Hometown/home base: Born in Bangalore, India; currently resides in Houston, TX.
Years at Weston: 14
Course of study and unique credentials: BE in Environmental Engineering from India; MS in Environmental Engineering, MS in Civil Engineering; and MS in Geographic Information Systems from University of Southern, CA (USC).
“I was involved in several unique STEM projects in India, mostly water resources, that captured my interest and gave me the nudge to get higher education and move to the U.S.”
On his meaningful work at Weston and employee-ownership: As National Practice Lead (Controls and Estimating), “I’m one of a few people that works with all service lines across the board. In my role, I work with field teams, construction teams, project managers, program managers, and sales teams. I provide support such as overseeing bid development, bid negotiation, project optimization and integration of complex teams, and I lead financial discussions as well as complex procurement, negotiations, and business opportunities.”
“It brings me great happiness to know and see every day that the business Weston does—like disaster response and recovery, remediation—impacts society positively.”
“Being an employee owner is almost like owning your own business. You wield direct influence on the company’s success. I value and respect that responsibility and take it very seriously.”
Proudest recent achievements at Weston: “In late 2019, I was asked to lead both the controls group and the estimating group. With the help of amazing peer colleagues, I was able to bring the Controls group together and develop synergies between estimating and controls and drive several small but important projects with direct impacts on how we do business company-wide.”
“I was proud and excited to be included in the Weston Developing Leaders Council in 2020 alongside a very talented and diverse group of individuals. We worked as a team to solve and improve identified focus areas at our firm. The process was exhilarating and satisfying. I am thankful to my executive managers for this unique opportunity to develop as a leader.”
Advice for staying sharp/ developing leadership skills:
- Interact with peers on various platforms beyond Weston (LinkedIn, industry groups).
- Always look to support unique opportunities. Raise your hand to contribute when others don’t.
- Seek out reputable talks (ex: TED Talks): helps develop social intelligence and different perspectives.
- Stay in touch with yourself by making time for activities you enjoy. “I love hiking and camping and try to get that in as much as possible. I crave personal time for introspection, which actually enhances my professional life.”
- Don’t settle for good enough. “I always ask myself: how can I do this better? Can this be done more efficiently? The answer either validates the approach or generates a new thought process.”
Insights on encountering bias: “Most biases that I have come across are unconscious. It comes from a place of not knowing. Throughout my life, I’ve learned that it is less about how someone else treats you, but how you look at yourself. As I developed into a leader, I realized that I need to be quick to call out bias should I ever witness it because there are others that look up to me. Various forms of bias would not impact me personally. I know what I am.”
Final thoughts: “I come from a land of a billion people and there were so many differences among individuals one would encounter daily; the concept of diversity is natural to me. Inclusion issues and, especially, gender equality, are important, rich topics, and the ongoing dialogue makes me feel excited for the future. I believe it’s all about looking ahead.”