North Dakotan Terry Williams is helping to manage the $3.2-billion Fargo-Moorhead Flood Diversion project, a first-of-its-kind endeavor, from the delivery method—it’s the first alternative delivery project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the first P3 water management project in North America—to its split delivery implementation across the cities and counties that straddle the Red River, along the North Dakota and Minnesota border. While Williams calls the role a privilege and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, colleagues say the job was practically scripted for her because she is one of only a few people who could manage such a multifaceted effort. “Not many projects move as fast as this one, and Terry has the right balance to get it done,” says Cass County Engineer Jason Benson, who has worked on the Fargo-Moorhead (FM) Diversion project with Williams since 2011.
Born on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks, Williams grew up in Fargo and Devil’s Lake, N.D., and spent summers working for her father’s engineering firm. In 1986 she graduated from the UND civil engineering school and immediately joined the Corps.