10-13-2024 W2W - Flipbook - Page 12
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WOMEN
TO WATCH
Meet the Baltimore area’s most intriguing
movers and shakers of 2024
Kimberly Matthews
44, Design Manager, Army Corps of Engineers
In her 16 years serving with the Army Corps of Engineers, Kimberly Matthews has learned how to keep
things organized in times of crisis — she was deployed to
Texas during response efforts for Hurricane Ike, and to
the Florida panhandle during Hurricane Maria.
But work was “definitely different” this March when
the design manager responded to a catastrophe in her
hometown. Matthews, the corps’ current operations
coordinator for the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
response, was tasked with moving the project along.
“We’re used to being in charge,” she said, noting that
the Baltimore effort involved several different agencies and contractors working together. That’s where
Matthews comes in — her job was to oversee the lines
12 | 2024 | WOMEN TO WATCH
of communication, share updates, collaborate and set
boundaries to ultimately move the mission forward.
Her team also had to be sensitive to the collapse being a
tragedy, as six people died falling from the bridge when it
was struck by a container ship in the early hours of March
26. The crews made sure to do their jobs “with dignity
and honor,” she said.
But each little milestone of the response effort — like
getting a large piece of truss out of the water, or seeing
the first ships pass through — “really encouraged us,”
she said.
That’s why Matthews loves what she does: “It makes
a difference.”
— Dan Belson
