William Lloyd, who is a Project Manager at Mar Azul Projects, studied at Colegio Javier in Panama and, later, he transferred to Georgia Tech University in Atlanta, GA, obtaining, in 1999, the title of Bachelor of Science in Civil & Environmental Engineering. In 2001, he obtained the Master of Civil Engineering, also at Georgia Tech.

Outside of his professional life, what does he like to do?

“In my free time, I like to relieve myself of daily stress in the gym doing cardio and weights, I enjoy playing with my children, and I love the beach.”

William defines himself as a person focused on results, a team mentor, persevering and proactive. Qualities that demonstrate his professional career, since one of his first work experiences was obtained during his vacation from the University, as a quality inspector with a Panamanian promoter. Similarly, while studying at Georgia Tech, he worked as a Civil Engineering Tutor for other students and also as a Teaching and Research Assistant to the Director of the Department of Construction Management at that university, which awarded him a scholarship for a master’s degree.

His first job in the US private sector was with the oil company RaceTrac, where he was involved in bidding, construction, and culminating a project with twenty gas stations and their convenience stores around the Southeastern US; work experience he gained at the same time he completed his bachelor’s degree and began his master’s degree.

Within the workplace, what has been the biggest challenge he has faced?

“The biggest challenge has been to return from the US to Panama and try to implement constructive experiences in a different culture, in four projects in a row, which I did not start, full of problems and delays, but with which I was commissioned to put them on track, organize, and finish them as soon as possible with the quality, cost, and time required. In all those projects I felt like a firefighter putting out fires, and I keep dreaming of the opportunity to start projects from scratch in Panama, that are better organized and start from the beginning, because otherwise, it is very difficult to try to straighten a tree.”

What makes William Lloyd proud?

For this proactive manager, one of his greatest achievements was having the opportunity to obtain a scholarship at Georgia Tech, followed by being part of two great constructions: the first, the culmination of the second largest foundation and third tallest building in the state of Florida and, in Panama, to have been part of the team in charge of the tallest building in Latin America in their respective years.

About Mar Azul

We asked him to tell us what is he most passionate about and enjoys of his work at Mar Azul Projects:

“Among what I am most passionate about in my work are the continuous professional challenges and making them come true. I also enjoy motivating and coaching up the team, imparting my knowledge and experiences to them for the benefit of the project and so that they too can grow in their careers.”

As a team leader, we asked him what is most difficult about this position. “It has been to adopt several and different teams in projects already started and under construction, having to reorganize their functions based on their skills and project needs, and motivating them to meet the client’s objectives when some were comfortable with what they were doing, prior to changes. This required a lot of motivation and teamwork to achieve the goals.”

Experiences

William shared a curious anecdote with us: “Five years before working with Mar Azul Projects it had already caught my attention to join the team. Although I was happy in another company full of challenges, I had that professional challenge since I knew, that in Panama, it was the best professional company specialized in project management in the style of US companies.

Project management is also what I specialized in, in my university studies and the field where I developed most of my professional experience in the USA, so I knew that Mar Azul was the company that was going to know how to take advantage of my prior knowledge and develop my capacities the most. During those five years, I maintained communication with José Ramón with whom I always felt chemistry and, fortunately, the opportunity to join this great company was given to me in 2019, for which I maintain well-established goals and challenges to help it continue to grow in the future”.

What advice do you share with us?

As a Project Manager and with his proactive experience, we asked William to tell us what he considers to be the keys that have helped him and he recommends us to achieve objectives. He shared with us these five recommendations: