March 29th 2022

Meet ICL Projects Manager: Rowena

Meet ICL Projects Manager: Rowena

Ever wondered what it might be like to work for the IES team? Today we introduce you to our ICL Projects Manager, Rowena, who is based in India, to share her experience of working with IES to date.

I first joined IES in 2011 as a Project Consultant, working on green building projects. I still remember my first day for multiple reasons: it was my first solo trip, first international trip (travelling to Abu Dhabi for a project) and last, and most importantly, it was my first day in the office in a new and strange country (oh the butterflies!)

The Abu Dhabi Financial Centre (ADFC) became my first project and kick started my journey as an IES employee. In my initial years, I was kept busy shuffling between India and Abu Dhabi, as I project managed this 6 million sq. ft. LEED Gold and a Pearl 1 Estidama certified project. Many, many trips and projects later, here I am, still enjoying my work at IES. 

As the work settled into a routine, I joined the US Sustainability team. The experience that I gained from working on a whole range of US based LEED projects has been unparalleled and has held me in good stead to date. 

Over the last few years, my role has evolved as the company has scaled its technology up from the individual building level of the Virtual Environment (VE) to support the decarbonisation of entire groups of buildings, cities and networks, with our more recently launched suite of digital twin tools – the Intelligent Communities Lifecycle (ICL). I have been involved in the development and testing of many of our ICL products, and our tools have come a long way. 

Today, in my current role as an ICL Projects Manager, I get to oversee the execution of these tools in live projects, which gives me an immense sense of satisfaction. I also get to interact with clients, conduct workshops with them, assist them throughout their projects and be there when we hand over the projects to them.  

I have been truly fortunate in IES to have worked with so many different teams within the UK, US, India and Singapore, and an array of projects across so many regions and continents. 

My role in IES has always been of a dynamic nature and it has given me the independence to learn and grow in my job. 

One of the things that I have absolutely loved about this job is the flexibility and the multi-cultural work space. Due to this open work culture, I have been able to give time to both my personal and professional growth. 

I have met the most wonderful people in IES, many of whom are friends now rather than colleagues. 

During my many work travels, I have had the honour of meeting and sharing quite a few meals with our CEO & Founder, Don McLean, whose vision for our technology and the decarbonisation of the built environment is inspiring. Having the opportunity to meet colleagues from all over the world is part of what makes the job special, and when my family went to Glasgow for a holiday, my colleagues there went over and above to make us feel welcome, taking us around and showing us the beauty of Scotland. It was a memorable trip. 

Over the years I have reported to many people and I have learnt a lot from all of them. During my deployment to the US office, I worked closely with Mark Knipfer, Vice President of our South Atlantic Consultancy Division and his team, and it was really fabulous to see how professional and knowledgeable they were about green building and LEED certification. It’s also great to have a line manager that cares about your growth and career, and I have been very fortunate with my own line manager, Ahmed (Technical Manager - Asia), who has helped me to explore my potential over the last few years and has had a fabulous vision for my career path. Last but not least, the person who has had a very strong influence in my IES journey is Rohan Rawte (Director of Asia & Middle East) whose encouragement and support has been unwavering from the day I joined. 

From working as a Project Manager on green building certification projects, to supporting software sales, and ultimately reaching where I am today in ICL projects consultancy, I have worn many hats in IES and enjoyed every bit of it. It has made me the person I am today. 

Such has been the range of work that I do that often young professionals in our industry ask me how they can aspire to do the same. My only response is “Join IES!” and hopefully you will be as lucky as I have been. 

Interested in joining our team? Head over to our careers page where you can check out all our latest vacancies, or send a speculative CV to careers@iesve.com