Life@wood blog
Meet Richard
Our remarkable people are driven individuals, motivated by their passions and beliefs to progress their personal lives, their work lives and the wider society. This time, we’re meeting a colleague from our Global Execution Centre (GEC) in India, Vimalpriya Kesavan. Vimalpriya is GEC’s Consulting Director, leading high-value engineering operations and is a truly remarkable leader.
I am Vimalpriya Kesavan and I have over two decades of experience in engineering, with 14 of those spent leading high value engineering centres (HVECs) in India. Connecting the world with the brilliant talent in India and being able to showcase the expertise and the value we bring to global projects is what drives me.
Every day I am focused on expanding the capabilities of the GEC to ensure we meet the demand we see across a multitude of sectors and deliver exceptional results for our clients. In under four years, I have grown the team ten-fold - being able to engage and attract new talent is something I am extremely proud of.
We collaborate and coordinate with Wood teams around the world and it’s always exciting when we expand into new technical areas or into new locations. One of the most recent examples is our first workshare project with Wood’s Reading office in the UK, supporting them on successfully applying leading carbon capture technology to projects.
I am incredibly passionate about leading with positive influence – something that I studied during my Doctorate in Business Management which focused specifically on leading HVECs. I believe that if you build teams with the right attitude and empower them with the right culture, the growth and development opportunities are limitless.
My work philosophy centres on reversing the traditional mindset – instead of focusing on what the company can do for me, I prioritize what I can contribute to the company. I encourage my team to adopt this proactive approach, recognizing this will always create more opportunities to grow, develop and succeed. And so that’s how we work and that’s how we identify problems more swiftly, devise solutions more effectively and operate as a more cohesive unit.
In my spare time, (which is limited these days!), I love to sketch. I think if I hadn’t become an engineer, I would have been an artist. It brings me calm and peace after a demanding day at work.
