Featured Employee: The Civil Engineering Extraordinaire
Raynold Bernard has a lot to celebrate. Back in 2011, he first began attending school, and after graduating in 2016, decided his thirst for knowledge hadn’t quite yet been satisfied…so he returned that very same year! Flash forward to 2021, sprinkle in a lot of hard work, long nights studying, and time spent balancing his career with his schoolwork and he officially received his Civil Engineering license. He says he considers this to be his biggest accomplishment, and we couldn’t agree more!
Raynold has been a member of our V3 Family for the past 6 years—a milestone he reached in April—and works out of our Haiti division in sunny Port-au-Prince. You can usually find him in the field putting his civil engineering degree to work as he supervises projects. Before V3, however, he worked closely with Haiti Outreach where he assisted with water supply projects and even helped build a school for a community in need. It was during that time when he met our very own Senior Vice President, Stuart Dykstra, along with a few other people who would eventually become fellow V3 peers.
“V3 had to participate in a field visit in Lagonave, North Water International was partner with V3 Haiti, and I have a good friend at North Water. He invited me, but through the years I was working with Haiti Outreach, which is my previous Job. I have met Stuart Dykstra, [and] he knew about me very well before I joined V3.”
With a passion for helping others and the ability to be friend just about anyone, Raynold tells us he considers one of his best traits to be how personable he is. It’s not just friends he made while working, either! He met his wife of 9 years, who lived in Hinche at the time, while supervising a water system project. She is currently pregnant with their first child, but told us that he’s keeping the gender and name a surprise for now.
Raynold’s passions lie in civil engineering, and when we asked about his future goals, he told us he wants to “work more and more every day”—that’s dedication! Work isn’t all he does, though. In addition to studying hard for his degree, he’s also fluent in three (yes, three!) languages. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s starting his fourth, Spanish, soon. So the next time you see Raynold hard at work, make sure you give him a friendly “Bonjou” (Creole), “Bonjour” (French), or just a plain old Hello!
