Travel connected Lucia Vernon to a thriving career in project controls and claim management and while learning a second language can be challenging, it has set her apart from her contemporaries. 

Meet Lucia Vernon, a Regional Director in Doha, Qatar.  Lucia has worked for Quantum Global Solutions for nearly 10 years.  She has achieved five promotions since her initial role as a junior planner.  Lucia describes the reason for her success as having a foundation in project control and forensic planning and volunteering when opportunities present themselves.  So, it is not surprising that Lucia is the 2022 recipient of AACE’s Outstanding Woman in Project Controls award.

She started her career with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, followed by a Master of Economics and Management in Building Industry.  Lucia continues to advance her studies and is currently pursuing a Master of Law at Robert Gordon University.

We had the pleasure of interviewing her recently, and here is what she had to say:

Q:  What do you enjoy most about working at Quantum Global Solutions?

The friendly working environment coming from the trust between management and staff. There are countless opportunities to work on different global projects.  For worldwide projects, each project is very interesting and located in a different part of the world from Saudi Arabia to Australia.  Qatar is a small country, but very rich in interesting projects. These include skyscrapers, modern infrastructure projects, such as the Doha metro, to the eight amazing iconic stadia constructed for the currently ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022.  Largely, the different types of work, quantity of projects, and the support that management gave allowed me the opportunity to rapidly gain wide and varied experience.

Q:  How did you get into the field of project controls?  

My entry into the profession was pure accident for me.  I was selected based on my ability to speak English to work for a Slovak engineering company. I was able to provide a bridge between international clients,  expatriate colleagues, and the Slovak team. This taught me a lot about communication with different nationalities and the different processes in international companies.  It was working with such an international team that introduced me to the project controls and planning field.

Q:  Why did you get into forensic planning?

I started as a project controls engineer in Slovakia.  My colleagues at the time were expatriates from around the world who suggested that I should look for a job outside of Slovakia to explore the world. Their encouragement opened my eyes and showed me the larger picture of the construction world.

However, it was not a trouble-free path.  I tried many times for opportunities on the construction side outside of Slovakia.  In the Middle East and Panama, a mindset of “what to do with a woman” was an obstacle. But after trying many times, I received an offer to work in South Africa which I accepted. That was the first time that I heard about AACE International and forensic planning from the delay expert who I was working for. After this, I spent one and a half years supporting the team working on an arbitration case in Paris. I then decided that I needed more experience from different projects and different types of delay analysis and, luckily, I received the offer to move to Qatar from Quantum Global Solutions.

Q:  Can you share with us more about your career progression? 

Sure.  As a junior planner, I achieved success through my ability to operate software and understand planning, and my engineering background challenged me to understand how construction works.  In this position, I was given the opportunity to see many different projects and styles of managing them. Also, I got the opportunity to meet many different people around the world. Within a short timeframe, my English improved, leading me to achieving a senior forensic planning consultant position and working as an independent consultant producing delay analyses.

In the senior forensic planning consultant position, I volunteered when opportunities presented themselves and my network grew within AACE International.  This resulted in indirect marketing for myself, helped me to gain confidence in public speaking and in parallel Quantum promoted me to an associate director position. Later on, I was tasked with building our planning team, interviewing new professionals, improving our internal operational systems which led to my next position as a forensic planning director. This further involved me undertaking marketing and business development activities. Once again, it was a natural fit with 50 percent of my job being delay analysis and 50 percent talking with clients (marketing).  Our unique way of carrying out delay analysis of the critical issues on projects brought us many repeat clients satisfied with our work and that is what makes me feel passion for my work.

After that, I was promoted to county director for Qatar and subsequently, a promotion came naturally to serve as regional director for many international clients.  In the last nine years, there has been an increase and growth in women’s presence on construction projects which is very beneficial for the industry. 

Q:  What motivates you to keep going?

I find most satisfaction when improving project success and being integral in project completion.  Delay analysis is like going to a hospital, trying to recover without going to dispute. Helping projects that need a little bit more money and time to succeed and the ability to see the successful results of my work are still the main drivers and passion for my work.

Q: AACE’s Women in Project Committee promotes awareness of unconscious bias.  What have you experienced?

Yes, this has happened before, but recently I do not feel any difference. There have been a few situations when men would prefer to speak to my male colleagues (junior level) first rather than to me. Sometimes people still wonder about my experience based on my younger appearance, however this soon disappears when we start discussing the real problems on the project.

Q:  Do you currently have a mentoring relationship?

Yes, Quantum Global Solutions provides internal mentorship support.  There are three main benefits to this, (1) review of the career path, (2) setting annual goals, (3) in person meetups between mentor and mentee.  It keeps employees, mentors and mentees engaged.

Q:   What did your friends, family and colleagues think when you told them you would make that move internationally?
Nobody believed me!  I started my international journey while in college.  The university offered a work-travel program with a university grant to accept work within the European Union.  The compensation covered travel cost and living accommodation.  My application was processed by e-mail and I was selected to work on the island of Malta.  Malta is a small island below Italy and Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.  At the time, my professor in Slovakia was surprised by the opportunity.  Malta is famous for being English speaking, and my host family helped me with English as well.  I was quickly engaged in construction since I was working for an architect that designed 5-star hotels in Malta.  I very much enjoyed the weekends on the beach, and it also felt like a summer holiday to me.

Following my first professional overseas job, my former employer and friends initially asked when I would return from my South African holiday.  To this day, they continue to ask me when I will return from my 10-year holiday. 😊