For leading the project that ensured safety at the 2022 FIFA World Cup

Program Manager at Leonardo | Glasgow, Scotland

When Kathryn Williamson Hall began working as a program manager for the global security defense and space manufacturing company Leonardo, she couldn’t have imagined how her work would intersect with the world of international sports.

In 2022, Kathryn led a project to deliver E-SCAN radars for Eurofighter Typhoons, aircraft based in Qatar that provided air policing and security during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The project was so successful that Kathryn won an award for young professionals in project management.

Kathryn, who had to work with multiple, complex stakeholders, was essential in managing, deploying, and delivering the project. She brought a uniquely proactive and detailed monitoring approach to risks in the project’s schedule and its delivery. She has also been lauded for introducing “Integrated Production Planning"—essentially working with both her own internal Leonardo U.K. team and that of Euroradar to create a consolidated plan.

Kathryn said that working on the EuroFighter Typhoon Radar Production Programme project “was a great opportunity.”

Her approach has been so successful for the E-SCAN radar project that it is still being used by the Typhoon program, which will unfurl similar radars to countries including Kuwait, Germany, and Spain.