Learning Agility

SCUBA diving in Grand Cayman with my husband

James Bay concert in Nashville at UMC2019

Hi, I am Katie Richardson and I am the Waukesha Office Director and an associate and with Greeley and Hansen. I live in Downtown Chicago and I love to SCUBA dive and listen to live music. Professionally, I have mostly worked as a consulting engineer in the water industry with some research experience with the Madison Water Utility during my time at the University of Wisconsin.  I have done everything from rate studies, preparing detailed design drawings and specifications for facilities and conveyance systems to serving as field technician to supervise construction progress.

I came to the water industry through a more unusual path. As a kid, I was always interested in water adjacent things and even put together a water filter bed with a backwash pump for my sixth grade science fair!  As I continued through high school, I continued to enjoy my science classes but had some trouble from a not entirely encouraging math teacher.  I let this get in my head and ended up pursuing a different path my first time in college. Originally, I studied communications at the University of Minnesota and earned my BA in Communication Studies. After graduation, I was struggling to find a career path that was both challenging and rewarding.  I cycled through a lot of options including selling real estate and helping a friend start-up a small business.  I eventually ended up traveling the country for an engineering firm acting as a liaison between their data collection team and the facilities where they were collecting data. After that 6-month position ended, they asked if I would stay on to help inspect a couple water infrastructure projects.  After another six months of this exposure to the industry, I decided to go back to school and get a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. When I decided to return to school for engineering, a wise engineer told me that the key to enjoying this field and being successful was to hone my learning agility.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that learning agility was probably the thing that would help me the most in life.  Through all the twists and turns to get to my engineering career, I was always open to the opportunities in front of me and continued to look for lessons in everything I was doing. As my career as a professional engineer has progressed, I have found that learning throughout the journey has helped secure my niche in the industry.  Upon reflection I can say it’s essential to learning from those around you and to continuously seek out opportunities to be challenged and to listen. My current role provides an everyday opportunity to learn from those around me! Some of the time it is learning how to do something and other times it is learning how not to do things. My experience in a number of different industries and jobs, where maybe I wasn’t the most experienced, has helped when I am frequently the only woman, or the least experienced person in the room. The confidence I have built by challenging myself through uncertain opportunities and making my way through the result whether it be positive or negative, helps me navigate the unknown. 

Building a network of resources from a variety of backgrounds and experiences helps me maintain confidence that I can get help and stay current in the industry. By being actively involved in giving back to the industry through volunteering for professional societies, supporting and conducting continuous learning opportunities where I can contribute and have the ability to bring the best thinking in the industry back to the communities I serve have all stemmed from my constant learning agility. Case in point, joining groups like Womxn in Water.  I strive to make new connections so that I can continue to find new perspectives that can help shape the way I develop, evaluate and provide solutions to the communities I serve.

Katie with her Waukesha Water Utility client at ACE2018

This ingrained confidence has helped currently as I am one of the only female office directors in my firm and also managing one of our largest Programs.  As a young female engineer, I am very happy to be supported by our client and my firm and given the opportunity to deliver in both of these roles. The complexity of the historical water program that I am managing is extensive and I am honored and excited to be involved. We are delivering a new water system for a community of 70,000 that includes three pumping stations, two ground reservoirs, a water tower and over 36 miles of pipe through 7 different communities in two different counties and coordinating with multiple state and federal agencies. It is so meaningful to me to work with WWU to bring Lake Michigan water to all the residents of Waukesha – it’s why I wanted to become an engineer in the first place. My role as Program Manager is centered on organization, communication and understanding the technical engineering needs to provide an efficient and effective new water supply and return flow system. I focus on coordinating all aspects of the Program schedule, design and permitting including the day to day activities like meetings, workshops and deliverables. The key is to facilitate clear and timely communication between stakeholders, including the staff at the Waukesha Water Utility, the Program team, the regulators, and other communities with a lot of help from our dedicated Program team both at my firm and our subconsultants.

These days, one can imagine that the already challenging task of coordination between team members and keeping the Program moving forward has been exacerbated.  My team has risen to the occasion though, the resiliency and agility that our client partners, team members and the agencies we work with have been overwhelming.  We have managed as a group to keep all aspects of the design, permitting and bidding moving forward practically with no discernible difference. Part of this has come from getting support from professional societies like AWWA or connections with relationships that have been built over the years through participation in those groups. Having the confidence in myself and by ability to be agile has helped me through this project and many others. I truly value my ability to recognize quickly that there is a new path and being flexible and adept enough to take it.