Lorna Omondi Ogolla, the daughter of the late Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Francis Ogolla, is a patriot and a brilliant, thoughtful force of change.
Born to the late CDF and his wife Aileen, Lorna serves as the Head of Operational Excellence, DC Equipment Supply Chain, at Google in San Francisco, California, a role she took up in April 2023.
She is at her happiest when she boosts the positive energy of the people around her, a trait evident in her work and initiatives, including ‘Audanation’.
Through Audanation, she helps many ease the self-discovery journey by offering coaching sessions that empower them to navigate the pressure of college applications.
Lorna Omondi Ogolla’s Education and Achievements
Lorna attended the Kenya High School for her secondary education and secured admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In 2012, she graduated from MIT with a bachelor’s in civil engineering and was hailed by her lecturers as a true gem and an outstanding research assistant for a climate change policy project.
Her Civil engineering professor, Eduardo Kausel, said that “she exudes irrepressible optimism and enthusiasm for the sciences as well as for politics, social and human issues.”
After her graduation from MIT, she worked as an energy analyst at Charles River Associates and Greylock McKinnon Associates. Her interests lay in the intersection between the energy industry and economics.
Additionally, she returned to Kenya to mentor young girls and encourage them to pursue top engineering programs.
Also Read: Prof Susan Njeri Kibue: Illustrious Career of Kenya’s First Female Professor of Architecture
“After I got into MIT, one thing I wanted to do was encourage other young women from Kenya and other African countries to get into top engineering programs.
“I saw girls getting accepted into great liberal arts schools, which was good, but fewer who pursued science and engineering programs, both in Kenya and across the globe. I’ve been going back to Kenya regularly to mentor students and motivate them,” she said during a past interview.
In 2014, Lorna won the competitive full-cost international Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue a master’s in management science and Operations at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
Later in 2015, Lorna Omondi Ogolla joined Stanford University for a master’s degree in management science and engineering in Financial Analytics.
Lorna’s Outstanding Career and Awards
In 2011, Lorna joined the MIT staff as a research assistant in the engineering systems division. She researched the relationships between socioeconomic parameters and consumer behavior regarding the adoption of hybrid motor vehicles.
Also, she was the research assistant for MIT professor Robert Pindyck. In this role, she executed computations and implemented models to describe the relationship between climate change, human consumption, and global GDP.
Further, in June 2012, she joined Charles River Associates as a manager and Economic Consultant for the Energy Industry. Lorna left the company in 2013 and joined Greylock McKinnon Associates as an energy analyst.
In 2016, Lorna joined the Analysis Group in San Francisco as a Management and Economic Consultant until June 2018.
Later in June 2018, she joined Google as a program manager and rose through the ranks to become the Head of Operational Excellence, DC Equipment Supply Chain.
Also Read: KDF Boss Francis Ogolla’s Life Outside Military
Lorna Mourns CDF Francis Ogolla
She mourned her father on Thursday, April 18, saying that he was the most empathetic and effective leader she knew.
“My father, Pursuer of excellence. Most empathetic and effective leader and statesman just went down in a chopper crash in West Pokot
“Doing what he did best for the better part of the last 40 years, trying to keep Kenya Safe. One day I shall tell beautiful stories of how he taught with his actions and not with his words. But today, I rush home to send him off to the great beyond,” Lorna Omondi Ogolla said in a statement.
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