Employee Spotlight: Karen Hierman, Vice President, Administration and Communications

Today’s Employee Spotlight features Karen Hierman, Vice President, Administration and Communications at Arora Engineers, Inc. In her role, Karen focuses on our company values and overall process implementation. She provides leadership to our administrative staff and ensures support for all office locations with the highest level of professionalism. Karen also collaborates with other departments to ensure implementation is communicated effectively throughout the organization. Karen was also honored at this year’s annual meeting with the Joseph F. Comero, Jr. Award for her outstanding leadership and continuous dedication to Arora Engineers, Inc. Learn more about Karen below:

1. How did you come to do what you do?
My education and background are in design, specifically interior design. I spent eight years or so, working as a kitchen designer and then decided to move West to Colorado. It was there that my path changed as I found work with a structural engineering firm. I still dabbled in design, but returned to Pennsylvania and remained in the Engineering industry.

2. Was this a lifelong goal?
No, I had other plans, but sometimes life gets re-routed!

3. What do you enjoy most about your job?
What I enjoy most about my job is my involvement with the many different departments, it keeps things interesting.

4. What motivates you every day?
Coffee!! No, but that does help! I wake up with the goal of being faithful each day to whatever it holds…family, work, schedules, etc. I do this even when it’s hard. I’m motivated to make my time count.

5. What makes you unique and different?
I don’t believe myself to be either, but it’s important to me to maintain a positive outlook both at work and in life. I feel like people respond to that positivity.

6. What are your favorite types of projects to work on?
I’m a logical thinker, so I enjoy any projects that make me use my brain! I do like planning and organizing which satisfies my obsession to check the boxes and complete something. I like crossing the finish line!

7. What are your future career goals?
I have several career goals that I think on, such as certifications or developing my network within the industry, which is important. Right now, I do feel a personal call to move from my comfort zone and focus on what skills and talents I have in making a difference for others. I’ve come a long way over 12 years. I believe it is important to lift others up when you have the opportunity or platform to do so. I want to make sure I’m not focused on only me rising higher.

8. What is the best career lesson you’ve learned so far?
Humility is extremely important! I’ve never pushed to get somewhere or something. Doing your absolute best with good intentions seems to always work things out.

9. What do you like most about working at Arora?
I’ve gotten the opportunity to try on different “hats” at Arora, which has provided a lot of professional growth. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet and work with many great colleagues, and am so happy for those experiences.

10. What has been your favorite memory while working at Arora?
Being here for so long, I do have a lot of great memories while working at Arora. For me, the holidays stand out. There are many memories of office potlucks and parties where a lot of good times were had!

11. Outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
I’m most happy when I am outside in the fresh air. I spend a lot of my free time outside with my husband and dog, so we have a lot of outdoor hobbies we like to do when time permits! Anything home design makes my heart sing, you can usually find random scraps of paper around my home desk with notes of design stores, items, or websites that I fell in love with and dream over!