|
Most recently, however, her attention has been focused on the Rail Runner Commuter System, communicating with clients and working behind the scenes to educate the public on using the system. Marketing in Jennifer’s world is different than what most people understand marketing to be. Her clients are government entities and those who run them. She works with mayors, city managers, and city councils, offering civil engineering ideas and building working relationships with them. Then, she and her staff write proposals and prepare graphics in order to compete for a project contract. She says competition in New Mexico is “heavy,” with approximately 12 firms in Albuquerque vying for jobs sought by HDR. A few are local firms; some, like HDR, go beyond the nation’s borders. A company must show that it has experience and success when it offers a proposal to complete a project, and Jennifer’s challenge is to show that HDR is unique among the other firms in town. “HDR’s key difference,” she says, “is the quality of customer service we offer. We go above and beyond the call of duty to get done what the client wants done.” After winning a proposal, Jennifer goes directly to the clients to strategize how to present the firm’s ideas to community members. Accompanied by one of HDR’s engineers, Jennifer often facilitates community meetings where aerial maps are shown and design options are explained. She asks her clients what they want, and together they troubleshoot potential problems, like traffic flows and impacts on business. One project in its early stages is Main Street Revitalization in the town of Bernalillo, a venture directly tied to the Rail Runner. The community wants to renew the Main Street business area to include wider sidewalks, landscaping, lights, and benches, creating a hometown appeal for residents and visitors using the Rail Runner Commuter System. The Rail Runner, which already runs from Bernalillo to Downtown Albuquerque, recently expanded to Los Lunas, and eventually will extend up to Santa Fe. Jennifer agrees with a colleagues’ assessment that New Mexico is experiencing a “renaissance” period in public transportation, with the construction of the Rail Runner and the prospect of a Modern Streetcar System in Albuquerque . She certainly sees these projects as a way for residents to enjoy more free time as they relax and ride as a means of saving money on gas and car maintenance. Benefits for tourists are equally significant. She sees the streetcar system as a great solution for revitalizing portions of Albuquerque and promoting economic growth. Because Central Avenue can’t be widened any further to accommodate higher volumes of traffic, a fixed rail system with regular stops would provide an easy and inexpensive transportation alternative for commuters to the Downtown area, plus increase income opportunities for the established businesses along the routes, she says. Another part of her message: The economic benefits from the streetcar system greatly outweigh the projected cost of $28 million a mile—a cost that includes design, construction, streetcars and the stops. The potential economic development gains, she says, could reach into the billions (yes, that’s with a “b”) as businesses along the route benefit from renewed customer interest in the area. And the target market for this enterprise is broad. Jennifer expects ridership to include the business class in the Downtown area, college students, staff and faculty, plus those who work at the large, local hospitals along the route. Once approved, she estimates the electric-powered streetcar system may be running in three years. At HDR, another of Jennifer’s duties is training. She trains her own staff in the skill dis- ciplines of client services, marketing, project management, time management, and people skills. Her teaching philosophy is “teaching through lessons learned,” and she believes that relating her own professional experiences “opens people’s eyes,” helping them to avoid mistakes and missteps she’s encountered. Herself the one-time student “who never wanted to stand up and talk in front of a class,” Jennifer finds it amusing that she now teaches classes, gives presentations to city councils, and facilitates community development meetings. Jennifer moved to Albuquerque in 1994 after earning a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Marketing from West Virginia Wesleyan College. She worked with two other civil engineering firms in Albuquerque before landing at HDR. Her choice of the project she’s most proud of from those years illustrates that helping people is high on her list of what constitutes a successful venture. Her favorite by far, she says, is the nine-year, $14 million project that brought clean water to Zuni Pueblo for the first time. As a grant writer with a previous firm, Jennifer helped bring in the state and federal money that funded the Zuni Water Project, completed in 2004. Before, water was not safe to drink, could not be used for cooking, and created intractable rust stains that damaged appliances. Jennifer says the best thing about her job is driving by and seeing the projects she’s been involved in, knowing that she’s made a difference in the community. That enthusiasm for helping people is also evident in her personal life. In 2004, her father was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gherig’s disease, a condition that causes deterioration of the muscles and nerves, creating pain and paralysis, and, eventually, loss of the ability to breathe. Jennifer hopes to help others coping with the disease by sharing what she learned in the two years caring for her father before his death last June. While her father was ailing, Jennifer says she learned that HDR truly was the familyoriented company it claimed to be. She was allowed time off to care for her father, and fellow workers brought dinners over to the family home. “It was nice to know that everyone was there for you when you really needed it,” she says. Jennifer honored her father’s wish to celebrate his life with a party rather than a funeral, and she finds it particularly touching that her mentor and boss from Phoenix took personal time to attend that celebration. These acts of compassion seem to be contagious among Jennifer and those around her. Brooke, who has a B.S. in civil engineering, obtained her Professional Engineer License in April. She finds hydrology and hydraulics the most interesting area within civil engineering and designed the drainage systems for the Rail Runner stops. She is also the lead engineer for the drainage system on the pending streetcar system. In addition to her duties at HDR, she is pursuing an MBA at UNM, and she has a 15-month-old daughter. She balances work, school, and family by maintaining a 20-hour workweek at HDR, remaining available by phone or email to answer questions from her colleagues. Amy has been a project manager in roadway design at HDR since April 2005. She has a B.S. in civil engineering. Working about 25 hours a week so she can also care for her 8-month-old son, she examines the horizontal and vertical alignment of roadways and coordinates with those involved in drainage and structural design. Amy was active in the Washington/I-40 Overpass design in Albuquerque. Construction on that project has yet to begin, but she is very excited about her next project: a study on the 1-25 corridor from the Big I to Isleta Boulevard. Amy will be collecting information from residents, commuters, schools, government agencies, and others to see how the corridor needs to be improved. That information will be critical in offering design options for any proposed construction projects. Each of these women says an interest in math at a young age drew them to the civil engineering field, a place where they could use their hard-won, refined mathematical talents in a meaningful career. Both of Kelly’s parents were engineers, she says, so she was able to watch her mother work on environmental engineering projects for the U.S. Forest Service. Here in New Mexico, she finds it fulfilling to be able to help solve problems for people by generating the funds for a project, finding the right engineer, and building relationships with the community. Sounds a lot like her colleague and mentor, Jennifer Marinek, a business executive who welcomes community involvement in every project, genuinely interested in making life better for every New Mexican. HDR, Inc. |
Far from the Type A, power-suit icons of today’s world of businesswomen, Jennifer exudes a cheerful, friendly, warm personality. But make no mistake, she is a hardworking, dedicated professional, juggling all at once several projects worth upwards of $10 million. A “good week,” she says, “is a 50- to 60-hour week,” and many weeks she works more hours than that. Recently, she’s been traveling HDR’s Southwest region in order to lay the groundwork for more projects—and even more responsibilities - for the future.
Her most important function at HDR, Inc., however, is to find work for HDR’s fellow women engineers. “I would not be able to do my work without them,” she says of Brooke Marshall Garcia, Amy Quartell, and Kelly Silliman. And the admiration is mutual. The three engineers say Jennifer is warm, personable, encouraging, and “easy to be around.”
A collaborative attitude spills into her local work at HDR, as Jennifer and fellow civil engineers Brooke, Amy, and Kelly balance home, children, and the challenges of a demanding career. Often, they coordinate their work via phone and email, getting their New Mexico projects accomplished. Like Jennifer, they have impressive credentials and full lives at home.
Kelly earned her M.S. in civil engineering from New Mexico State University. She’s been with HDR 18 months and is a Structural Engineer in Training. She prepared the structural design for the Washington/I-40 overpass twice--once with concrete and once with steel. Because the price of concrete has dropped in the last year, the project will be completed with her concrete design. Currently she is working on a bridge extension for an HDR branch in Ogden, Utah.
Lisa Ragsdale lives in Albuquerque with her husband, Tim, and their four children. She teaches English at Central New Mexico Community College.