San Antonio Airport Terminal

8+
Years of practice
TX P.E.
Licensure
English / Spanish
Languages
Vanessa O'Kelly
Plate I2026
· About

Building with purpose, leading with clarity.

Over eight years of complex projects has shaped how I work — and how I lead.

Strong outcomes come from clear communication, deliberate coordination, and consistently applying critical thinking to balance technical, cost, and project constraints.

I am interested in what emerging tools make possible — often ahead of industry adoption. I build practical workflows that remove friction and let engineers focus on engineering.

i.Project Management
  • Led and mentored a team of seven engineers for a large-scale project, setting priorities, balancing workloads, and supporting professional development.
  • Lead stand-up meetings and retrospectives to coordinate priorities, resolve issues, and refine team workflows to improve collaboration and overall efficiency.
  • Oversaw BIM modeling efforts, ensuring accurate, coordinated deliverables.
  • Developed a project management tool to optimize staff allotment and support timely turnaround of submittals for a fast-track project.
ii.Leadership & Mentorship
  • Provided targeted technical and professional development to 10 younger engineers through one-on-one and group training.
  • Trained junior engineers in Revit workflows and firmwide standards to improve model consistency, efficiency, and quality across teams.
iii.Stakeholder Communication
  • Collaborated closely with architects, contractors, and consultants through regular meetings to integrate structural, architectural, and construction requirements.
iv.Problem Solving
  • Balanced engineering effort with appropriate levels of accuracy during early design phases to meet client expectations, maintain financial targets, and develop reliable structural quantity estimates.
  • Negotiated additional fees for a project requiring field presence to ensure construction aligned with design intent, after several field issues were discovered.
  • Leveraged new AI tools to create software and develop custom solutions that improved data management and visualization workflows.
  • Built a PowerQuery-based spreadsheet tool to integrate datasets from multiple software platforms, reducing manual errors and significantly improving efficiency.
  • Conducted weekly site visits and coordinated with the contractor and architect to proactively resolve field issues while maintaining project schedule and budget.
· Selected Work

Designed, detailed, delivered.

012024 · Aviation
San Antonio Airport Terminal
01 · Aviation

San Antonio Airport Terminal

San Antonio, Texas

A major civic gateway project. Structural coordination across concourses, aprons, and long-span public spaces.

View project →
022023 · Civic
Capitol Complex Phase II
02 · Government

Capitol Complex Phase II

Austin, Texas

Phase II expansion of the Texas Capitol Complex. Long-span civic structure with heightened security and legacy considerations.

View project →
032022 · Education
Ball High School
03 · K-12 Education

Ball High School

Galveston, Texas

Coastal K—12 facility: hurricane-resistant structure and a public forum for a seaside community.

View project →
042022 · Sports
Carolina Panthers Training Facility
04 · Sports & Performance

Carolina Panthers Training Facility

Rock Hill, South Carolina

High-performance training facility with long-span field houses and specialized performance infrastructure.

View project →
052021 · Higher Ed
WTAMU Schaeffer Building
05 · Higher Education

WTAMU Schaeffer Building

Canyon, Texas

A flexible academic building for West Texas A&M with classroom and teaching-lab programs.

View project →
062020 · Retail
The SoNo Collection
06 · Retail / Mixed-Use

The SoNo Collection

Norwalk, Connecticut

Large-scale mixed-use retail destination. Complex structural coordination and long-span atrium geometry.

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072019 · Commercial
Hudson Yards Fit-Outs
07 · Commercial

Hudson Yards Fit-Outs

New York, New York

Tenant fit-out design across Hudson Yards — tenant-specific floor reinforcement, cores, and MEP coordination.

View project →
01of 07
· Software & Technology

Building smarter with software.

I use emerging technologies—often ahead of industry adoption—to identify workflow inefficiencies and build practical, high-impact solutions.

Education, licensure, experience.

Education
  • M.S. Structural EngineeringUT Austin · Dec 2017 · GPA 3.8
  • B.S. Civil EngineeringUT Austin · May 2016 · GPA 3.65
Licensure
  • Professional Engineer (P.E.)State of Texas
  • Project Management ProfessionalPMP — Actively preparingIn Progress
Experience
  • Thornton TomasettiSenior Project Engineer · Houston, TX & New York, NY · Jan 2018 – Present
  • LEAP! StructuresIntern · Austin, TX · Jun 2016 – Aug 2017
  • Santiago CalatravaIntern · Zürich, Switzerland · Summer 2016
  • S4 ArquitectesIntern · Barcelona, Spain · Summer 2015
Technical Expertise
Analysis & Modeling
SAP2000 ETABS RAM Enercalc Hilti PROFIS
Documentation & BIM
Revit Bluebeam Studio Microsoft Office
Workflow & Automation
Claude Code PowerQuery Matlab
Codes & Standards
ASCE AISC IBC ACI
Languages
English Spanish
Professional Activities

Director, Global Programming Committee

Women at Thornton Tomasetti

Led global initiatives connecting and empowering women across 50+ offices through quarterly professional development events and mentoring programs.

Co-Coordinator — NY/TX Office

Women at Thornton Tomasetti

Organized local events promoting community, mentorship, and career growth.

Recruiting Committee Co-Lead

Thornton Tomasetti · Houston, TX & New York, NY

Led recruiting efforts for entry-level engineers at UT and A&M.

Member

Women in Architecture

Let's build something together.

vokelly347@outlook.com
Email
Based
Houston, TX
LinkedIn
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