November Professional Member of the Month

JENNIFER MCCoy

Bolton & Menk

Senior traffic engineer

1. What is the most exciting and energizing aspect of your current position?

I enjoy working with communities across Iowa and Minnesota to address all modes of travel to ensure that their communities remain safe and welcoming places to live, work, and play. With transportation, we truly do have an impact on everyone’s daily lives.

2. What was the last interesting podcast you listened to?

Radical Candor. It’s about how to engage employees as a leader. It discussed the key principle of caring personally while challenging directly.

3. What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?

Two things. First, leading the effort to develop the City of Des Moines’ first Transportation Master Plan, MoveDSM. The work that we did through that large-scale planning effort helped to identify community needs such as roadway safety projects, the buildout of the bike and pedestrian network, and the identification of sidewalk gaps throughout the city. The Des Moines City Council used that information to increase funding for sidewalk infill projects focusing on those routes that serve community nodes, transit services, and school walk routes. Because of the work through MoveDSM and the subsequent commitment to additional sidewalk funding from the Des Moines City Council, more people have access to a connected path in these key areas.

Second, in 2021, I was selected as the WTS Woman of the Year an organization that has the goal to advance women’s careers to strengthen the transportation industry. This award meant so much to me as I was nominated by my female peers in the transportation field and supporting and encouraging other females is a true passion of mine. It was extra important as I got to share the news about this recognition with my 7-year-old daughter to show her what women can accomplish in this field. She asked if I got a crown with my award.

4. What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?

Remember that your career path is not always a career ladder, it can be a chess board. Sometimes you move forward, sometimes you move sideways, or even take a few steps back when you start a family. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make leaps forward in the future when your home life changes or your kids get older. Allow yourself the permission or the grace to recognize that sometimes other priorities in life take center stage and that is okay.

5. We are Iowa Women in Architecture; who were the female role models that inspired you? 

I’d say the women in my family, which sounds pretty cliché, but it’s true. I did not always know I wanted to go into the design field and be an engineer. It was a few key male teachers along my path that led me to this career. However, the women in my family taught me about gumption. Gumption is defined as “courage and initiative; enterprise and boldness”. People with gumption are able to think about what it would be sensible to do in a particular situation, and they do it. Having a strong sense of gumption has carried me through my career for the last 22 years and also in so many seasons of my life.