Stories

KBR CEO Stuart Bradie was on hand at a recent event to help launch ASPIRE, a new Employee Resource Group with a mission to cultivate women leaders and promote diversity though a collaborative community for the benefit of all employees and KBR. ASPIRE’s vision is to make KBR an employer of choice where women are influencing, leading and learning.

“The support and positive feedback from both KBR leadership and employees for ASPIRE has been tremendous,” said Stephanie Trevino, Chair of the ASPIRE Board of Directors. “We are excited to kick off ASPIRE and are planning on a great year."

Bradie said that he wanted to personally participate in the event because ASPIRES’s mission of diversity and empowerment epitomizes KBR’s core values and key behaviors. He spoke about his firm belief in equality and its importance saying, “It’s essential to our future that everyone feels empowered and everyone has the resources and opportunity to realize their full potential.”

His passion for diversity and equality was inspired by his mother who was one of the first women to become Chairman of a company in Scotland. Bradie explained that from a young age, his experience watching his mother’s accomplishments taught him that there was no difference to him; that everyone is equal and deserves the same opportunities regardless of gender or background.

Groups like ASPIRE help us understand the value of diversity by encouraging us to embrace those differences and recognize them as assets according to Bradie. “A diverse team drawing on diverse perspectives will generate a better quality of ideas, which results in better decisions and mores success for the company.”
Bradie stressed that ASPIRE’s mission is essential to shaping and strengthening KBR’s culture. “It’s exactly what we want to be doing. We want to empower leaders. We want to see people getting equal opportunities and moving forward.”
In addition to Bradie’s keynote address, the launch event featured a fireside chat between Trevino, Bradie, and KBR senior executives Pam Roche and David Zelinski.

They discussed how to foster a corporate culture that empowers all employees to have the same opportunities to succeed, ensuring that the best talent is being put in the right positions. As a group, they agreed that ASPIRE plays an integral role in supporting that culture.
According to Roche, one key way is by serving as a meeting ground to connect employees across business lines and functions to build relationships that can drive innovation at KBR. In discussing mentor and sponsor relationships, Roche said that “it is very important to not only identify and mentor the next generation of talent, but to also serve as an advocate for them as opportunities arise for them to advance in their careers.”

In addition, ASPIRE is a resource that can assist KBR with the processes of talent development and management that include diversity as a key part of the discussion. Zelinski said that’s one of the reasons he signed on to serve as the Executive Sponsor for APSIRE. “I’m really happy to serve as the sponsor for APSIRE, particularly during its inauguration,” said Zelinski. “Their support for diversity and development of leaders within the company is absolutely consistent with ONE KBR and our ‘Value Our Employees’ key behavior. ASPIRE will help us remain vigilant on the subject and ensure that we are always aware of the importance of driving diversity across KBR from top to bottom.”

Beatriz Ruiz, who works in the KBR Human Resources Department, attended the event and was pleased with what she heard. “It is great to see our leadership so supportive of a group dedicated to supporting diversity and to helping employees develop in their careers,” she said. “I look forward to getting involved with ASPIRE to take advantage of the resources it offers and to help them support diversity at KBR.”