{"id":16311,"date":"2024-03-07T13:21:45","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T18:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/?p=16311"},"modified":"2024-06-21T10:38:46","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T14:38:46","slug":"accelerating-our-womens-career-paths-to-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/accelerating-our-womens-career-paths-to-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Accelerating our women\u2019s career paths to leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>This year, for&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/observances\/womens-day\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color:#008768\" class=\"has-inline-color\">International Women\u2019s Day<\/span><\/a>&nbsp;on March 8, we are following the United Nations\u2019 theme of \u2018Invest in Women: Accelerate progress\u2019, which is based on the UN\u2019s 17 sustainable development goals and is in alignment with our Sustainable Legacies strategy.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Follow our&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/tags\/iwd2024\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color:#008768\" class=\"has-inline-color\">IWD 2024 blog series<\/span><\/a>&nbsp;to hear from our leaders around the world about initiatives and programs geared towards investing in women at AECOM.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Engage in this year\u2019s conversations on&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15656\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color:#008768\" class=\"has-inline-color\">LinkedIn<\/span><\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AECOM\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><span style=\"color:#008768\" class=\"has-inline-color\">X (<em>Twitter<\/em>)<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>To mark International Women\u2019s Day on March 8, it is my privilege to share the re-launch of Alliance \u2013 the Middle East &amp; Africa\u2019s (MEA) women mentorship program for our senior women employees. Each mentee will be mentored by a member of the regional leadership team over a nine-month period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal of the program is to increase the engagement and retention of women professionals across the region and better support their career development. It will also enable our mentee community to interact across AECOM\u2019s regions and end markets, broadening communication and enhancing networking opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The mentoring program, considered a professional career investment opportunity, will be fully supported by the regional leadership team, not only during the mentoring sessions, but by creating enhanced career opportunities and business visibility for the participants. Creating a dynamic space where our leaders can offer further understanding of business leadership can motivate and instill confidence to strive to that level. It also allows our leaders to learn more about our organization, our people and our culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program facilitates \u2018leader-connect\u2019, a concept where AECOM\u2019s women leaders from across the globe are invited to share their professional knowledge and experiences. Recognizing that women face different challenges and have unique needs in the workplace, this program aims to provide actionable advice on how to overcome this, especially in the engineering industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last cohort, before the program\u2019s hiatus in 2022, comprised nine women across varied business lines. For Kamiena Wong, Senior Project Manager, Buildings + Places, the program had an extremely positive impact on her career development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"436\" class=\"wp-image-16314\" style=\"width: 300px;\" src=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Kamiena.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Kamiena.jpg 780w, https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Kamiena-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Kamiena-704x1024.jpg 704w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br><strong>Kamiena Wong, Senior Project Manager, Buildings + Places<\/strong><br><br><em>\u201cIt has been a very rewarding journey to help identify my priorities and interest areas that support my career growth at AECOM. Based on my interests at work, my mentor exposed me to suitable opportunities that advanced my growth and next steps in the company. I have now started a new role that allows me to develop new skillsets that promote my future growth.\u201d<\/em><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennifer Stables, Associate Director, Civil Infrastructure, was promoted to her current role after the program\u2019s completion. She was mentored by our Middle East and Africa Regional Chief Executive Hamed Zaghw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"310\" class=\"wp-image-16316\" style=\"width: 300px;\" src=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Headshot-sept-2023-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Headshot-sept-2023-1.jpg 1762w, https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Headshot-sept-2023-1-290x300.jpg 290w, https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Headshot-sept-2023-1-991x1024.jpg 991w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br><strong>Jennifer Stables, Associate Director, Civil Infrastructure<\/strong><br><br><em>\u201cI enjoyed hearing about his experiences on his path to Regional Chief Executive and learnt more about AECOM business priorities. I really appreciated the chance to have direct, one-on-one conversations and develop a relationship with someone so senior in our organisation. Since the program finished, I&#8217;ve had some wonderful opportunities to be engaged more with the senior leadership team.\u201d<\/em><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Across the MEA region, we actively work to increase the diversity of our business by championing and investing in women\u2019s careers. The re-launch of the Alliance program cements our commitment and is a catalyst for accelerating their growth. By offering these kinds of programs, we contribute to a society that amplifies women\u2019s voices and recognizes the value of the work they do, which can only benefit our work, our communities and our planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year, for&nbsp;International Women\u2019s Day&nbsp;on March 8, we are following the United Nations\u2019 theme of \u2018Invest in Women: Accelerate progress\u2019, which is based on the UN\u2019s 17 sustainable development goals and is in alignment with our Sustainable Legacies strategy. Follow our&nbsp;IWD 2024 blog series&nbsp;to hear from our leaders around the world about initiatives and programs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":887,"featured_media":16319,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4040],"tags":[4740,5822,5789,3224,6552,6614,6551,6273],"yst_prominent_words":[5527],"class_list":["post-16311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-womens-day","tag-iwd","tag-edi","tag-equity-diversity-inclusion","tag-international-womens-day","tag-investinwomen","tag-inwed-regions","tag-iwd2024","tag-womens-history-month"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/887"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16311"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17065,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16311\/revisions\/17065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16311"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}