Please find below my candidate statement:
Virginia Hodge has been an active IET volunteer from early days as a young professional to being a Trustee and holds a senior engineering position at NATS (UK Air Traffic Control provider).
Virginia's responsibilities as a Senior Project Safety Manager at NATS ensure that critical projects (circa £50m) are safe to be introduced into service. She also works with security colleagues to identify commonalities and implement safety improvement initiatives. Having been a Software Architect and Project Manager, she has been a Technology Strategist defining the technical direction of the company out to 2030. Starting out her professional career as a software engineer, as a manager she has mentored 60 younger engineers in the defence industry.
The IET has been her Professional Home for the whole of her career, initially leading the Solent Younger Members and eventually as a Local Network Chairman. She has served on the National Younger Members Committee; Council; Membership and Professional Development Board and as a Trustee. From earliest opportunities up to working as a Trustee she has been passionate to be a role model for other women engineers, strongly supporting the WISE and WES organisations.
“As a Vice President, I would be keen to build on experience gained during my career in industry and in senior roles in the IET. I provided strategic direction and insight to the Board as well as contributing to and promoting the work of the joint member/staff team (which I led as a Trustee) that has re-energised Volunteer Engagement and provided the Volunteer Gateway. I will always promote the importance and value of volunteering to both the Institution and its members. I currently mentor three engineers who are our future and I am keen to promote all those IET activities that will support the next generation of engineers.”
