Fellow Grade

Carol Coppa is a program manager in the transmission project performance group of Eversource Energy, a sustainable energy source provider headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. In this role, she leads the implementation of a new project management information system, develops and delivers training materials to promote the consistent use of project management methodologies, and leads the professional development of new hires for her department.

Previously, Coppa held roles of increasing responsibility and leadership in design, engineering, project planning, and project management for transmission, distribution, generation, and information technology. Throughout her career, she has served as a champion for project management improvement strategies to increase communications and resource coordination between the engineering, operations, and construction groups in Eversource Energy’s major transmission capital construction program.

However, Coppa is most known for designing, creating, and managing a centralized project management information system for the Transmission Project Management organization — a system that did not previously exist. She worked for a year with a variety of stakeholders and a developer to create the Transmission Project Workbook. This application, which facilitated communications and project transparency, was launched in early 2009 with a minimum of labor costs and is still in use today.

The Society of Women Engineers has been and remains an important part of Coppa’s personal and professional life. A senior life member, she discovered SWE during an informal student meeting in 1981, while completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Hartford (UHart). She became a charter member and executive board member of the University of Hartford Collegiate Section (SWE UHart). Ever since, she has been a steadfast champion of SWE, engineers, and STEM students in her community. As Hartford section treasurer since 2000, Coppa has managed the section’s assets and investments and encouraged corporate donations, resulting in a fourfold increase in net value. At the Society level, she has served as a national section representative and, while pregnant with twins, became New England Region director. In all of these roles, Coppa has given countless hours to uphold SWE’s mission by supporting women in STEM professions and encouraging young women to pursue STEM careers. She has been a counselor for SWE UHart since 2011.

In her community, Coppa’s influence extends to judging for more than 60 local STEM competitions, participating in countless panels and career fairs, teaching a course for engineers as adjunct faculty at UHart, and serving on the university’s board of visitors. She recently received SWE’s WE Local FY23 Legacy Award.

Coppa holds an M.S. in operations management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Hartford; a master’s and advanced certificates in project management from The George Washington University; and a project management professional certification. In her spare time, Coppa enjoys golf, traveling with her daughters, and playing with her Shetland sheepdog puppy.