Aurecon Leaders Appointed To Prestigious FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee

Two leaders from international engineering, design and advisory company Aurecon have been appointed to International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Sustainable Development Committee to advise the engineering consulting industry on sustainability issues and how to make a positive contribution and impact to combat climate change.

Aurecon’s Managing Director for New Zealand, Tracey Ryan has been named as Chair of the 11-strong international committee and Director, Coastal & Climate Change – Asia, Stéphanie Groen will join as a committee member.

The new committee will advocate, guide and monitor best practice in sustainable development across the global engineering and construction industry. In addition to publishing tools and guides to support best practice, the committee will advise the FIDIC board on all aspects of sustainable development as part of the organisation’s commitment to helping the industry achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Tracey Ryan is delighted to lead the committee: “Environmental sustainability is one of the most important issues facing our planet so I’m really looking forward to starting work as the chair of this vital FIDIC committee and to collaborating and working closely with some of the best and brightest minds from across the world,” Ms Ryan said.

“I believe that engineers play a vital role in helping our governments and communities tackle this complex challenge. A key aim of the committee will be to assess the potential impact of climate change and provide a meaningful forum for consulting engineers to share ideas on how they can enable mitigation, adaptation and resilience to climate change and develop and maintain buildings and infrastructure assets that are truly sustainable in the broadest possible way. The committee will also continue to promote FIDIC’s core principles of quality, integrity and sustainability and work towards better infrastructure while creating positive impact in all the communities where we work.”

Stéphanie Groen believes that Aurecon’s expertise in sustainability will bring further insights to the committee.

“Many of the issues the Sustainable Development Committee will be looking into, such as sustainable cities, infrastructure and doughnut economics1, are areas that Aurecon already plays strongly in. I am looking forward to working with Tracey to bring an Asia Pacific perspective to the committee and add value by driving the agenda in sustainable development leadership,” Ms Groen said.

“FIDIC has a great opportunity to play a critical role in providing practical solutions to countries and organisations responding to the UN Sustainable Development goals. I’m looking forward to collaborating with other committee members to look at these goals in-depth and provide real-world guidance and leadership to the engineering profession to help us achieve them.”

FIDIC chief executive Dr Nelson Ogunshakin said the Sustainable Development Committee has been relaunched as part of strengthening and upgrading FIDIC’s committee structure to respond to a rapidly changing world.

“The relaunch of our Sustainable Development Committee is part of a detailed and thorough review of FIDIC’s public engagement work where we have sought to ensure that our committees and other representative bodies better reflect geographic diversification and have the right skills set to be more effective in a changing marketplace. Competition was stiff to sit on these revamped committees, with over 350 industry experts from around the world applying to be members,” Dr Ogunshakin said.

“The new Sustainable Development Committee, in common with a number of other revamped committees we will be announcing over the coming weeks, will enable FIDIC to be more external facing and help us to make a positive impact on and influence in the global infrastructure industry. Going forward, we plan to be more vocal and more visible to meet the challenges our industry faces as it moves out of the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.”

Aurecon Chief Executive William Cox said that Aurecon was incredibly proud of Tracey and Stéphanie’s committee appointments and they will undoubtedly make a positive contribution.

“Tracey and Stéphanie will apply their leadership strength and deep technical knowledge to drive the global agenda in sustainable development, climate change response and resilience. Our clients will benefit from a ‘front row seat’ at this very important global conversation and have first-hand access to the best practice tools, strategies and insights the committee develops,” Mr Cox said.

About FIDIC

FIDIC has been in operation for over 100 years and represents the interests of over one million engineering professionals and 40,000 firms in more than 100 countries worldwide. FIDIC offers education, training and best practice guidance to consulting engineers in all aspects of their jobs including, sustainability and risk, procurement and contracts, integrity management and capacity building. The organisation has a strong focus on attracting young people to engineering and runs a highly successful Young Professional Management Training Programme and an associated Young Professionals Forum.

About Tracey Ryan

As Aurecon’s Managing Director, New Zealand, Tracey Ryan leads 700 people across five locations and is responsible for health & safety, client engagement, staff engagement and project, financial and operational performance to meet Aurecon’s strategic and operational business goals for New Zealand. Ryan has held senior leadership roles and directorships in several global professional services companies, including Beca, where she was the Transport and Infrastructure Clients and Markets Director, EY where she was Director for Sustainability and Climate Change, and ERM, where she was Managing Partner. She sits on the board of Infrastructure New Zealand and the advisory board for NZ Women’s Infrastructure Network (WIN).

About Stéphanie Groen

As Director of Coastal & Climate Change in Asia, Stéphanie leads Aurecon’s Coastal and Climate Change practice in Asia. Stéphanie brings 18 years’ experience in water, marine and environmental consultancy and previously ran DHI Singapore as Managing Director. She has been involved in a range of strategic environmental projects including developing a climate change adaption framework for the Singapore Government, developing a disaster risk assessment for the state of Uttarakhand in India for the World Bank and advising various Singapore Government Agencies on environmental management solutions for marine dredging and reclamation works for Tuas Port, Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong and Pasir Panjang Terminals. Stéphanie currently chairs Aurecon’s Diversity & Inclusion Council in Asia and she is part of an external industry panel with NTUitive supporting the university engineering start-up investments.

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