BGSU alumna leads $4.5 million upgrade to Detroit People Mover

Jessica English ’15 jumpstarted her career with a construction management degree from BGSU

On her very first day of a new job, Bowling Green State University alumna Jessica English ’15 walked into an eyebrow-raising deadline.

The first task for English, now the capital project manager at the Detroit People Mover: complete one of the system's most extensive rail renovations to date in a matter of months.

“Literally on my first day, they said, ‘Here’s your project – this is your baby because we need to get this done fast,’” English said. “This was the largest project the Detroit People Mover has had to date. It was a $4.5 million job that consisted of bringing in contractors from out of state to come here for a very short period to get the job done.”

It was a challenge for which English and her colleagues proved more than ready, as the project to replace the rails for nearly 7,000 feet of the city’s 13-station downtown transit system is now complete and fully operational.

The project represented not only a major upgrade for the citizens of Detroit and the larger region, but served as the exact type of memorable, large-scale work English hoped to do as a BGSU student.

“We owed it to the community and the citizens of Detroit to have the quickest turnaround possible – but it was still a three-month window,” English said. “I’ve never had a project that was turned around so fast, but we worked around the clock. We were able to get it done.”

A native of Detroit, English is now playing a starring role in shaping her hometown with projects like the People Mover rail replacement.

The improved transit system, which is free to use, came to fruition under the tightest of deadlines to provide a key service that will last for decades.

“Construction management is one of those things I’ll always be able to look back on,” English said. “With a project like the rail replacement, 50 or 60 years from now, I can tell my grandkids, ‘Your grandma worked on that.’ It’s super rewarding.”

(BGSU video / Ben Boutwell '24/ Justin Camuso-Stall '14)

Now a professional within her field, English said completing co-ops during summer breaks as a BGSU student proved invaluable early in her career.

Looking back, she said the volume of co-op experiences not only set her apart from other recent college graduates, but allowed her to test different areas of her profession.

Construction management majors at BGSU are required to complete three co-op experiences – which are paid, directly related to the major and graded like a class – as part of the curriculum.

Additionally, the BGSU School of the Built Environment educates architecture and construction management students together – the only university in Ohio to do so – which allowed English to fully understand the type of career she wanted as a professional.

English, the daughter of a mechanical engineer, started in that degree program, but saw the future she wanted in construction management after seeing both fields up close.

“I was able to see the difference in the workloads and the types of work I was going to do, so I easily was able to say what I did not want to do versus what I did want to do,” English said. “Architects and construction managers work hand-in-hand. The architects come up with the dream or the vision, but they give it to a construction manager to make it come to life.”

English was a PLA Thompson Scholar through the Sidney A. Ribeau President’s Leadership Academy at BGSU who started a lasting legacy during her time at the University.

Historically, construction has been a male-dominated field – nearly 90% of the workforce was male in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – and English sought a sense of community for women in related careers.

During her time at BGSU, she founded the Purple Hard Hats, which aimed to create a support system and community for women studying in programs in the College of Engineering and Innovation.

More than a dozen years later, the organization is still active on campus.

“I wanted us to build a close-knit community where we could study together, pour into each other, mentor each other and give a sense of support,” she said. “It gets lonely being the only woman in your class, so in my sophomore year, I decided to create the Purple Hard Hats.

“I’m very proud to hear they’re still up and functioning.”

A decade after graduating, English said she looks back fondly on the hard work she completed as a BGSU student and remains grateful for the experience.

“My experiences at BGSU 100% prepared me for this project and many projects to come,” she said. “I learned the importance of teamwork, leadership, organization, time management, and took all of those things I learned at BGSU and apply them to every single project that I have today.”