and rejuvenation of existing buildings and brownfield sites, to which I relish the challenge that working with existing buildings brings.
Developing a career in the construction industry was never a consideration to me at a young age. This wasn't due to lack of interest but instead due to limited knowledge and awareness about this sector and the potential there was to have a successful career in it, especially as a woman. I instead began my journey as a Biologist due to my passion for science and the environment. It wasn't until I was at University and the science block was located next to the Architecture and Engineering block that I discovered where I really wanted to head in life. I swiftly transferred onto a course to study Architecture and Planning and haven’t looked back since.
Whilst at university I stood as the President of the Architecture society and with the team organised a regular lecture series, social events in the UK and abroad, as well as providing a platform for discussions and debate to take place for all built environment students within the University. In 2014 I graduated with a distinction in PG Certificate Professional Practice and Management in Architecture which enabled me to qualify and register as an Architect.
I am actively involved within my company and have taken on the following additional
roles within my workplace: mentor, CPD coordinator and I have established a group called The People Group which is looking at how the company can be further improved to offer better support and guidance to all staff members, including all aspects of career progression, health, wellbeing, diversity and community, environmental and social responsibilities. The group provides a platform for staff members to be heard and in turn make a different to their workplace.
Outside of the workplace I am an ambassador seeking to increase diversity within this industry by working as an Architectural mentor and Associate Lecturer for the University of the West of England, STEM ambassador and also a Committee member for Women in Property South West. Within Women in Property, I sit on the Outreach subcommittee, where we organise and attend networking events, CV workshops, site visits and mock interviews for local school children. I also sit on the PR and social media subcommittee which allows me to network with a wide range of professionals throughout the South West and beyond.
I have taken on a wide range of additional roles and responsibilities because of my love of my profession and because I so passionately want to encourage others to find their voices and be confident to venture into an industry which is still very much male dominated. I continually strive to be a positive and inspirational female role model and I constantly look for ways to achieve this.
Anuradha Damale | UKSEDS/Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security in the UK/VERTIC/British Pugwash
Anuradha Damale, or Anu, is the UK Director of Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security, an organisation set up by US Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins to advance the leadership and professional development of women of colour in the fields of international peace, security, and conflict transformation, so that they can champion minority perspectives to solve global issues.
Anu is part of the Verification and Monitoring Team at VERTIC, working on solving arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation issues using science, technology and policy. She is working towards a career in Space Policy. Anu is also currently chair of UKSEDS, the UK's national space charity, and board member for British Pugwash. Anu has an educational background in Physics and Science and Technology Policy. At the centre of most of her work have been the causes of inclusion and diversity, with the belief that in order to form sustainable and innovative technology or policy, inclusion is necessary.
Fatima Zaman | Kofi Annan Foundation
Fatima Zaman is currently an Advocate at the Kofi Annan Foundation, working on building peace, security and overcoming extreme violence in conflict.
Her work involved advising the 7th Secretary General of the United Nations and working with key stakeholders to enhance and uphold human rights. She has extensive knowledge and experience of working in this field at the local and international level. Ms. Zaman is also a member of the Inaugural Class of Obama Scholars, selected by President and Mrs Obama to receive a prestigious, one-of-a-kind leadership scholarship from the Obama Foundation. She was also named as the Chairman's Asian Woman of Achievement, with judges commending her for her internationally groundbreaking work on bringing improvements to peace, security and countering violent extremism in conflict countries. In the laudatio, judges earmarked her as a future Nobel Prize winner.
Krystina Pearson-Rampeearee | BAE Systems
My career began as a Technical Design Engineer at MGR Foamtex in Oxfordshire.
This role entailed the design, development, certification and manufacture of first and business class aircraft interior upholstery systems. I spent 2.5 years there in my first Engineering role after completing a Masters degree in Aerospace Systems Engineering at the University of the West of England.
I was then offered a role at BAE Systems in 2014 as a Flight Systems Engineer for various existing platforms. As a Flight Systems Engineer, my role involved designing, developing and supporting a range of aircraft flight systems.
I took a year of maternity leave in 2018 and following my return to work in 2019 I took on a new job role as a Flight Systems Engineer looking at a next generation future combat aircraft.
Vinita Meissner | IMI Truflo Marine
I am a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with nearly 8 years industrial experience, the last 2 of which have been in the defence industry designing valves for Naval submarines and surface ships for navies all around the world.
Having attended all girls schools from an early age, engineering was never discussed as a profession for me despite my enthusiasm for Maths and Physics. It was only thanks to a Maths teacher who was a former engineer and an opportunity to participate in the Engineering Education Scheme at age 17 which taught me that engineering wasn't the hands on, manual job I thought it was, enabling me to pursue Engineering as a career. It's become a passion of mine to educate young people about what engineering really is and act as a role model for young girls interested in science to encourage them to consider becoming engineers.
I began my career with a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering from Bristol University, however nearly all my industrial experience has been in the marine sector. I spent over 5 years working at MAATS Tech Ltd. as a Finite Element Analysis Engineer, carrying out FEA of deck equipment for huge cable laying vessels, including the NKT Victoria which went on to win Ship of the Year 2017. While there I also carried out FEA consultancy for a number of other sectors including defence for which I performed shock analyses of equipment on board military vehicles for land and sea. My other responsibilities at MAATS Tech included recruiting and training more members of the FEA team and recreating and maintaining the company website and social media accounts.
Since January 2018 I have worked at IMI Truflo Marine designing bespoke valve systems for use on nuclear and conventional submarines for both the UK and international navies. I began as a Design & Development Engineer during which time I worked closely with customers to develop products that met their technical requirements while also using value engineering to improve functionality and reduce material costs. I successfully delivered a variety of technical documentation to validate my innovative valve designs, which led directly to securing further multi-million pound contracts with multiple international customers. Within a year of working at IMI Truflo Marine, having had no previous valve experience, I was leading and training contractors and junior members of the team in producing designs and technical data. I quickly moved on to the organisation and management of a high profile, international project, the success of which has led to a recent promotion to Product Applications & Value Engineering Lead. I now manage a team of engineers and have been hand picked by the company directors to lead multiple strategic projects to accelerate global growth of IMI in 2020.
Alongside work I am a STEM Ambassador and an active member of both the Women in Engineering Society (WES) and Women in Science and Engineering (WISE). I try to participate in as much STEM outreach and diversity initiatives as I can and encourage others to do the same. I started a group of STEM volunteers at my company and have organised multiple outreach events including a Walsall Engineers project at a local primary school, an Engineering Education Scheme project with a local high school and representation of my company at the Big Bang Fair. Since I became chartered in 2019 I have been mentoring and guiding colleagues and friends in their route to chartership and have been nominated by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers as a potential short-lister for the 2020 Karen Burt Memorial Award for outstanding female engineers. I am also a key member of my company’s Women’s Equality Network as well as the Diversity and Inclusion group and I regularly organise events for International Women in Engineering Day as well as attend STEM Women careers fairs to both raise the profile of current female employees and increase further recruitment.
Pamela McNeill | HM Forces
I am probably the worst person to write a bio on myself as I am my biggest critic, but my Chain of Command has put me forward for this prestigious award, so I will do my best.
I am one of two females in my trade in the Regular British Army I believe, I have been serving for 18 years so far and have had a colourful career in that time. I have been deployed to Iraq, the Falkland Islands and various exercises in Germany and the UK. I have also been fortunate enough to receive two commendations for my service from the Army Chain of Command. Simply put, I absolutely love my job and honestly believe I have the best trade in the British Army; when others find out I am a Metalsmith they are usually in disbelief as it is a very male dominated trade. I chose my trade years ago when I was told a woman could not do the job, this only spurred me on to do it.
I am a single mother of two amazing children and they are my greatest achievement. I have been sponsoring a child in Tanzania (through Action Aid since 2010) to teach my children how lucky they are and appreciate all they have as well as helping a less fortunate soul struggling so far away. To further show them how fortunate they are, I have been a long-time supporter of the NSPCC.
With my particular skill set from my trade I am fortunate enough to be able to make metal art and often use scrap that I find in the bin to make pieces in my own time to sell for various charities. I recently made some metal poppies for my local memorial garden that a vetran has selflessly started after seeing an article about his work in my local newspaper; I am currently making a big centre piece for the garden to be unveiled later this year.
I have also recently made some pieces for the Leuchars local school and nursery to sell for play ground equipment. My daughter desperately wanted me to buy one and I begrudgingly did so, I put it on my social media about having to buy my own work and the interest was very high giving me the idea to make more and auction it off for the Accord Hospice in Paisley that provides palliative and end of life care. I want to do it to pay them back for the amazing support they gave my family last year and in memory of an amazing family member, someone who had a lot to do with the woman I am today, so in a way it is helping myself through the grieving process. Due to having such a busy life being a single mother serving in the Army I do this in my spare time which is few and far between.
I donate my hair to the Little Princess Charity Trust; my five year old daughter came with me on one occasion and decided she wanted to donate her hair as well. She grew her hair until it was long enough to donate, seeing her bursting with pride in herself when getting her hair cut to donate almost had me in tears. Her school awarded her a certificate at assembly for her selfless act and she came out of school with the biggest smile that day. I regularly donate blood and am on the DKMS bone marrow transplant list.
At my last Unit I helped run a mental health support group that one of my fellow peers set up to help support fellow struggling soldiers with their mental health and to ease the strain on the mental health services. The group has now grown in strength to support more soldiers within that Unit. Myself and two others at 2 CS Bn REME are now in the process of starting a similar group supported by the Battalion Welfare Team here in Scotland backed by the Chain of Command who are concerned for the welfare of our soldiers. This is a work in progress at the moment, though something that there is a need for and the motivation to get up an running.
Most recently, I was selected to be an inspirational speaker at an Army Service Women’s Network gathering, though unfortunately due to Coronavirus, this has been postponed.
There is more I could put, but to be honest this is very uncomfortable for me to write, I try to be the best I can be, be an inspiration to my children and those around me in every day life.
Chrisma Jain | Transport for London
Chrisma’s parents originally wanted their only daughter to become a pharmacist or to work in their shop but she had other ideas…
She wanted to become an engineer. She gained a 1st Class Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering, is a Chartered Engineer, Member of the IMechE and has worked within the Transport industry since 2004
Senior Project Manager at Transport for London and is jointly responsible for renewing the track and drainage infrastructure across all of London Underground’s tube network. She has recently led the smooth mobilisation of the new £220 million track partnership with Balfour Beatty, mobilising the teams into the new contract in just 6 weeks.
Chrisma has consistently supported her colleagues in making TfL a better place to work. She is the Chair of the Females in Transport Engineering (FiTE), a support network group that supports 300 women in their career progression in Transport Engineering. She also founded and championed a Sustainability working group at TfL that aims to give back to the community and reduce waste.
Outside of work, Chrisma is passionate about promoting the next generation in the Transport industry and has sat on various committee and board roles including as:
• Women Engineering Society (WES) Council Member
• WES Events secretary who supports events across the UK
• WES London Cluster Committee where she has led on some of its social media channels (Instagram) and created videos on YouTube to generate the interest of the younger generation towards engineering.
• Thames College Employer Advisory Board where she supports young people/helps nurture young engineers in the engineering sector and provides strategic advice on the future design of their curriculum
• IMechE Committee member and social media officer, where she has successfully tripled the IMechE’s Twitter following as well as providing tutorials to enable other committee members to be effective on Twitter.