CE M’balia Tagoe works around the world for Bechtel

From New York City and the U.S. West to Costa Rica, the projects themselves are as varied and interesting as the locales, offering change and challenge

M’balia Tagoe: “Construction is a great career opportunity for women.”

M’balia Tagoe has traveled across the country and even outside the U.S. to work on engineering projects for Bechtel Corp (San Francisco, CA). The projects themselves are as different as the locales, requiring Tagoe to embrace change and challenge as the fabric of her life.

Fortunately, she loves it.

“In construction you have a design and a plan of action, but things don’t always go exactly according to plan. That’s the exciting thing about the work we do: dealing with challenges as they arise. You have to be nimble-footed, doing your best to anticipate a broad scope of issues.

“It’s a wonderful experience and process.” Tagoe says. “You work as a team, and with the support of your teammates and their experience you get to a successful outcome. It’s challenging and satisfying.”

Every corner of the globe
Privately-owned Bechtel is a global engineering, construction and project management company with 44,000 employees. It’s in every corner of the globe, from Alaska to Australia. Its project portfolio encompasses airports and seaports, communications networks, defense and aerospace facilities, environmental cleanup projects, fossil and nuclear power plants, mines and smelters, oil- and gas-field development, pipelines, roads and rail systems, refineries and petrochemical plants.

Tagoe is currently on the construction management team for an airport expansion in the western U.S. “Bechtel was hired to manage the project, and I’m the authorized representative providing construction instructions to the general contractor for one of the major projects,” she explains.

“I oversee the safety of the job, because safety is value number one for Bechtel. And I’m responsible for seeing that the quality is topnotch and the project is delivered on time and on budget.”

The airport job is so large that it’s considered to be “a program with individual projects making up the whole,” she says. Her team members range from field inspectors to project control and contracts personnel. She has six direct reports assigned to the team who interface with support functions.

Her project will last two years; other parts of the airport program will take even longer to complete. “I’ll take my project from groundbreaking to delivery for occupancy. That’s what I find so rewarding about this field: being able to build something from the ground up and see it all the way through to completion.”

Managing time
One major challenge in this type of work is time management. “There are a lot of bases to cover and it is essential to deal with big issues, while not losing sight of the details,” Tagoe says.

She does manage to find a little time for herself. “I’m a dance enthusiast and a competitive ballroom dancer. You need to make time for other pursuits to sustain your mental wellbeing and maintain your focus. I’m also a tennis player, and I relieve stress on the court. It’s important to have outlets,” she says.

Brooklyn to Ghana
Tagoe was born in Brooklyn, NY, her mother’s hometown, but her father is from Ghana, and the family lived overseas for ten years.

When she was in high school the family moved back to the U.S. and settled in Seattle, WA. Tagoe received her CE degree in 1991 from Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA), and immediately went to work for Bechtel.

Around the world
She’s been at Bechtel ever since, enjoying the opportunity to sample different projects and cultures. “One of the great things about Bechtel is the variety,” Tagoe says.

She started in San Francisco, CA in support engineering roles for environmental projects. In 1994 she moved to San Diego, CA for an environmental remediation project.

Into management
Then it was back to San Francisco for a career advancement opportunity. She worked with a business line president to develop general management skills and get corporate exposure.

In 1998 she moved to Oak Ridge, TN for an environmental management program under the Department of Energy. In 2000 she went to Paducah, KY for a different project in the same program.

In early 2001 Tagoe returned to Oak Ridge, this time as one of the project managers for the environmental management program. She stayed until late 2002, when she moved to New York.

“I wanted to explore other parts of civil engineering, particularly the infrastructure side of the business,” she explains. “I made the switch and worked in business development and operations for our airport and rail projects for about three years. Our office was right in midtown Manhattan. It was like going home, because I have a lot of family there,” she notes.

Costa Rica and back
In 2006 Tagoe moved to Costa Rica as the project manager of an airport expansion project in San Jose. In the spring of 2008 she returned to the U.S. to take on her current airport expansion work.

Tagoe is a member of both ASCE and SWE. “I encourage the young women I encounter to consider the sciences and engineering,” she says. “True, the construction field today still has a high ratio of men, but it’s a great career opportunity for women.

“In a company like Bechtel diversity is really valued. When you work for an organization that values people, and are passionate about what you do, at the end of the day you’ll be recognized for your contribution. It will be about the work you do and the results you deliver, not about your gender or race.”