Ved Proag

2018 WIN Awards Emerging Leader shortlisted nominee

Ved is originally from Mauritius—a small island in the Indian Ocean just off the coast of South Africa. Ved speaks five languages: English, French, Creole, Hindi and Bhojpuri. Ved came to Canada at the age of 19 as an international student. Ved is now proudly a Canadian citizen.

Ved graduated with a Magna Cum Laude mention from a Baccalaureate of Applied Science in Civil Engineering in 2014. During university, she was on the Dean’s Honour List and was also the recipient of the J.P Bickell Mining Foundation Scholarship. Ved also received the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program scholarship. Her research determined the optimum ground water flow required to generate geothermal energy. As part of her education, Ved completed four internships with the last one being at PCL Construction. She completed field and project management duties on several major infrastructure projects namely the Bank of Canada and West Block at Parliament Hill during that internship.

Upon graduation, she was offered a full-time position with PCL in Edmonton where she worked as the Lead Field Engineer for the Roger’s Place Arena- a multi-billion infrastructure project. As part of her role, Ved tracked field production and related risk and cost implication of going over bid budget productivity. During her varied experience with PCL, she completed numerous rebar, building envelope, and concrete quality assurance/control inspections. Ved also completed supervision roles where she was in charge of 50 workers on site.

Ved is now a Municipal Designer for Morrison Hershfield Limited (MHL) in the infrastructure team. During her first year at MHL, she was the drainage designer for the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Project (OLRT) - Trillium Line. OLRT is a multi-billion project which is rapidly changing the way the transit system operates in Ottawa. As part of her role, Ved designs culverts, bridges, sewers and watermains. Ved is a pioneer of Low Impact Development (LID) technologies such as rain gardens. LIDs are believed to provide sustainable stormwater management solutions but are not yet common in Ottawa.

Ved has applied for her Professional Engineer (P.Eng) designation and is expected to receive it shortly. Ved is also currently pursuing a Project Management Professional (PMP) designation and is considering a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in the near future. In five years, Ved sees herself in a team leader position.

Ved is concerned about the lack of women representation in her field. Consequently, in her spare time, Ved volunteers as part of the Professional Engineers of Ontario where she is an Executive Director. She also volunteers with the Women in Infrastructure Network to promote advancement of women in the industry.

When Ved is not volunteering or working, she is travelling. Ved enjoys solo travelling and learning about new cultures. Ved tries to visit one new country each year.