For years, technical engineering has been a very homogeneous field, predominantly occupied by male colleagues. Fortunately, the makeup of engineers has slowly expanded to represent a more diverse group. This trend is not only visible within industries but also within our Oliver Wyman Engineers Team. We are committed to foster and maintain a diverse, inclusive, equal opportunity culture that empowers all colleagues and business partners. We believe that every colleague’s unique contribution is fundamental to the overall success of the company. Let us introduce you to our team and show what we can achieve.
Séverine Huin
At my childhood house, my back garden was my granddad’s car repair shop. I grew up surrounded by cars or motorbikes, screwdrivers, wrenches, old tires, the smell of gasoline and used engine oil. I was taught at a young age how things work on a car. As I grew older, I was always helping to fix cars with my dad, or helping my uncle improving his racing motorbike.
There was never a doubt in my mind I would do something technical. Topics such as mechanics, electronics and computing were easy; French grammar, history, philosophy not so much…
I have been an engineer for 20 years and whenever I am on a client project, I am still that kid trying to figure out the problem quickly: How does it work, can I fix it?
My biggest success was to develop a complete software system for air control in diesel engines, now implemented on pick-up trucks. I had to get the system to perform efficiently (low fuel consumption), give a great driving feeling (perfect turbo control) and still pass emission regulation (the famous EGR valve). It was complex but extremely rewarding when everything functions as it is supposed to!
I have been an engineer for 20 years and a consultant at Oliver Wyman Engineers for five years but whenever I am on a client project, I am still that kid trying to figure out the problem quickly: How does it work? Can I fix it? Optimize it? I am truly happy when I can dismantle a part, fix it and put it back together, if it smells of old engine oil, even better!
Elena Chiappa
I wanted to be an engineer because I have always been fascinated by how things work. From a very young age, I was always taking things apart so I could see how they fit together. Sometimes, like with the toaster I disassembled at age 6, they did not go back together quite right (or at all) but with practice came improvement.
As I got older, I had the opportunity to see systems fit together on a much larger scale, and broke fewer of my parents' appliances. I studied chemical engineering in school but found myself looking for something with more direct consumer impact. This brought me to the automotive industry, a field where there is no shortage of complex systems and you get to see the products of your work drive down the road.
From a very young age I was always taking things apart so I could see how they fit together. Sometimes they did not go back together quite right (or at all) but with practice came improvement.
Now, within Oliver Wyman Engineers, I still get to work on cars, but I also get to branch out to a wide variety of other products. I constantly get to see and dissect new systems. The moment of clarity when a new system clicks together in my head is only outmatched by the next step: picking it apart and figuring out how to make it better. Every project is a new challenge. Whether it is solving a current problem or anticipating and mitigating a future one I get to see the impact of my work as all the pieces fit together.
Samantha Theissen
In my role as a technical consultant for Oliver Wyman Engineers I take on various tasks that can range from very deep technical analyses over creative development and improvement challenges to rather high-level, visionary strategy definitions. The variety and mix of situations that I find myself in almost every day are what excites me the most about my job. I love a good challenge and am always up to learn something new. Doing this in a technical environment brings all my passions together - well, almost all of them.
What sparked my interest in engineering as a little girl was my admiration for beautiful, loud cars. Ever since I can remember, my favorite toys were either remote-controlled cars, books about Formula 1, or technical kits that allowed me to build anything. My all-time favorite toy was a remote-controlled car with an automated retractable roof. My parents still have it in the basement and although it doesn’t work anymore, it’s a big hit with my nieces and nephews these days.
I remember very vividly the moment when I decided to become an engineer. It was at the age of nine while attending my first Formula 1 race. When I heard the sound of these incredibly powerful engines, my fate was sealed within a heartbeat.
Throughout my adolescence a talent for math and physics became apparent, so I went on to pursue a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with a focus on automotive engineering. However, I soon realized that I don't enjoy limiting my focus much. With my bachelor's thesis, I got the chance to explore a topic that I found had a broader application space, and subsequently went on to pursue my Master's degree focusing on production automation. It mostly lacks loud engines but offers excitingly fast robots instead.
I remember the moment when I decided to become an engineer very vividly. It was at the age of nine while attending my first Formula 1 race. When I first heard the sound of these incredibly powerful engines, my fate was sealed within a heartbeat.
Learning how to program different types of robots, but also how to get entire automated systems to produce any item got me really excited. What intrigues me the most about production automation are the versatility and the complexity of the systems. Single components, basic as well as complex, can be combined in countless ways to execute a predefined task. To me, it's an infinite challenge on creativity and cleverness which I've always enjoyed.
I once got the chance to program a fully automated mini-plant to have it package different colored pellets and run its own quality checks at the end of the line. In order to make all components interact perfectly, I had to learn to use different programming languages and figure out a complex logic to cover all possible scenarios. It took me countless do-overs, hours and hours of troubleshooting, and a lot of spilled product to get it to finally run smoothly. In the end, it was a fantastic feeling to watch my system produce little bottles filled with colorful pellets according to production schedule.