Leonardo project manager scoops award

Kathryn Williamson Hall a programme manager for Radar production at Leonardo UK has been named Young Project Professional of the Year at the annual Association for Project Management (APM) Awards.

The award recognises talent in all sectors in those aged 29 years or under who are progressing through the early stages of their project management career. 

Kathryn is responsible for delivering E-SCAN radars for the Eurofighter Typhoon. The Typhoon production programme consists of a several projects to deliver E-SCAN radars to several countries including Kuwait, Qatar, Germany and Spain. The project is a combination of Leonardo UK and Euroradar partners, which Leonardo UK is consortium lead.

The key project deliverable in 2022 was the production and delivery of radars for the Qatar project. Typhoon aircrafts were fitted with E-SCAN radars and formed part of a joint UK-Qatar Typhoon Squadron utilised in the World Cup 2022 for air policing and security measures.

Kathryn played a key role in this project and responsible for owning the stakeholder management plan for the project, including the majority of its delivery. A key project management technique deployed by Kathryn throughout the project delivery was her proactive approach to risk. Risks to schedule and delivery were monitored and sentenced on a detailed level.  She also introduced Integrated Production Planning - engaging the internal Leonardo UK and Euroradar team to develop a single consolidated plan.

This approach has been firmly embedded across her production programme and within the external customer and Eurofighter community for E-SCAN radar production planning. It continues to be used and jointly improved upon through use. 

The Qatar production deliveries had an important impact on the Qatar defence operations, delivering world leading radar technology and capability. The political and reputational importance of Kathryn’s project was also significant for UK and European industry, as well as between the UK and Qatar nations.

Overall, the project delivered against this critical 2022 milestone on time, to budget and at the required technical specification for the customer.

On receiving her award, Kathryn Williamson Hall said: “I am very happy to have won. It was a great opportunity to work on this project and to be recognised for my work and my team’s work as part of the EuroFighter Typhoon Radar Production Programme, and the project we delivered for Qatar.  It is great to be here this evening and to see all the great work going on in the project management community.”

The APM Award judges praised the winner for delivering such a large and complex project, with one judge commenting, “This was a very strong entry for Young Project Professional of the Year and credit to Kathryn to successfully delivering such a political and commercially sensitive project, nationally and internationally. 

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