Rae Slattery, Associate Director Finance & Administration, SPRIM

Rae Slattery is an Associate Manager at SPRIM, responsible for administration and project management. She specializes in linking and managing these areas throughout the entire project cycle, ensuring operations stay on-track and on-budget. Before joining SPRIM, Rae co-owned and operated two service-oriented businesses, managing all internal operations. She also spent 10 years at American Airlines, Inc., managing budgets and cost within the Miami-Caribbean-Latin America division, facilitating development and maintenance of several airport operational budgets, overseeing capital spending and divisional reporting requirements, and providing project preparation support for senior-level management. Rae holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University.

 

What advice can you give to colleagues on overcoming hurdles when working on challenging projects?

Always stay positive, any experience is a good learning experience. Have confidence in yourself and your abilities, as you were assigned the project for a reason. Ask questions, multiple times if necessary, to clarify if you are on the right track; those questions may lead you down a path previously undiscovered which could potentially impact your project.

It’s good to walk all the way around the circle to try and see things from all angles. If you get stuck or need to bounce ideas off colleagues, we are fortunate to have a terrific group of people at SPRIM with extensive experience, who are happy and willing to provide support and guidance when needed.

Where do you think women have the best opportunity to contribute to the future of health?

Women can, and do, make contributions at all levels – the sky’s the limit. We are natural nurturers, it is in our genetic make-up to protect our families and those close to them. We are detail-oriented and don’t give up at the first dead-end, often creating a solution when none appear to be available. In today’s environment, women and men have more access to research tools and can collaborate to achieve solutions that will benefit many on a global level.