Edward Archer | SMEC South Africa

Edward Archer

SMEC South Africa WINNER

Edward Archer, SMEC South Africa’s Function Manager, Roads & Highways, has 16 years’ experience in the field of urban, rural, and national roads projects. He is a professional engineer, a member of SARF and a corporate member of SAICE. He is a registered ECSA mentor; a qualified road safety auditor and team leader; and a certified ISO 9001 quality auditor.

A wise and trusted advisor and a positive role model, Edward is the epitome of a true mentor. He oversees a young, diverse and truly dynamic team of 10 members, eight of whom form part of the core team and two are secondments. Testament to Edward’s nurturing tutelage, each of his mentees started their careers at SMEC and have remained at the company since. Under his guidance, the core team – which has over 140 years of combined experience – has grown from strength to strength, not only in the areas of technical competence and independent decision-making (through ongoing knowledge-sharing and skills development) but also through tutoring in business management, teamwork and interpersonal relationships.

Under his stewardship, each mentee has had the opportunity to work on some of SMEC South Africa’s most multifaceted road and highway projects.

Under Edward, two mentees have received their registration with ECSA (2016 and 2020) with one mentee on schedule to submit registration documentation during 2021 and another awaiting feedback on pending registration.

In the four years that SMEC South Africa’s Rising Star Summit has been taking place, three mentees from within Edward’s team were selected on merit by top management to attend the summit three years running. In addition, three of his mentees have been crowned as SMEC Gauteng North’s Young Professional of the Year (2016, 2017 and 2019). What’s more, under his leadership, the Pretoria Roads & Highway function won Team of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

In the words of the US Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” These words truly encapsulate Edward’s mentoring ethos. Additionally, a mantra he has instilled within his mentees is “smart work through teamwork”.

The quality of the decisions made and associated work produced by the team can be seen in the fact that under Edward’s leadership, the team has not had a single non-conformance report across all of the projects they have worked on.

In his own capacity, Edward has been honoured with a number of accolades, including being nominated to attend Surbana Jurong’s Global Leadership Programme in Singapore in 2018 and receiving SMEC South Africa’s CEO Award in 2020 for his tireless determination to win work, sustain profitable work and lead by example to ensure his team’s continuing reputation for excellence.