Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Key Takeaways
- From the Seattle Seawall project to mentoring the next generation, Haritha Venna’s career includes big-picture thinking, decisive action, and building infrastructure and people that last.
- She demonstrated leadership during the Seattle Seawall project, taking on project management responsibilities early on.
- Haritha emphasizes mentoring, empowering her team to take ownership and grow in their roles.
- She believes leadership requires accountability and supporting the team through challenges while maintaining project quality.
- Haritha is excited about the evolving nature of engineering projects and aims to make a lasting positive impact on communities.
From the Seattle Seawall project to mentoring the next generation, Haritha Venna’s career includes big-picture thinking, decisive action, and building infrastructure and people that last.
Early tests of leadership: looking at projects from the bigger picture
When you’ve always been good at math and science, engineering can come naturally. That’s how Haritha Venna found her way into civil engineering and began her career at Parsons, starting out in their Atlanta, GA office. Just eight months into her start, Haritha’s husband got a job in Seattle, and she relocated to Parsons’ Seattle office. “Because Parsons has offices all over the country, I knew I’d have opportunities no matter where I went,” said Haritha, being excited and ready for a new opportunity.
While in Seattle, Haritha’s potential as a project manager began to show itself. She had the ability to zoom out her view of a project and look at it from a big picture perspective. Doing so allowed her to see how all tasks interacted and what was needed to keep the project moving forward.
Her first real test at project leadership came during the Seattle Seawall project. She began the project as an engineer and engineer-of-record, and when a project amendment was added, she became the project manager after the previous project manager had to step down for another opportunity. “You’re never really prepared to step into leadership. You just have to take the step and find out,” says Haritha of her first foray into leadership.
From mentee to mentor: uplifting the next generation of engineers
Haritha was fortunate to have a great mentor in Jim Eshbaugh, who always made her feel supported and showed up for her in whatever way she needed. When asked what he taught her that stands out the most, she said, “He told me the worst thing you can do is not make a decision at all. Don’t waffle. Even if the decision isn’t quite right, you have to move forward because waiting costs time.”
This has resonated in her ability to move projects forward, consistently managing schedules successfully by making clear decisions on complex project challenges. She’s also taken that advice, and much more, from Jim Eshbaugh and applied it to how she manages her own team.
For Haritha, it means giving her team opportunities to take ownership of their work and the freedom to make those decisions. Having been provided the same opportunities in her
career, she knows those moments are critical to their growth. As she says, “I want them to flourish and grow, even if that means rising above where I am. How far you can go at Parsons is only constrained by you. So, if they put in the time and effort to grow, then I want to do whatever I can to support that.”
Decisive leadership: embracing accountability and encouraging autonomy
On projects like the Seattle Seawall or Georgia 400, the stakes were high for Haritha, if something fails then entire communities were affected. “That’s the real pressure. Consistently delivering successful solutions under tight timelines, while making sure they’re designed to last,” said Haritha. There are reviews and safeguards built in, yet the stress often comes from unrealistic schedules and never quite having enough time to make everything perfect.
One moment that truly tested Haritha was early in the Seattle Seawall project. A subconsultant was leading a task with significant autonomy, and then Haritha’s team realized segments weren’t aligning as they should. It forced her to step into leadership more decisively.
“If you don’t want to work for a bad leader, you have to be willing to lead even when it’s uncomfortable. Resetting expectations, improving coordination, and embracing the autonomy I was given helped me grow, reinforcing that leadership is about accountability and guiding the team forward when the responsibility feels real,” said Haritha of addressing this critical project challenge.
What’s next: the future of Haritha’s career and the industry
At this stage in Haritha’s career, she’s most excited by the variety and the challenge that each project presents. She’s worked on everything from light rail and highways to fish passages and interstate projects across the West Coast, East Coast, Texas, and Canada with no two projects ever being the same. For her, new projects mean new problems to solve and new people to collaborate with, which is what keeps the work fresh. She’s also energized by how emerging technologies are transforming civil infrastructure, helping to design and deliver projects that are better, faster, and safer.
When it comes to the impact she’s left in her career, Haritha said this, “Ultimately, I hope the roads, bridges, and rail systems I’ve worked on help people get where they need to go safely and efficiently, while also meeting broader goals like improving salmon habitats through fish passage projects or supporting economic growth in a community. Success isn’t just about building something; it’s about delivering on the client’s vision and creating work we can be proud of.”