Meet some of our Council Members, you can always contact us (https://engineeringtogether.com/contact-us/) if you wish to get involved.
Paula McMahon
As well as being our Founding Chair Paula works for Sir Robert McAlpine on the A19 DBFO Project which maintains part of the strategic road network. Paula also undertakes a wider role in SRM mentoring and coaching candidates who are working towards professional qualifications.
Paula has for many years volunteered with the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and is currently a Trustee and Head of UK Regions. Paula also undertakes international roles by chairing the Editorial Panel of the ICE Proceedings: Civil Engineering and is an ICE Lead Reviewer.
Paula also has other voluntary roles helping encourage a workforce and workplace fit for the future. This includes being a STEM and Apprentice Ambassador, an active member of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) Tyne and Tees Cluster, founding The Line, attending as a guest lecturer at Teesside University and sitting on the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) Transport Forum.
Paula’s passion for equality and sustainability is evident from her work. She is also the Chair of the WES Climate Emergency Group and she founded Primary Voices.
Dr Jo Douglas-Harris
Dr Jo Douglas-Harris CChem is the Global Surface Coatings Product & Applications Manager at Venator, a global chemical company dedicated to development and manufacture of titanium dioxide pigments and performance additives. Jo’s role encompasses New Product Development, improvement of internal application capability and customer support for Venator’s products that go into Coatings and Inks applications. Prior to this, she worked for British Sugar as a Process Scientist. Jo completed a master’s degree in Chemistry in 2013 at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Chemical Engineering in 2017 at the University of Bath. Her PhD was sponsored by Unilever researching fabric cleaning and laundry detergents.
Jo has been the Cluster Co-ordinator for the Tyne & Tees region for the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) since January 2020 and has established an active Cluster Committee who organise in person events regionally as well as webinars that are open to all. Prior to this, Jo was one of the founding members of WESBath, the University of Bath Student Women’s Engineering Society, and joined WES council in October 2015. Jo volunteered as the Student Groups and Universities Liaison from October 2015 to January 2019, managing the growing number of WES affiliated student groups. In June 2016, Jo formed the WES Early Careers Board (formerly the Young Members Board), a group of 12 early career female engineers, and chaired this board for two years. Jo was elected as a WES Trustee in 2018 and 2019. Jo is also the creator of #WESLottieTour and managed this project for its first 3 years, growing the number of volunteers from 10 in the first year to over 150 engineers
Andy Stevenson
Andy is a chartered mechanical engineer and a fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE), entrepreneur and Chair for the North East Region of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers as well as its Teesside Committee and NE Regional Undergraduate Design Challenge. A STEM Ambassador and steering committee member for the “Bring it On” event, Andy is passionate about the North East of England and encouraging future generations who live here to pursue a career in engineering.
Andy runs a number of engineering design and consultancy company’s based in Darlington developing new products and solving real world problems in the offshore oil & gas, decommissioning and renewable energy sectors. See more about Andy’s company at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThOUhSS7dhI
Nicola Hill
Nicola is a Chartered Transport Planning Professional (CTPP) working at Arup, in Stockton. Nicola graduated from the University of Leeds with a Masters in Geography in 2003 and started her career at JMP Consultants as a Transport Planner where she specialised in accessibility planning. In 2007 Nicola joined Arup where she completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Geographical Information Systems and Science. Nicola’s current work focusses on development planning and master planning projects.
Nicola is a former Chair of the CIHT in North East and Cumbria and was also previously a Board Director and Secretary for the Transport Planning Society. Nicola represents CIHT on the Engineering Together committee.
Alex Bottomley
Alex is an Electrical Engineer with experience in a number of sectors including, Petrochemical, Mining and Minerals, gas storage and Nuclear.
An active member of the IET Teesside committee he promotes technical events and lectures within the region as well fulfilling a role as a STEM Ambassador.
Alex started as an apprentice working through his BTEC before moving on to a HNC and subsequent BEng in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Teesside University.
He is currently studying for a distance learning postgraduate MSc in Electrical Power Systems Engineering through Manchester University alongside his work in industry.