Upon graduation, the global financial crisis hit, and I struggled to find meaningful career opportunities. That lack of opportunity forced me toward the world of auditing where I began working parttime as an auditor in training doing International Standards Organization (ISO) Environmental Management System (EMS) audits at manufacturing facilities all over North America. Over time, I became an ISO Certified Lead auditor conducting ISO 14001 EMS and IS0 9001 Quality QMS systems audits with Intertek, a global Audit and Assurance registrar company.

This hardcore, on the ground experience provided me with the experience and qualifications to go on and join National Grid as a Corporate EHS lead auditor in 2016. After 5 years of conducting onsite and office-based EHS audits at the corporate level, I moved into compliance assurance where I currently work as a Lead Compliance Assurance Analyst with different business units within National Grid helping them to develop and improve their operational controls so they can achieve compliance with regulatory obligations. I have not yet identified what the next step in my career will be. However, I have developed very strong stakeholder, analysis, and project management skills in the process. I am excited by the hard work I have put in to get to where I am currently and, God willing, I will be fortunate enough to realize more success in the future.

I was motivated to apply for the CPEA because I needed a credential that clearly recognized my EHS auditor status/profession. At National Grid, I was part of a Corporate EHS audit team which operated under the wing of IT, Finance, and General Management system audit. All the auditors I knew were certified through the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). However, there was no credential within IIA to certify EHS auditors. Consequently, I found out about CPEA and decided to become a certified CPEA EHS auditor. The CPEA brings value to me as a practitioner because it adds validity of the auditing profession generally and, more specifically, it demonstrates that EHS auditing belongs in a legitimate global professional category of its own. I would recommend the CPEA to someone because I am a firm believer in the value and integrity of adding credentials earned through your own endeavor to a resume. That is what I have always done throughout my work life and later as an integral part of a professional career. I have amassed several credentials this way and when a professional does this consistently through their career, it becomes something that people have to acknowledge and respect about that individual. It also makes one a better professional and a better person in the long run. More importantly, it should always be the bedrock as to how professional capabilities are assessed.