Women@TT 2023 Annual Report

Women@TT would not be the successful Employee Network Group without the support from our Local Chapter Coordinators, Allies, and every single individual who has supported or attended an event this year. We cannot thank everyone enough for continuing to support our Mission of achieving gender equity at Thornton Tomasetti. We look forward to seeing what 2024 has in store for us.

OVERALL

In 2023, the Women@TT Leadership Board continued to grow and evolve as we welcomed three new board members and a new president elect. Throughout the year, the leadership board maintained active engagement through monthly calls and convened in New York for our annual Board Retreat in March.

Our ENG also celebrated a significant milestone, marking the 10-year anniversary of Women@TT through a series of internal and external events. A key focus for the year was placed on fostering community within the organization, with a strong encouragement for Local Chapters to organize community-building, in-person events. We were able to weave anniversary celebrations into these office wide events and drive culture and support throughout the firm. These efforts were met with enthusiasm, resulting in over 175 events hosted by Local Chapters.

In addition to these internal efforts, Women@TT recognized global celebrations of women in engineering, taking the opportunity to highlight the diverse expertise of women across the firm. To attract new talent, Women@TT facilitated recruitment presentations through Handshake, targeting women at the college and graduate levels. Furthermore, the organization played a pivotal role in the Leadership Insight Discussion presentation for new hires. This event, conducted in collaboration with members from the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) Committee, aimed to share insights into the ongoing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives at TT and to spotlight the programming by the Employee Network Groups (ENGs).

GLOBAL PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE

International Women's Day

The Global Programming Committee organized International Women’s Day celebrations, recognizing the achievements of female colleagues, acknowledging, and sharing their contributions to the AEC industry and to TT.

Women@TT hosted our fourth Leadership Panel Presentation, featuring Theresa Curtis, Tamara St. Clair, and Rachel Jackson, who discussed the significance of establishing and maintaining trusted relationships and how these relationships have impacted both their own and their team’s career development. Offices across the firm gathered to watch the Leadership Panel and celebrate International Women’s Day.

Outcomes:

z The Leadership Panel highlighted the careers of three women leaders at our firm with both technical and non-technical expertise. The discussion highlighted the importance of relationship development across all areas of the company.

z Offices around the world tuned in and gathered to view the leadership panel.

GLOBAL PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE

International Women in Engineering Day

International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) began in the UK in 2014 and is celebrated annually on June 23rd. Since it’s inception, INWED has become a globally celebrated day to recognize women in engineering around the world. This year’s theme was #MakeSafetySeen. Across the firm we recognized International Women in Engineering Day with Spark and LinkedIn posts highlighting inspiring coworkers, through a video where women in the firm discussed how they contribute to safety every day. See video on Spark linked here (INWED Video).

Outcomes:

z With MarComm’s help the video highlighted women around the world and emphasized the diverse backgrounds and technical expertise of the women at our firm.

z This video was shared on LinkedIn, highlighting the women at our firm externally and therefore, creating a platform to celebrate the accomplishments and technical expertise of the women at our firm.

GLOBAL PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace Day was celebrated on October 10, 2023. Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer, remembered for her work in the early history of computer programming. Ada Lovelace Day is honored across the world on the second Tuesday of October to celebrate achievements of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

This year, Women@TT hosted our second annual social media campaign featuring our inspirational female colleagues and their contributions to STEM. A call for nominations was put out, garnering 40+ nominations. Since this was our 10-year anniversary, we featured one woman from each of our ten practices, and provided a short bio of female colleagues showcasing the amazing project work and practices that they are a part of. Practice leaders shared a post featuring a woman within their practice with their external network.

Outcomes:

z Ten TT engineers were celebrated externally and internally in recognition of Ada Lovelace Day on LinkedIn and Spark.

z Cumulatively the posts had over 1000 likes, comments, and reposts. This extends the external reach of TT through recognition and celebration of our women in engineering.

GLOBAL PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE

Strategic Self-Advocacy Workshop

In advance of annual performance alignment reviews and discussions, Women@TT hosted a virtual workshop with Stephanie Slocum. The workshop focused on how to self-advocate so you can be recognized for the value you provide, both internally and externally.

Outcomes:

z Identified a topic where women were looking for additional, targeted support and brought in an external resource to support women across the firm. While the workshop was geared towards women, it was open to anyone at the firm.

z A recording of the session was shared on Spark to share the resource with anyone who was not able to attend.

EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Women@TT leaders Allie Partridge and Samantha Eng attended monthly ED+I committee meetings with leaders from Spectrum and Mosaic and with Wayne Stocks and Peggy Van Eepoel, who serve as executive advocates for the ED+I committee. The committee met for the annual ED+I summit to discuss the goals and annual plans of each ENG, in addition to firm-wide ED+I topics. Allie presented ED&I and ENG initiatives at owners’ week with leaders from Spectrum and Mosaic.

2023 Program Agenda :

z Business Development: Scott Lomax (New York), Eli Gottlieb (New York), Mark Coggin (Philadelphia)

z Path to Leadership: Marguerite Pinto (New York), Doug Heinze (Philadelphia)

z Shareholder Discussion: Elisabeth Malsch (New York), Peggy Van Eepoel (Washington, DC)

z Targeted Breakout Discussions:

f Roya Abyaneh (Houston): Time Management and Organization

f Abbi Horn (San Diego): Managing and Communication with Staff

f Kate Williamson (Washington, D.C.): Growing Your Team

f Athina Spyridaki (New York): Inclusion and Belonging

f Abena Darden (San Francisco): Stress Management)

z Effective Communication: Julie Pietrzak (New York), Stephanie Nussbaum (New York), Renee Minium (Virtual)

z Advocacy for Self and Others: Sarah Castle (outside consultant)

WOMEN ADVANCEMENT COMMITTEE

Mastermind

In November 2023, Women@TT hosted our 6th annual Mastermind retreat in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Our female Associates and Senior Associates across multiple offices and practices came together for a twoday in person retreat style event focusing on professional development and internal networking. Attendees participated in six live sessions with both internal and external guest speakers. See Spark post for additional event information and some photos.

Goals:

z Increase the retention of women and increase the number of women advancing their careers at TT through targeted connections, support, and skills development provided by the Mastermind program.

z Build an internal network of colleagues with similar responsibilities, goals, and circumstances.

z Obtain feedback from program attendees to identify targeted areas of focus for participants’ professional development.

Outcomes:

z Attendance at this year’s Mastermind Program was significantly higher than last year’s in-person event. We had 25 attendees in 2023 compared to seven attendees in 2022. We attribute this substantial increase to the support and advocacy proactively provided to each attendee by firm leadership, office directors, managers, and the Women@TT Advancement committee outreach. We continue to receive incredibly positive feedback from those who are able to attend in person and from those who have attended in the past, including through participation by event alumni.

z Looking forward, our 2024 focus is shifting to maintaining attendance and engaging Associates and Senior Associates throughout the year so they prioritize this event and understand the benefits of attending.

Engineer

SrEngineerProjectEng/Dir SrProject Eng/Dir/Arch AssociateSrAssociateVicePres/AssociateDirAssociatePrincipalPrincipal/SrVicePres

2019 % Men

2022

% Men

2019 % Women

2022 % Women

SrPrincipalManagingPrincipal

US Technical Staff Representation by Gender & Level 2019 vs 2022

METRICS AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

The Metrics and Development Committee started the year with a refresh of headcount data to better understand the firm’s progress toward gender targets.

In 2023, the Metrics Committee focused on analyzing 2022 Corporate Responsibility Survey responses. Nearly three quarters of TT staff participated in the Survey, creating a valuable resource to understand employee experiences across roles, offices, and gender. Women@TT was able to break down the results of the Survey by title and gender. This year, Women@TT directed our efforts toward the responses of US technical staff at the project engineer and associate levels, as these are career points where TT has historically struggled with female retention.

Outcomes

z The Metrics Committee shared Corporate Responsibility Survey results with the ED&I Committee and incorporated associate-level responses into discussion topics at this year’s Mastermind Program.

z The Metrics Committee is looking forward to continuing to track responses to Corporate Responsibility Survey over time to better understand trends in employee experiences at TT and help inform future Women@TT programming, such as Mastermind and PEer ConnecTT.

of employees participate in ED&I activities

employees who are women

Employees of nonwhite ethnicity or race

MALE ALLY COMMITTEE

Male Allies continued in a supporting role for Global Programming with several gentleman participating on the committee in the monthly calls. The Male Allies were integral in Women@TT through involvement with the following:

z Promotion of the leadership panel Women@TT conducted for International Woman’s Day

z Helped to promote and make the “Making Safety Seen” videos for International Woman’s Day

z Participation in the Women@TT 10 year events, helping to plan and participate in the individual office parties

z Promotion and attendance for the Strategic Self-Advocacy for Engineers

z Active members on the metrics committee.

Outcomes:

z The Male Allies helped to create a welcoming environment for Women@TT by encouraging attendance in Women@TT events and participating themselves, further demonstrating to the firm at the office level the importance of the organization.

GRANT PROGRAM EVENTS

General

z Effective Speaking and Body Language Workshop – Boston, MA

z SEOSC Leadership Symposium – Los Angeles, CA

z Women@TT Golf Lesson – Chicago, IL

z Philadelphia Women in Construction Golf Social – Philadelphia, PA

z W@TT NY Golf Happy Hour at Chelsea Piers – New York, NY

z Women in Construction Conference – Washington, D.C.

z Women @ TT 2024 Retreat – Portland, ME

z Professional Development Lunch – Perth, U.K.

z End of Year W@TT Dinner – Washington, D.C.

z All-Staff Bingo – Washington, D.C.

z Miniature Golf and Networking – San Francisco, CA

Business Development

z BD Networking with AECOM Women’s Initiative Network - New York, NY

z Women@TT 10-Year Anniversary Celebration with Gensler Los Angeles, CA

z BD Happy Hour with Gensler – Houston, TX

z W@TT joined event with W@JBB and W@Langan - New York, NY

10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

Around the world the women of TT celebrated the 10th anniversary of Women@TT. 20 local chapters hosted internal events to mark the monumental occasion. Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, San Francisco, and DC hosted external events inviting clients to celebrate and learn more about Women@TT.

LOCAL CHAPTERS

Local Chapters have come back stronger than ever hitting pre-pandemic participation levels. Vietnam, Pune, Tampa, and San Diego started new chapters with Canada and Mumbai kicking off their chapters again. Local chapters have begun to add more profession development and networking events while keeping up community building events. Boston created a professional development series dubbed career workshops where they engage TT employees as speakers and supplement with books. Topics include networking, responsibility, strengths, speaking, and negotiation.

Outcomes:

z Local Chapters reported more than 175 events in 2023

WOMEN@TT COMPANY WIDE SUPPORT

The Women@TT Leadership Board is just one piece of what makes our ENG a successful group. We want to recognize the individuals across the firm that have contributed their skills, passion, and time.

Local Chapter Coordinators:

z This is a continuously growing and evolving group of dedicated individuals who volunteer a majority of their time to support the women in their local offices and organize events that fulfill the needs of their community

Business Development, Marketing and Communications:

z Lorenzo Sanjaun and Fallon Dunham went above and beyond this year in helping us to create three videos for Women@TT. The first was the INWED video that spotlighted women across the first and the second and third videos captured a recorded history of Women@TT in celebration of the ENG’s 10-year anniversary. They also helped us create quarterly and annual reports.

z Cynthia Hoffman, Vakaris Renetskis, Lyla King, Michael Pinzuti, Charlie Palmer, and Jim Kent provided guidance in crafting external and internal messaging for different events and campaigns throughout the year.

Office Operations:

z Jenny DeVries, Dorian Soler and the NY operations team were essential in helping us plan and execute our Leadership Board Retreat and the 10-Year Anniversary celebration in New York. Their attention to detail and organization is unparalleled.

There are numerous other Women@TT Allies who have supported the mission and core value of our ENG over the past year and while we cannot list everyone we want to recognize the community that we have developed throughout the firm.

5-YEAR PLAN CHECK-IN: YEAR 4

Goal 1:

Retain past and current mastermind participants at TT and support their advancement to Senior Associate and beyond.

Goal 2:

Expand the Women@TT Local Chapters to all offices with at least six women employed there and promote local chapter coordinator recognition.

z 2023: 100% of offices with at least six women employed have a Women@TT Local Chapter.

Goal 3:

Meet the following measurable employee gender targets to ensure we have a stable pipeline for future leaders and to retain our current leaders.

z 30% women in Engineer and Senior Engineer levels, measured at each office staffed with more than 10 people.

z 35% women in the Engineer to Project Engineer levels, measured across the entire firm.

z 25% women in each level through the Principal level, measured across the entire firm.

z See firm wide results below. Office level trends in progress.

Goal 4:

Develop the Women@TT Leadership Board to be a diverse team – across locations, practice/departments, career experience, and along traditional measures of diversity.

z 2023: 12 board members were represented across 8 titles, 9 offices, and 5 practices/departments

Goal 5:

Collaborate with other ENGs on I+D trainings to help drive lasting cultural change.

z 2023: Women@TT continued to meet monthly with the ED&I committee and work on continued growth with the other ENGs. There was no ED&I wide training this year.

Allison Partridge Project Engineer San Diego

Samantha Eng Project Engineer San Francisco

Daniela Rincon Project Engineer Los Angeles Kate Williamson Associate Washington, D.C.

Leah Collins Senior Engineer Kansas City

Colleen Harper Project Engineer New York

Vanessa O'Kelly Project Engineer Houston Rupa Patel Vice President Washington, D.C.

Joel Barron Principal Dallas

Theresa Curtis Principal San Francisco

Robert Treece Managing Principal Virtual

Linda Warren Director Learning Virtual

2023 WOMEN@TT LEADERSHIP BOARD

President: Allison Partridge

President Elect: Samantha Eng

Secretary: Daniela Rincon

Treasurer/Grant Program Director: Kate Williamson

Local Chapters Director: Leah Collins

Metrics and Development Director: Colleen Harper

Global Programming Director: Vanessa O’Kelly

Women Advancement Director: Rupa M. Patel

Male Ally Director: Joel Barron

Senior Leader Advisor: Theresa Curtis

Senior Male Advisor: Robert Treece

HR Liaison: Linda Warren