2021 Women in Construction: Kate Simons, Director – Scheduling & Controls, Shawmut Design and Construction

What was your greatest professional achievement or most notable project in the last 12 months? One of the best parts about my role here at Shawmut is that I get to interact with all project teams across the New England Region. When everything shut down in March 2020, there was a tremendous focus on our project schedules and how to keep projects on track despite delays due to Covid-19. It was tremendously rewarding to partner with all of our project teams and develop creative solutions to help them deliver for their clients.

How have you adapted and changed in the last 12 months? I had to very quickly develop a skillset around virtual collaboration and communication. At first, this was gaining a better understanding of the available tools and technologies; but I learned shortly thereafter I had to be more deliberate in pre-planning meetings, getting people engaged and personally connecting with team members. Meetings have become a much more valuable use of time with this mindset.