Base Office: South Burlington, VT
Email: eford@hallam-ics.com
I worked as an Environmental Engineer for the U.S. Navy in California and Washington, DC, and then the Water Environment Federation in Alexandrea, VA. When our daughter was born I made raising her my priority, so I left my full-time engineering position. I became a full-time mother, school volunteer and children’s theater stage manager. Then she went to college and I was free to return to my previous life.
I luckily encountered a Perfect Storm. I was in the right place at the right time while looking for my engineering job. My husband Chris, a former Hallam employee, told me that John Butterfield was in a critical position of finding a commissioning engineer quickly. We met, he explained the V-Model to me, and we have never looked back. I needed some on-the-job training and I had the most patient teacher in John. We have been the Commissioning Department in Vermont for the last five years.
My skills are a perfect fit for commissioning. The job requires meticulous attention to detail, strong technical and communication skills and the ability to orchestrate a project team to ensure that all systems are operating as they were designed. I am a people person which is essential in this field of engineering. We work with all disciplines from CEOs and Architects to mechanical subcontractors and maintenance workers. We need to connect with everyone on the project team in a productive, respectful way to ensure success for the project and everyone involved.
I find all our commissioning projects challenging in a variety of ways. No two projects are alike. We have commissioned numerous projects from the very complex Waterbury State Office Complex to modest office buildings. Our clients include universities, banks, hospitals, laboratories and coffee roasters.
Hallam is a nurturing environment that has allowed me to make the transition to re-enter my technical profession. I received the necessary training and was encouraged to attain credentials that strengthened the commissioning team’s value. While at Hallam-ICS I have become accredited as a Qualified Commissioning Professional, a LEED Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction and a Certified Healthcare Constructor.
