Emily Scerbo has dedicated her career to working with municipalities to protect citizens and local watersheds, all while paving the way as a leader for women in engineering.
Scerbo joined engineering and environmental consulting firm Tighe & Bond in 2013 as a project manager, where she pitched her business plan to establish and grow the firm’s municipal stormwater practice, all while juggling motherhood with two young children. Since then, she has become a vice president and technical director for the water business line, growing the stormwater practice by increasing municipal clients and the firm’s team of project managers.
“She’s really figured out how we can best sort of capture this piece of the market and build a team around it to make it really successful at Tighe & Bond,” said Tiffany Labrie, senior vice president and water business line leader at Tighe & Bond. “For the employees, [it is] a really awesome opportunity to work on her team and to serve this important environmental need in our region.”
Scerbo guides her team to work closely with each community, creating programs to help their needs and challenges, including sampling water, helping governmental entities to write local stormwater codes, and developing operational and maintenance plans for drainage systems.
“It’s really making sure I’m there both for technical support but also mentoring, answering questions, taking them to client meetings, pushing them to do things that are maybe out of their comfort zone,” Scerbo said. “It’s been really rewarding to me to see the group grow.”
Scerbo strikes the perfect balance between business strategy and remaining people-oriented, said Labrie. She’s not just thinking about the vision ahead, but prioritizing individual clients, meeting their needs where they are, and providing her employees with professional opportunities.
When Scerbo started her career more than 20 years ago, she said she had mostly male mentors and leaders, and as she began leveling up to leadership roles, she saw fewer women. In the last few years, she has seen more women in the room, but equal representation is not there yet.
“It’s a long road, and I can see people get frustrated that the progress is so slow, but over a couple of decades, it’s [been] a huge difference,” Scerbo said.
Scerbo spearheaded the supporting women employee resource group, with the ultimate goal of creating greater retention of women at Tighe & Bond as they progress through their careers. She organized round tables, discussing advocacy, professional conduct, and gender bias for both men and women. Now, she leads the diversity, equity and inclusion committee, which oversees all of the resource groups.
“It is a game changer to have a venue for conversations about what it is to be a woman in this particular field,” Scerbo said.
When Scerbo started her career at Tighe & Bond, she was navigating motherhood with young children, as was Labrie, who began at the firm a few years before Scerbo did. For this reason and their similar background and experiences, they have always been drawn to each other as professional peers, Labrie said.
Scerbo was a pioneer for working part time, which had generally been unheard of in consulting engineering, as the workload can be very demanding, said Labrie.
“I was really excited that she was changing the game for working parents and the consulting engineering industry,” Labrie said. “She was doing something new that folks hadn’t done before, and not only was she doing it, but she was doing it successfully.”
Scerbo is an emerging leader in stormwater management in New England, frequently speaking at conferences and serving as a trainer at industry events. She is an active member of the New England Water Environment Association and has been invited to speak at conferences including the NEWEA Annual Conference in Boston and the Maine Stormwater Conference in Portland. She presented at the joint NEWEA and New England Water Works Association Young Professionals Summit in January.
She serves as the president of the board for the nonprofit Massachusetts Rivers Alliance. She has spent years leading in a governance capacity, overseeing the board’s finances and developing a strategic plan to achieve the alliance’s mission of protecting and restoring the state’s rivers and streams.
Through softball and baseball programs for her children, Scerbo has served as a softball coach since 2013 and held various board positions throughout the years. Under her leadership, the board voted to convert the minor baseball field into a softball field, marking the first time that Westminister’s softball recreational league had a dedicated field.
“I really love the group I work with at Tighe & Bond, the people above me, and the people that work on the teams with me. I feel very well supported,” she said.
