APM celebrates International Women's Day

To celebrate International Women’s Day today, APM is promoting influential women project managers who have made their mark on the profession. 

A good example is Sarah De Boer, named APM Young Project Professional of the Year in last year’s awards. 

Sarah, who is a well operations engineer for Centrica Energy, stood out from the other finalists for her impressive project results and go getting attitude. 

She was responsible for a complex overhaul of a North Sea oil well some 300km east of Aberdeen. Leading a team of 40 people, Sarah took on the task of removing the scale and getting the well running again. 

The project was a great success, improving the well’s production and saving an estimated £1.5m on initial costs. 

Her dedication and enterprising character was praised by the APM judges. She also excelled in identifying risks, producing a strategy and allocating resources.

Sarah told Project journal: “To get so much recognition at this stage of my career is an honour and an inspiration – I really wasn’t expecting it. 

“The stakes were high, but everyone was so invested that we couldn’t do anything other than make it succeed.”

Another finalist in the Young Project Professionals category was Rebecca Scott, a project engineer for National Grid. 

Aged just 29, Rebecca’s key project was to provide a new super grid transformer connection at New Cross, London – a 14-month project with a value of £10m. 

“The project was a steep learning curve which tested both my technical engineering knowledge and project management skills,” she explained. 

The project was big success and was ultimately delivered below budget. Rebecca was praised for her “clam manner” and “eye for detail”. 

APM has a number of resources for aspiring women project managers:

• The APM Women in Project Management specific interest group (SIG) developed this video to showcase project management as an option when young women are considering a career path.
   
• "Women in project management", International Women’s Day blog from APM Cheif Executive Sara Drake.
   
• "How well are we rewarding our diverse talent?", blog from chair of the APM Women in Project Management SIG Teri Okoro.
   
• Women in project management -  inspire the future -  speak to girls about your job, career and your education route.

Visit APM careers pages to find out more about a career in project management.