International Women's Day 2025 - spotlight on Emma Sandison
Ahead of International Women's Day, we sat down with Emma Sandison, our Fibre First Programme Director.
With nearly a decade at Openreach, Emma has taken on diverse roles across project management, transformation, operations and compliance. Her journey from a graduate to a leader is a testament to the great opportunities for career progression and also her hard work in getting to where she is today.
Emma loves the variety in her job, keeping every day exciting and dynamic, embracing challenges with agility and focusing on ‘controlling the controllables’.
Her most memorable moments? Leading on the Electric Vehicle programme from scratch and supporting our sustainability and #LetsReachZero goals.
Inspired by phenomenal female leaders within our business who demonstrate that success and work-life balance are possible, Emma hopes to in turn inspire the next generation.
And she’s already making waves as one of BT Group's most remarkable women!
What’s your role at Openreach? I am the Fibre First programme director
How did you get the job? I have only recently started this role (currently on week number 4!) but have worked in Openreach for nearly 10 years. I started off joining as a graduate and over the last decade had the opportunity to do an array of roles across project management, transformation, operations and compliance. Openreach definitely provides opportunities to take on roles across different areas and enables career progression
What’s the best part of your job? The variety – I love that every day is different, there is so much going on and no day is ever the same… otherwise I would get bored. It keeps everything interesting and time flies as you’re typically jumping from one thing to the next
What’s the most challenging part of your job? Sometimes at short notice the goal posts change and that can be challenging, but that’s what happens in business and the key is being agile, adapting and not getting hung up on things that are not within direct control - controlling the controllables
What’s a typical day for you? A typical day at the moment is lots of meetings focused on how we can improve key areas, whether it’s network build, demand or service related, whilst in between forming plans for the year ahead to help ensure we achieve Openreach’s Reach26 ambition
What does the ‘Remarkable Woman’ award mean to you? It’s a real privilege to be awarded as one of BT Group’s remarkable women. BT Group is a really inclusive business and I hope these type of initiatives encourage and inspire the next generation
Most memorable work moment? A few years back I took on a side project of defining and starting from scratch the Company's Electric Vehicle programme. It was really fulfilling seeing this come to life, having full range and autonomy, and given how important the sustainability is
Who inspires you in your career and why? Some of the past and present female members of the Openreach exec – I am inspired when I see phenomenal female leaders and we have similarities in terms of our backgrounds or traits and they’ve demonstrated what the art of the possible is (especially during a time where it was more male dominated) whilst remaining authentic, personable and proving you can be successful and have work life balance. I am lucky enough that these role models are there both in a professional coaching capacity and as a personal friend
What did you want to be when you were a child? Either a hairdresser or teacher – I think it’s a good thing I didn’t go down either of those paths 1) I am rubbish with hair 2) my patience levels are still a work in progress
What advice you’d give to women who are interested in working at Openreach? Absolutely do it – don’t be put off by Openreach being an engineering business, as there are so many opportunities and the work we do truly matters
#IWD2025 #AccelerateAction
