WGI Unleashed

In the latest episode of the Unleashed Podcast, we got to know Ayse Heckel, an Innovation Engineer from our Dallas, TX, office. Ayse has only been with WGI for just over a year and has already made an impact by helping streamline processes and implement new technologies to help improve efficiency.

Ayse talked to us about growing up as one of three sisters in a family who moved around a lot, jumping from Connecticut to Indiana and ultimately Texas, where she decided to put down roots. We discussed the cultural differences between the regions she has lived in and even tested out some of the local sayings and accents on each other.

We learned that Ayse is a "triple threat," having attended Texas Tech University for her undergrad, where she double majored, receiving bachelor's degrees in Civil Engineering AND Architecture. And if that wasn't enough, she then went on to MIT and obtained her Master of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering.

We discussed the invaluable instruction and mentorship she received during her first internship and how it helped her understand the real-life applications of the things she was learning in class. She then explained how she leveraged that internship into a full-time position with the same company during the height of the pandemic. She told us the story of how she joined WGI after a co-worker from her previous company offered her what she called "her dream job", helping jump-start the R&D Department for our Structural Engineering group.

We learned what Ayse's role as an Innovation Engineer entails, which does not involve her working on any physical projects but is more focused on doing anything she can to make her Structural team more efficient and accurate at their jobs. Some of those tasks include but are not limited to organizing training exercises and making sure that all of the engineers are up to date on the latest regulatory information, as well as vetting different software or, in some cases, even writing that software or code.

She was able to put those code writing skills she learned at MIT to work last year during our annual company innovation contest, where her team placed third, and they are currently in the process of developing the observation report app they submitted to be used internally across the company.

We also talked about what Ayse enjoys doing in her spare time, which includes traveling out of the country as often as she can, playing volleyball and tennis, and spending time with her cat Ezra.

Go listen to Ayse's episode now to learn what her hidden talent is, what prominent mountain range she has hiked, and where we all landed on the age 'ole debate of "Is a hot dog a sandwich?".

On this episode of Unleashed, we chatted with Erica Guertin, an Urban Planner in our Arlington, VA office. Erica has been an essential member of our Urban + Community Planning team for over three years, and recently packed up and made the trek from West Palm Beach, FL to Washington D.C., to assist with the opening of one of our newest offices.

We discovered that Erica is a native Floridian having grown up in the Boynton Beach neighborhood of Southern Florida. She stayed close to home for college, attending Florida Atlantic University, where she graduated with a Bachelor degree in Urban Design.

Thanks to a nudge from one of her college professors, who just so happened to previously work at WGI, Erica joined the company's internship program in her final academic year. Now, just three short years later, she is helping lead the establishment of a new office for WGI in Washington D.C., while also bolstering our Urban + Community Planning department nationwide.

Originally, she started out at WGI as a designer, but has since transitioned into her role as a planner, which she intriguingly describes as being "the renaissance men and women of development."

She walked us through what her duties and a typical day look like in her new position, and talked about some of the interesting projects she's been working on lately.

We also talked about what spurred her relocation to our nations capital city and discussed some of the adventures she has had in the urban epicenter since her recent move.

Aside from work, we delved into Erica's personal life a bit, where she eloquently compared herself to an 80 year-old grandma who loves thrifting, cooking, and traveling.

And if all of that wasn't enough for you, we also announced the upcoming release of our new sister-show, The Daily Designer, a podcast focused on urban design and planning which Erica will be hosting. Stay tuned for that to drop in the next couple of months!

Go listen to Erica's episode now to find out if she can do a back flip, what her go-to karaoke song is, and whether she would prefer to travel back in time or into the future if she had a time machine.

On this episode of the WGI Unleashed podcast, we had the pleasure of talking with Russell Yeager, the Director of Civil Engineering here at WGI. Russell is based out of our San Antonio, TX office but made the short drive up I-35 to Austin for a face-to-face chat with us.

We learned Russell grew up in Austin, back when it was considered a "small town," and attended the University of Texas, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. We also discovered he was quite the athlete growing up, uncovering his love for baseball in grade school and swimming competitively throughout high school and college, where he also dabbled in a bit of ultimate frisbee.

He walked us through some of his first jobs following graduation and told us the story of what led him to assist in establishing our San Antonio office, which he has been instrumental in leading and growing for over a decade now.

Russell was eager to disclose what a typical day looks like for him as the Director of Civil Engineering, which consistently brings dynamic new challenges and remains to be anything but a typical occupation. In a nutshell, his job requirements are to take care of both the client experience and the people inside our firm that deliver that experience.

We also talked about what he enjoys doing in his spare time, which includes fishing, hiking, photography, vegetable gardening, and spending time with his wife and 4 children, who range in age from 7 years to 7 months.

Stop what you're doing and go listen to Russell's episode now to learn what famous music festival his high school garage band played at, what interesting sound he can make with his mouth, and what his walk-out song would be if he was a professional wrestler. He also gave us a surprise book recommendation too!

On our latest episode of the WGI Unleashed podcast, we head back to Florida to chat with Jennifer Priem, Transportation Business Development Manager, located in our Tampa, FL office. Jennifer joined WGI over 3 years ago and has quickly established herself as a changemaker, helping to create more streamlined processes and often taking on additional projects outside her role's general scope.

We learned Jennifer was born in "The Thumb" region of Michigan, where she grew up along Saginaw Bay with her twin brother. She spent her early years outdoors exploring and rescuing any and all animals she encountered. Jennifer discussed her nomadic adolescence and how her father got a job working for a prominent construction company in Philadelphia, which finally allowed her family to settle down in New Jersey. Her first job involved working in public relations for a large environmental company, but when commissioned by her sister to write a listing ad for her condo, Jennifer promptly fled the cold northeast weather for the sunny beaches of Florida!

We intently listened to Jennifer as she walked us through her unique career path prior to joining WGI, which consisted of hotel hopping around the UK as a trainer for a large corporate hotel chain, leading ghost tours at the historic (and haunted) Belleview-Biltmore Hotel, and working for a dental lab making teeth.

We discovered she was introduced to WGI by a previous co-worker who had just joined the firm, and how after reading a Business Development Proposal Manager job description that she felt had been written "just for her," she knew this was exactly the place she needed to be.

Fast forward 3+ years and Jennifer is now the Business Development Manager of our Transportation Division, where she jokingly compared her job to "herding cats." This really means that Jennifer provides key assistance in facilitating and managing the pursuit process, overseeing the annual strategy meetings that work to identify more fruitful and diverse pursuits, curating and leading the WGI client experience, and being a leader of the transition team tasked with governing WGI's recent project management software rollout.

Aside from her illustrious career, Jennifer has a passion for fostering kittens and a deep love for travel and exploring new destinations. She is not a fan of traditional exercise and prefers to kickbox, play pickleball, and kayak. She even told us the story of how she met her husband and how their relationship culminated in a Princess Bride-themed wedding, which was fittingly held at an animal sanctuary. Fun fact, her husband is actually a published author!

Go check out Jennifer's episode now to learn what her middle name is and how it uniquely ties into her last name, how she really feels about Tom Brady, and who (or should we say what) walked her down the aisle at her wedding.

For our first WGI Unleashed episode of the new year, we chatted with Christian Stewart, a Geospatial Technologies Specialist, out of our West Palm Beach, FL office. Christian is an extremely talented and knowledgeable member of our robust Geospatial division with over 18 years of dedicated service at WGI!

Christian gave us a glimpse into his early life in the Berkshires, NY, and revealed that the traditional college education path wasn't right for him, so after high school, he booked it down to sunny Florida.

We talked about how one of his friends, who already worked at WGI, scored him a job as a rodman on a field crew focusing on land surveying. He explained that he was attracted to this work because it provided him the opportunity to be outside in nature while also allowing him to travel to different parts of the state and country.

Soon after beginning his career here, he and a few others on his team decided to take advantage of WGI's tuition reimbursement program and joined a Geospatial apprenticeship program at a local college, where he received several professional certifications, and all the while furthering his desire for this field of work.

Christian walked us through what "a day in the life" looks like for him here at WGI, and was quick to boast about all the high-tech pieces of equipment he has gotten to put his hands on and all the different types of challenging projects he has had the opportunity to work on during his time here.

We also talked about what he likes to do in his spare time and discovered he is an avid long-distance runner, having completed multiple ultramarathons in the United States and several other countries.

We also learned how following the death of a close friend, he leveraged his love for running and desire to honor her memory into an annual charity event called the JW Corbett 50 Mile Race. This event, which is near and dear to Christian's heart, raises money for underprivileged schools in South America to purchase musical instruments.

Listen now to find out what Christian's cell phone wallpaper is, which celebrities he's had the unique opportunity to meet, and how many different countries he has completed ultramarathons in.

For our final WGI Unleashed episode of the year, we talked to Tamara Henderson, a Senior Project Engineer in our Jacksonville, FL, office. Tamara is an integral part of our Civil Engineering team and recently marked two years with WGI.

Tamara talked to us about her family and growing up as a “big, awkward nerdy girl” in Prichard, Alabama, a suburb of Mobile, where we learned she graduated from The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

She took us through her journey of narrowing down what engineering field she wanted to focus on, and what ultimately led her to choose the civil engineering path. She also talked to us about her involvement in professional organizations, such as ASCE and SWE, and how networking played a pivotal role in helping her land her first job.

We delved into her passion for mentoring and volunteering and discussed how she gives back to her local community by being involved in non-profits such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Habitat for Humanity.

We talked about her role here at WGI and what a typical workday looks like for her, where we learned she is primarily focused on land development, which she described as “everything from the building to the street and sometimes the street.”

Tamara let us in on her deep love for travel and shared several of the destinations she has visited and what's up next on her agenda. She also divulged some pro tips for traveling, interesting tours to check out, and how to properly immerse yourself in the culture of where you are visiting.

Listen now to discover the unique name of Tamara's blog 📝, why you should never take a class with a teacher who wrote the book 📔, and what major household appliance 📺 she never uses.

For episode 64 of the Unleashed podcast, we head back to Texas again to talk to Nina Fuentes, the Office Coordinator for our San Antonio office. Nina has been with WGI for over four years and is integral to keeping our San Antonio office running smoothly and our team members there feeling supported.

We talked with Nina about what it was like growing up in Brownsville, TX, and what spurred her cross-country move to Wisconsin, where she taught us the meaning of "the lady at the well" while talking about her family. She told us the heartfelt story about how she met her now husband and how her soothing voice and some flashlight assistance on a last-minute job brought them together.

We learned that Nina worked in the early childcare industry and legal field for many years before fate stepped in and helped her find WGI. Nina took us through what she does on a typical day here and explained why she loves her job and the people she works with so much.

She also shared about her faith, gave us a few inspirational tips on how to remain positive in difficult circumstances, and taught us that the outcome of a given situation is essentially determined by how you choose to react to it.

Check out the full episode now to find out who her favorite professional football team is, what the one thing is that she cannot function without, and what her favorite part of working at WGI is.

For episode 63 of WGI Unleashed, we sat down with WGI’s Director of Mobility, Ravali Kosaraju, who joined WGI over a year ago and has significantly grown our Mobility division during her short time with the firm.

Ravali explained what it was like growing up and attending grade school in India and cleared up the debate on how to correctly pronounce her name. She talked to us about the culture shock she experienced after moving from India to Canada as a teenager and what it was like to attend college in Canada, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto.

She took us through the first few years of her career working in the public sector for several cities and told us why she decided to transition to the private arena and join WGI. Ravali also detailed her involvement with the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and how she was recently named one of their ITE Young Leaders to Follow for 2022.

We discovered she met her now husband on an online dating website 💻 and that they have a bright and active three-year-old daughter 👼. She shared that in her spare time, she enjoys going on long hikes 🏞 in nature, crocheting 🧶, and just spending quality time with her family 👨‍👩‍👧.

Listen to Ravali's episode now to find out if she's ever gotten a speeding ticket 🚨, what superpower 🦹‍♀️ she would like to have and why, and how many different languages 🌏 she can speak.  

Episode 62 of the WGI Unleashed podcast takes us back to West Palm Beach, FL, to get to know David Gerber, a Project Engineer in our Roadway (Transportation) division. David (aka Gerber to most) has been an integral part of the WGI team for over a decade and has had the unique pleasure of working out of several different WGI offices during his time here.

Despite thinking we knew all of Gerber's ins and outs, we discovered during this podcast recording that we had only scratched the surface.

We learned that he was born in Miami but grew up in the Lakeland area between Tampa and Orlando. Following high school graduation, he quickly booked it back to South Florida, where he first attended the University of Miami (UM) before transferring to Florida International University (FIU), where he completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.

We listened while Gerber told us how a chance encounter at a wedding was not only how he ended up here with us at WGI but also what spurred his interest in transportation engineering in the first place. We learned that he primarily focuses on roadway design for public projects, handling the roadway geometrics, the phases of construction, and coordinating with all the other disciplines working on the project. 

Aside from talking about his career, we also delved into what Gerber enjoys doing in his spare time, which includes traveling🧳, trying new foods 🍜, playing trivia 🏆, scuba diving 🤿, and simply spending time outside 🌳. 

Listen to Gerber’s podcast now to find out which celebrity he has been mistaken for, which WGI office is his favorite, and how many animals he has had named Charcoal.

For episode 61 of the Unleashed podcast, we traveled down to West Palm Beach, FL, to talk to Connor Bailey, a Senior Planner in our Land Development group. Connor has been a part of the WGI team for over five years and recently earned his planning certification through the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).

Connor told us what it was like growing up in Orlando after spending the first few years of his life in a tiny town in northern Wisconsin. We learned he earned not one but two degrees from Florida Atlantic University; a Bachelor of Urban Design (BUD) AND a Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP).

In talking to Connor, we learned what an urban planner does and what exactly his job here entails. He shared with us what his favorite part about working at WGI is, and we also uncovered the fact that he has another unique role here at the company, one specific only to the 2nd floor of our corporate office 👨‍🚒🧯.

We also talked about his charcuterie board side hustle 💵, taking cross-country road trips with friends 🚙, and his love for EDM music 🎶 and dancing 🕺 on tables.