Stories

Arriving in Chennai is a visual and audible delight with its vibrant, colorful streets and a city constantly on the go. The KBR Chennai office is an oasis of calm but is still a space that is certainly on the go and making its mark on the success of KBR's business.

What began six years ago as a center of excellence to deliver services to the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region, Chennai has grown from zero to almost 900 employees and continues to expand today. The office provides corporate services to all business segments in the EMEA region as well as much valued support to the region's projects, including DuPont Tyvek, Oman LNG, JV Gas, and RKF Sonatrach.

Since 2018, the office has been led by Ulysses Goree, KBR Vice President, Chennai Operating Center, who was tasked with bringing the office into its next chapter of success. "At the heart of the success of the Chennai office is its people who take pride in their work and offer unfailing dedication and commitment," said Goree. "We have a fine balancing act of managing the work flow that comes in from our regions and one of the successes I am so proud of is that our people often get 'headhunted' to work in other regions as they have developed and expanded their skillsets."

As a direct result of the growth in Chennai, Goree has overseen the recent hiring of thirty young graduates in areas of engineering, project controls, accounting and many more, which is a first for the region.

Chennai's employee networking groups are central to the office and its employees. Led by IMPACT Chennai chair Tryphena Edward, Associate Technical Professional - Structural, the young professionals group began almost a year ago with a membership of over 120 individuals. It is a unique platform in the working arena to explore to explore and build both professional and leadership skills. IMPACT organizes monthly Lunch and Learns, focused areas of learning, community engagements, volunteering and networking opportunities.

“IMPACT’s unique feature is that young professionals get a great deal of exposure to the leaders in the firm and an insight into their successful career paths," said Edward. "It gives us an opportunity to build open and warm professional relationships between colleagues and makes work space interesting and engaging, creating a sense of belonging to KBR."

Meanwhile, the ASPIRE chapter there is one of the great success stories for the global ASPIRE network. The chapter, chaired by Jeya Gnana Deepika KJ, Sr. Subcontracts Administrator, conduct an engaging and dynamic portfolio of activities centered around the ideal of office inclusivity. ASPIRE includes all employees of the Chennai office as members of the chapter and the recent ASPIRE Walk-A-Thon was a testament to that ideal which promoted healthy living in an inclusive environment.

In addition, ASPIRE has been instrumental in launching KBR One Ocean, the company's global initiative aimed at reducing plastic pollution in our oceans. To kickoff the program in Chennai, ASPIRE held an office-wide beach clean-up last December and will be incorporating One Ocean in partnership with local schools later this month. "We are very excited to be supporting One Ocean in Chennai," said Deepika. "So far we have received great support in the Chennai office with over 20 volunteers and we are looking forward to a successful launch of the program into schools."

The Chennai office has made transformative progress over the last several years, and we look forward to their continued contributions to the entire KBR organization in the future.