Posted on December 15, 2009.

The ‘Today’s Woman’ awards gala in Prince George recognizes outstanding women living in Northern British Columbia. Recipients must be a role model for other women and have demonstrated innovation and a commitment to their area of involvement. Awards are given in fourteen categories. ASTTBC sponsors the ‘Technology Leadership Award’.

Cindy Harmel, AScT, of Kitimat received the ASTTBC award for 2009. The ‘Technology Leadership’ award recognizes a woman who has demonstrated outstanding performance in her career and provided leadership by serving as a role model while promoting careers in technology. Her nomination for the award described her as having a positive attitude, hard working and always looking to help others, especially youth.

Cindy was born in Kitimat and now works at the Northwest Community College as Director of Facilities and Maintenance. Her job involves managing the maintenance for nine campuses spread across northern BC. She graduated from the BCIT Operations Management Technology, then got her 4th Class Power Engineering ticket which opened the way to a job at Kitimat General Hospital. In 1995, she achieved her 3rd Class designation and became Chief Engineer at the hospital.

It was unusal for women to go into power engineering and facilities management, however Cindy does see more women entering the field now. As a role model, she has likely been part of the reason why. “I encourage women to go into non-traditional careers,” she says. “It’s worth it.”