Qasir Maqsood, PEng, PE, PMP

I started my career as a junior electrical engineer in the power industry in 1990, soon after obtaining a bachelor’s of electrical engineering. I worked on the design of power stations, substations, and transmission lines for greenfield and brownfield projects. Then I moved up to a project engineering role for major power projects, including power generation and substation/switchyard engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) projects.

My next role was project manager for utilities power projects. I have worked as a senior project manager, program engineering manager, program manager, and substation engineering manager on greenfield and brownfield high-voltage alternative current (HVAC) and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) substations from 69 kilovolt (kV) up to 500kV voltage level. My work has included control house and switchgear design and installation.

My international experience has enabled me to build and manage diverse teams while directing complex projects. I served as the senior project manager on a $377 million, 500 kV high-voltage direct current project in Alberta, Canada – the largest in North America at the time of its execution, guiding it to completion despite detrimental weather conditions and introduction of new technology.

I also demonstrated project and team management acumen on the implementations of the Madison Street Substation 69kV geographic information system in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Hopewell Substation 230/69kV automatic identification system in Hopewell, New Jersey, by addressing land obstacles and the critical need to meet strict milestone and design requirements.

Gannett Fleming’s Power and Energy Business Line has been experiencing substantial growth, so I was brought in to provide leadership.

One of the first projects I worked on was the Meadows Maintenance Complex (MMC) project to support New Jersey (NJ) Transit’s growing rail fleet. The project involved replacing the existing Mason Substation, the most important traction power substation facility in the NJ Transit system, with state-of-the-art equipment and protection schemes. The substation is critical to the reliability of electric service across the region. The project was challenging, which I enjoyed, and it gave me the opportunity to build a good substation team.

I was part of a team that developed a power substation quality assurance/quality control process to facilitate high-quality and consistent reviews for our growing power systems work. This more efficient and accurate process will significantly reduce or eliminate engineering rework and changes during construction.

Our work was awarded Gannett Fleming’s 2022 President’s Quality Award and a 2022 Director’s Quality Award. The awards recognize our efforts in advancing continuous quality improvement and creating time and cost efficiencies.

I often take advantage of Gannett Fleming’s on-demand learning network. Most of the technical, management, and leadership trainings required for professional development are available in our learning management system. Additionally, Gannett Fleming provides opportunities to attend seminars and conferences, and I’ve enjoyed attending several to improve and update my knowledge about the power industry.

I empower my team to continually look for opportunities for design improvement that can help clients resolve their safety issues during construction, operation, and maintenance. I call it “safety by design.” I also enjoy mentoring new graduates to help build a very good team.

Accept your mistakes and learn lessons from them.

Diversity brings different experiences and ideas to the table, instilling confidence in team members by reminding us that everyone is important.

I have a wife and three children: one daughter and two sons. Our family celebrates birthdays of each member together with a delicious dinner.

I was a very good player of field hockey and badminton during my university/college time.