32 Influential HR Leaders in Engineering in ANZ

Last updated: June 2026

If you lead a people function inside an engineering, construction, energy, or infrastructure organisation in Australia or New Zealand right now, you are operating in one of the most demanding environments in the country. As of June 2026, the combined infrastructure pipeline across Australia alone exceeds $240 billion, with more than 300,000 skilled workers projected to fall short by 2027, according to Infrastructure Australia. The pressure on HR to deliver workforce solutions is not abstract. It lands in every recruitment drive, every retention conversation, and every psychosocial safety review that sits on the desk of every people leader in every engineering company in the country.

The people shaping that response deserve recognition. This directory puts together 32 of the most influential HR and people and culture leaders currently working within engineering, construction, energy, infrastructure, water, defence, telecommunications, and related technical organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Each person on this list was selected for a documented, fact-checked role at an organisation that operates in the engineering or technical sector, with their current incumbency confirmed from a primary source within the past 12 months.

For a broader view of HR thought leadership across Australia and New Zealand, see the companion post on 50 Essential Thought Leaders in Human Resources in Australia and New Zealand at consultclarity.org. For engineering and infrastructure leadership more broadly, see the post on 50 Essential Thought Leaders in Engineering and Infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand.

These are not always the most prominent names in the national HR conversation. Many rarely speak at cross-industry HR conferences and most of what they build stays inside their organisations. But the challenges they are solving, workforce shortages at scale, FIFO mental health, psychosocial safety in male-dominated industries, skills-based hiring in a tight market, AI adoption in technical environments, and energy transition workforce planning, are among the most complex people challenges being navigated anywhere in Australian or New Zealand business right now.

To book Jonno White, author of Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold) and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, for a leadership development session, Working Genius workshop, or executive team offsite for your engineering, construction, or infrastructure organisation, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Why HR in Engineering Matters

The engineering sector has historically underinvested in people and culture. Engineering cultures prize technical precision, project delivery, and measurable outcomes. The skills and dispositions that make great engineers are different, sometimes very different, from the skills required to lead large, diverse, and geographically distributed workforces through change.

That gap is closing, and fast. The KPMG Global Construction Survey 2025/2026 found that Australian construction and engineering organisations now allocate around 23.6 percent of transformation spend to people, above the global average of 21 percent. That shift reflects an acknowledgement that workforce capability, culture, and retention are now determinants of whether major projects get delivered at all.

Gartner research from November 2025 projects that 50 percent of current HR tasks will be automated or managed by AI agents by 2030. For technical sector organisations, which are simultaneously managing workforce shortages, complex industrial relations arrangements, high-risk psychosocial environments, and multi-site hybrid models, the people function has never carried more responsibility or required more sophistication.

The 32 leaders profiled here are navigating all of that. Hiring Jonno White to facilitate your next leadership development programme or executive team offsite can help the people managers inside your engineering organisation build the skills to support their teams. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

How This List Was Compiled

Each leader on this list was selected for a documented, fact-checked contribution to the people and culture function within an engineering, construction, energy, infrastructure, water, defence, or telecommunications organisation in Australia or New Zealand. Selection criteria included a confirmed current role at an organisation operating in the technical sector, with incumbency verified from a primary source dated within the last 12 months. Geographic diversity across Australian states and New Zealand was a deliberate priority, as was diversity across engineering sub-sectors.

Construction and Infrastructure Contracting

The tier one and tier two construction contractors in Australia and New Zealand employ tens of thousands of workers across projects with some of the most demanding safety, industrial relations, and workforce planning environments in the country.

1. Jad Vodopija

Jad Vodopija is the Chief People Officer at BHP, one of the world's largest diversified resources companies and the largest employer in Australia's mining sector, a role she has held since July 2022. With more than 25 years of experience spanning industrial relations, manufacturing, and resources, she was previously Vice President Human Resources at BHP before taking the top people role, and she also served as VP Human Resources at Orica.

In March 2026, an article she authored for the AHRI publication HRM Magazine titled '6 lessons from BHP's Chief People Officer on building future-ready organisations' made the case for HR leaders to develop a vantage point that lets them see the business from above. Her argument, that the most valuable thing an HR leader can do is develop genuine commercial credibility and stop treating people work as separate from business performance, is a thesis she has been putting into practice at a company with more than 80,000 employees globally.

To explore Working Genius facilitation or leadership development for your mining or resources team, reach out to Jonno White at jonno@consultclarity.org.

2. Sarah O'Neill

Sarah O'Neill is the Chief People and Culture Officer at CIMIC Group, Australia's largest construction and infrastructure company, and concurrently Executive General Manager People and Culture at CPB Contractors, CIMIC's primary construction subsidiary. She was appointed Chief People and Culture Officer in December 2025. Sarah holds a Bachelor of Business in Human Resource Management and brings more than 20 years of HR leadership experience to the role.

The dual role, holding both the group CPO function and the CPB Contractors HR executive function simultaneously, is a signal of how CIMIC has structured its people leadership: integrated at the executive level, with accountability for culture and capability sitting at the most senior level of both the group and its primary contracting business.

International travel is often more affordable than clients expect for facilitators and keynote speakers. Book Jonno White for your next construction leadership event at jonno@consultclarity.org.

3. Jan O'Neill

Jan O'Neill is the Chief People Officer at Downer Group, Australia's largest integrated infrastructure services company, a position she has held since 2023. She joined Downer in 2015 as Executive General Manager People and Culture for Downer New Zealand, making her one of a small number of HR executives in the ANZ engineering sector who has led people functions on both sides of the Tasman before taking a group-level role. Her 25 years of HR experience spans all major disciplines.

Her specific career signature is large transformational change, most notably her leadership of HR through the operational separation of Telecom New Zealand into Chorus and Spark. That background is directly relevant to Downer's own ongoing evolution: the company has been reorganising its portfolio while managing more than 52,000 employees across more than 300 sites in Australia, New Zealand, and the broader Asia-Pacific region.

Engage Jonno White to facilitate leadership development sessions for Downer's people managers and site leaders. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

4. Wayne Davies

Wayne Davies joined Laing O'Rourke as Chief People Officer effective 12 January 2026, becoming the first person to hold a chief people officer role on the construction company's group executive committee. Laing O'Rourke is one of Australia's leading tier one contractors, with major projects across NSW, Victoria, and Queensland alongside significant operations in the United Kingdom.

His appointment to the group executive committee, rather than below it, is itself a statement about how Laing O'Rourke is positioning the people function going into a period of significant strategic ambition. Group CEO Cathal O'Rourke said his experience in transformation, organisational and talent development would help the company deliver on its ambitions as it steps up to drive a new delivery paradigm for the construction industry.

For leadership workshop facilitation at Laing O'Rourke or any construction industry leadership event, reach out to jonno@consultclarity.org.

5. Sarah Elliott

Sarah Elliott is the Chief People Officer at John Holland, the major construction and infrastructure company building and delivering projects ranging from the Penrith Stadium complex to Sydney Metro West. John Holland operates across building, rail, roads, tunnelling, and infrastructure, and employs thousands of people across Australia.

The HR function in a construction company like John Holland faces a particular challenge: the workforce is distributed across project sites, tenure is often project-linked rather than organisation-linked, and the psychosocial risk profile of major construction sites is significant and now legally governed under work health and safety legislation across Australian jurisdictions.

Bring Jonno White in to deliver Working Genius facilitation or leadership development for John Holland's people managers and project leaders. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

6. Rosalind Coffey

Rosalind Coffey is the Group Executive, People and Culture at Transurban, the ASX-listed infrastructure group that develops, operates, and manages 22 toll roads across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and the greater Washington area in the United States. Transurban employs around 4,100 people and sits at the intersection of engineering construction, infrastructure operation, and technology.

As a member of the Transurban executive committee, Rosalind operates at the highest level of a major infrastructure company where the people challenges are genuinely cross-disciplinary: engineers, technology specialists, project managers, customer experience teams, and operations personnel all within one organisation. The company's sustained investment in infrastructure delivery means the workforce planning and talent development agenda is continuous rather than cyclical.

For leadership keynotes and team facilitation at Transurban or any infrastructure organisation, Jonno White works globally. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Engineering Consulting

The engineering consulting sector employs some of the most technically credentialed workforces in the country. Managing a workforce of engineers, scientists, planners, and designers requires a specific understanding of how technical professionals develop, what they want from their careers, and how to build cultures that retain expertise over the long term.

7. Liam Hayes

Liam Hayes is the Chief People Officer at Aurecon, the design, engineering, and advisory company with approximately 8,700 employees across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. As a member of Aurecon's Group Executive Leadership Team, he reports directly to the Global CEO, which places the people function at the centre of Aurecon's strategic leadership rather than adjacent to it. He is a recipient of the Australian HR Institute Dave Ulrich HR Leader Award and the AFR BOSS magazine Young Executives of the Year Award.

His specific focus, building a technology-enabled People function that identifies and develops the mindsets, behaviours, and organisational capabilities needed for the new world of work, is directly relevant to Aurecon's position in the market: a company whose value to clients rests on the quality and capability of its technical professionals. Aurecon has been ranked the Most Popular Engineering Employer in Australia for five consecutive years in the AFR SEEK Graduate Employer awards.

Hire Jonno White to facilitate executive team alignment and leadership capability sessions at Aurecon. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

8. Anne Henry

Anne Henry is the Chief People and Culture Officer at Beca Group, one of the largest employee-owned professional services consultancies in the Asia-Pacific region, headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, with more than 4,500 staff working across 20 offices around the world. She joined Beca's Executive Leadership Team from Air New Zealand, where she was General Manager People, Corporate and Business Transformation.

Beca delivers engineering, planning, design, and advisory services across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, with a deep presence in New Zealand's infrastructure, energy, and environmental sectors. Anne's role as a member of the Executive Leadership Team gives the people function the strategic positioning that Beca's Group CEO described at the time of her appointment as essential to support the business in the successful delivery of the company's long-term strategic plan.

Bring Jonno White to Beca for a leadership development workshop or Working Genius session. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

9. Jennifer Haviland

Jennifer Haviland is the President, Corporate Services at Orica, the global mining and infrastructure solutions company headquartered in Melbourne, and the largest commercial manufacturer of explosives in Australia. Confirmed in January 2025, she holds responsibility for human resources, organisational effectiveness, global business services, risk and assurance, legal, communications, and information technology. She was previously Chief People and Corporate Services Officer at Orica from 2022.

Orica serves mining, civil infrastructure, and oil and gas markets across more than 100 countries, and the workforce Jennifer oversees includes highly specialised professionals in blasting, digital solutions, and specialty mining chemicals. Her background spans 13 years with EY in Melbourne and London before joining Orica in 2014, and she holds a Bachelor and Master of Engineering alongside an MBA and a qualification in Harvard Business Analytics and Data Science.

Engage Jonno White to facilitate leadership sessions for Orica's Australian leadership teams. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

10. Gitanjali Bhalla

Gitanjali Bhalla is the Chief People Officer at SGH Ltd, the Perth-based industrial and engineering holdings group. In this role, she has responsibility for human resources, culture, and safety across the SGH Group, which includes WesTrac, the Caterpillar dealer serving Western Australia and New South Wales and one of the most significant equipment suppliers to Australia's mining sector, as well as Coates, the equipment rental and services business operating nationally, and Boral, the building products company.

Before joining SGH, Gitanjali spent a number of years consulting to private and publicly listed companies at Ernst and Young in Australia and overseas. Her work at SGH is notable for the scale and complexity of the portfolio: WesTrac alone employs thousands of people supporting some of Australia's largest mining operations, where the consequence of equipment failure is measured in downtime costs of millions of dollars per day.

Hire Jonno White for leadership facilitation at WesTrac or Coates. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

11. Simone Robertson

Simone Robertson joined NHP Electrical Engineering Products as Chief Human Resources Officer in July 2025. NHP is a leading supplier of electrical engineering products, solutions, and services across Australia and New Zealand, and operates in a specialist technical market where the workforce requires a specific combination of technical knowledge and commercial skills that takes years to develop. Simone brings more than 25 years of diverse experience across HR, sales, operations, and supply chain.

She joined NHP from ITW Construction Products Asia Pacific, where she most recently served as Head of Sales for Australia and New Zealand, a background that spans both the commercial and people dimensions of technical sector businesses. The combination of technical industry experience and HR capability she brings to NHP reflects the kind of cross-functional career path that is producing some of the most effective people leaders in engineering and construction sectors.

Organisations can hire Jonno White for leadership workshops and communication keynotes that help technical teams build stronger collaboration. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Energy and Resources

The energy and resources sector is navigating a transformation of historic scale. Australia is simultaneously managing the decline of coal, the rapid growth of renewable energy, a tight labour market for engineers and technical specialists, and the FIFO dynamics that shape the psychosocial safety landscape across mining operations.

12. Amanda Lee

Amanda Lee is the Chief People Officer at AGL Energy, one of Australia's largest energy companies, responsible for generation, retail, and energy services for residential and commercial customers across the country. She joined AGL in 2016 and was appointed Chief People Officer in August 2022. With more than 25 years of HR experience across multiple geographies, she holds a Bachelor of Psychology from the University of Western Australia and a Masters of Management from Macquarie University.

AGL operates power generation assets, gas infrastructure, and a retail energy business, creating a people agenda that spans the technical, commercial, and operational domains simultaneously. The energy transition is also reshaping AGL's workforce at a structural level, as coal generation retires and renewable capacity expands, requiring retraining, role redesign, and cultural adaptation at a pace that few other sectors face.

Jonno White works with energy organisations on leadership development and team facilitation. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

13. Alicia Purtell

Alicia Purtell joined Origin Energy as Group Executive, People and Culture in April 2026. Origin is one of Australia's largest integrated energy companies, operating generation assets, pipelines, and a retail business serving millions of residential and commercial customers. Before joining Origin, Alicia was the Chief People and Transformation Officer at Lion, the beverage manufacturer.

Her appointment to Origin comes at a particularly complex moment for the energy sector: the Right to Disconnect provisions, the continued embedding of psychosocial safety requirements under model work health and safety laws, and Origin's own strategic navigation of the energy transition are all landing simultaneously on the people function. Her background in transformation and culture at Lion gives her a relevant foundation for the scope of change ahead at Origin.

Bring Jonno White in for a Working Genius workshop or leadership offsite for Origin's people leaders. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

14. Georgie Bezette

Georgie Bezette is the Chief People Officer at Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mining companies and the operator of some of Australia's most significant iron ore, bauxite, copper, and aluminium assets. She was appointed Chief People Officer in January 2025 and joined Rio Tinto's global Executive Committee, based in London. She joined Rio Tinto in 2008 and held a series of People leadership roles before assuming the CPO role.

Rio Tinto employs more than 55,000 people globally, with its largest operational concentration in the Pilbara in Western Australia. The people challenges at Rio Tinto are among the most complex in Australian industry: workplace culture transformation, deep engagement with the Traditional Owners of the land, psychosocial safety in a high-risk and FIFO environment, and a technical workforce that is simultaneously scarce and essential.

Hire Jonno White for leadership facilitation for your mining or resources team. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

15. Ben Mansour

Ben Mansour is the Vice President, People and Corporate Relations at Anglo American Australia, the mining and resources company with coal operations in Queensland. He was named Australian HR Director of the Year at the 2025 Australian HR Awards, recognising his contribution to HR leadership in the resources sector. He has previously held senior HR roles at Rio Tinto, Virgin Australia, Robert Walters, and Deloitte Australia.

In the period following his award win, Ben has written and spoken publicly about his view that HR in the resources sector is entering a new era, one defined by workforce stability, digital capability, inclusion, and stronger community connection. His specific framing, that HR now sits at the centre of the mining sector's structural shift rather than adjacent to it, reflects a career spent at companies where the people function has had to earn its strategic seat.

Book Jonno White to facilitate leadership development for your mining team. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

16. Natasha Cuthbert

Natasha Cuthbert is the Chief People Officer at Viva Energy Australia, the petroleum refining and retail company that operates the Geelong Refinery, Australia's second largest oil refinery, as well as a national network of service stations and commercial fuel supply operations. She has spoken publicly at the Evanta Australia CHRO Executive Summit in 2026 on how to align talent strategies with industry transformation and sustainability goals.

Viva Energy operates at the intersection of industrial engineering, retail, and energy infrastructure, with a workforce that spans the full range from refinery operations and tanker driving to retail management and corporate functions. The people agenda in a business of that complexity, navigating energy transition while maintaining refinery operations and growing the EV infrastructure network, requires multi-dimensional workforce planning and culture leadership.

Engage Jonno White for a leadership offsite or Working Genius facilitation session for Viva Energy's leadership teams. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

17. Gabrielle Curtin

Gabrielle Curtin is the Chief People Officer at Snowy Hydro, the Australian government-owned energy company that operates the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme and the major Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro expansion project, one of Australia's largest and most complex engineering undertakings. She has been CPO since 2015, giving her a tenure at the same energy company that is unusual in the HR profession and that has allowed her to build deep institutional knowledge of an engineering culture that operates in some of Australia's most remote terrain.

Her career before Snowy Hydro included executive and management positions in safety, human resources, marketing, and logistics at Qantas Airways, Shell Australia, Accenture, Repco Automotive, and I-MED Radiology. That cross-sector background gives her a perspective on workforce practices that engineering-only career paths do not typically develop. She has also served as Chair of Frensham Schools and as a Director of Headspace.

Jonno White works with energy organisations across Australia on leadership development and team facilitation. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

18. Meaghan Davis

Meaghan Davis is the Executive General Manager, People and Culture at Ampol, the Australian petroleum refining and fuel retail company that operates the Lytton Refinery in Queensland, one of Australia's two remaining oil refineries, alongside a national network of service stations, truck stops, and commercial fuel supply operations. She was appointed EGM People and Culture in November 2021 and brings more than 25 years of HR experience to the role.

Her career prior to Ampol includes senior executive people and culture roles at Lendlease and Woolworths Group, giving her a background that spans both the construction sector and consumer-facing business. Ampol's dual identity as both a refining company and a retail network creates a people agenda that is genuinely bifurcated: managing the industrial relations and safety dynamics of a major refinery alongside the workforce planning and service culture of a national retail operation.

Hire Jonno White for leadership facilitation or a Working Genius workshop for Ampol's leadership teams. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

19. Jane Thomas

Jane Thomas is the Group Executive, People, Safety and Culture at APA Group, the ASX-listed energy infrastructure company that owns or operates a diverse $27 billion portfolio of gas transmission and electricity assets and transports approximately half of Australia's natural gas. She is a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute and leads the People, Safety and Culture function as a member of APA's Executive Leadership Team, reporting directly to the CEO.

With 30 years of experience, Jane has held senior executive positions in major ASX-listed companies and global multinationals across energy, mining, banking and finance, retail, and manufacturing. She has led large-scale cultural and operational transformations with expertise in aligning people and culture with business objectives, coaching senior leaders, and cultivating high-performing and inclusive workplaces. APA's pipeline and energy infrastructure operations require a people function that spans remote field operations, engineering construction, and corporate roles.

To engage Jonno White for leadership facilitation at APA Group or any energy infrastructure organisation, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Transport and Infrastructure Operations

Transport operators and infrastructure service providers employ some of the largest operational workforces in ANZ, with the specific challenge of building culture and capability across geographically distributed teams working across shifts, projects, and services.

20. Suzie Lewisham

Suzie Lewisham joined KiwiRail as Chief People and Culture Officer in October 2025. KiwiRail is New Zealand's national rail and ferry operator, responsible for maintaining and operating the rail network, Interislander ferries, and Great Journeys New Zealand, and is a state-owned enterprise with a workforce spanning engineering, operations, and commercial functions across the country. Before joining KiwiRail, Suzie was Director People and Culture for the Operations division at Fonterra.

Her experience at Fonterra gives her a direct understanding of the people challenges inside large, operationally complex organisations with distributed workforces. KiwiRail has been in a period of sustained investment and renewal, navigating the Interislander ferry fleet replacement, significant capital programmes in rail network resilience, and workforce development in engineering trades that are in national shortage.

Hire Jonno White for leadership development sessions for KiwiRail's managers and supervisors. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

21. Allison Shevlin

Allison Shevlin joined Kinetic as Chief People Officer in May 2026. Kinetic is one of the world's leading transport operators, connecting millions of passengers daily through bus and rail operations across Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia. In her new role, she focuses on building a people strategy that supports Kinetic's growth ambitions while fostering an inclusive and high-performance workplace culture where employees feel valued and empowered.

Transport operation is an engineering and technology business as much as it is a service business, with depot engineering, fleet maintenance, and electrification infrastructure all requiring technical workforce development. Kinetic is committed to transitioning to a zero-emissions fleet by 2035, and Allison's people strategy is central to managing the workforce transition that electrification requires.

Jonno White works with transport and logistics organisations on leadership and team development. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

22. Tracey Taylor

Tracey Taylor is the Chief People Officer at Transport for NSW, the agency responsible for planning and directing a transport system serving 8 million people and one of Australia's largest employers. She has spoken at the 2026 Evanta Australia CHRO Executive Summit on the importance of meaningful leadership during periods of transformation and change, sharing how Transport for NSW draws on its Five Ways of Leading behavioural framework to cultivate a positive culture.

Transport for NSW employs engineers, project managers, operations professionals, planners, and public servants in large numbers, with major infrastructure delivery programmes including the Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport Rail and the ongoing North West and City and Southwest metro lines. The people function in an organisation of that scope is essentially a government-scale HR function embedded in an engineering and infrastructure delivery context.

Bring Jonno White in to deliver leadership development for Transport for NSW project leaders and managers. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

23. Suzie Ragless

Suzie Ragless is the Group Chief People Officer at Kelsian Group, Australasia's largest integrated multi-modal transport provider and tourism operator. She was appointed to the role in late 2023. Kelsian operates bus services across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, and regional New South Wales through Transit Systems Australia, as well as ferry and marine vessel operations across Australia. The group employs thousands of people across transport operations that combine engineering, logistics, safety management, and customer service.

Transport operators face a distinctive people challenge: a largely operational workforce that is geographically distributed, working across shifts, and often underrepresented in professional development conversations. Building culture and capability across that kind of workforce requires a people strategy that prioritises frontline engagement and practical leadership development as much as executive pipeline planning.

Jonno White works with transport operators across Australia and New Zealand. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

24. Jodie Blake

Jodie Blake is the Group Executive, People, Safety and Culture at Ventia, one of Australia and New Zealand's leading essential infrastructure services companies with more than 35,000 people operating in over 400 sites across defence, social infrastructure, water, electricity, gas, resources, telecommunications, and transport. She has been in the role since February 2022, joining from Jemena where she was Executive General Manager of People, Safety, Legal and Corporate Affairs. She is a member of Chief Executive Women.

Jodie's public commentary, including her opening address at the HR Leaders Forum in 2026 on why culture drives sustained performance when it is designed into how work actually happens, reflects a practitioner approach that is grounded in operational reality rather than aspiration. Ventia's workforce breadth, spanning skilled trades, technical engineers, defence service workers, and environmental specialists across every state and territory, makes her portfolio one of the most complex people leadership challenges in ANZ infrastructure.

Engage Jonno White to facilitate leadership development or a Working Genius session for Ventia's management teams. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

25. Caz Jackson

Caz Jackson is the Group General Manager, People and Safety at Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for the state highway network, driver and vehicle licensing, and land transport safety. She joined Waka Kotahi in February 2024, bringing over 20 years of HR experience including senior global roles at Fonterra, Fletcher Building, and Channel Infrastructure, where she served as Chief People Officer.

At Channel Infrastructure, formerly Refining NZ, Caz led the entire workforce transition as the company converted from an oil refinery to a fuel import terminal, one of the more demanding organisational transformations in New Zealand's recent industrial history. That specific background in managing workforce change at a major engineering and energy facility makes her well placed to lead people and safety at a complex government infrastructure agency.

Hire Jonno White for leadership development sessions for Waka Kotahi managers and project leaders. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Engineering Technology and Cross-Sector

Engineering technology companies and cross-sector organisations bring together people challenges from multiple domains: the recruitment challenges of deep-tech workforces, the culture questions of fast-scaling companies, and the operational demands of infrastructure that must work reliably around the clock.

26. Sharon Elding

Sharon Elding leads the people and culture function at Myriota, the Australian company that provides satellite Internet of Things connectivity for remote asset monitoring in the mining, agriculture, logistics, and infrastructure sectors. She was named in HRD Australia's Hot List 2026 as one of the best HR executives in Australia and New Zealand. Myriota is an engineering and deep technology company, developing proprietary nanosatellite technology for applications that include monitoring of remote mining assets, water infrastructure, and environmental sensors.

The HR function at a deep technology engineering company like Myriota operates in a specific context: a relatively small but highly specialised technical workforce, a growth environment, and the specific challenge of maintaining a high-performance engineering culture while scaling. Sharon's recognition on the HRD Hot List reflects a contribution that the editorial team at HRD Australia assessed as measurable and impactful rather than profile-driven.

Hire Jonno White for leadership development or team facilitation at Myriota or any engineering technology company. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

27. Nikki Sorensen

Nikki Sorensen is the People and Culture Manager at Plan Group, an engineering and infrastructure company operating in the construction and energy sectors. She was a speaker at the Human Synergistics Conference 2026 in Australia. Her work reflects the growing expectation that People and Culture professionals inside technical organisations must be conversant with both the human and the technological dimensions of workforce strategy.

For HR practitioners in engineering, infrastructure, or technical organisations, the combination of operational industry context and modern people practice that Nikki brings to her work reflects exactly the kind of practitioner that the sector is developing and needs more of. Her commitment to building high-performing, human-centred workplaces where people and organisations thrive reflects the kind of dedication to both dimensions that technical sector organisations particularly need.

Bring Jonno White in to deliver leadership development or Working Genius facilitation for your infrastructure company. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Defence Engineering

Australia's defence engineering sector is undergoing its most significant workforce expansion in decades, with the AUKUS programme, the Hunter Class frigate programme, and expanded land systems investments driving demand for engineers, trades, and technical specialists. The HR leaders inside defence engineering companies are managing workforce scaling at extraordinary pace while maintaining the clearance, compliance, and culture requirements of the defence sector.

28. Angela Wiggins

Angela Wiggins is the Chief People Officer at BAE Systems Australia, the defence technology company that is Australia's largest defence prime contractor and the lead contractor for the Hunter Class Frigate Program, the Nulka active decoy system, and a range of advanced manufacturing and sustainment programmes. She has been with BAE Systems Australia since 2009 and was appointed Chief People Officer in January 2023. In her role, she is responsible for leading the people function for more than 5,500 employees across Australia.

Her background before taking the CPO role was as Chief Counsel, giving her an understanding of compliance, governance, and risk that is particularly relevant in the defence sector, where export controls, security clearances, and government contract requirements shape the employment environment. BAE Systems Australia is committed to offering 400 new trades roles in 2025 and additional 600 new roles across its Maritime operations at Osborne as part of the Hunter frigate programme, making recruitment and early careers one of the defining challenges of her tenure.

Engage Jonno White for leadership development or a keynote for your defence sector leadership event. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Telecommunications Infrastructure

Telecommunications infrastructure sits at the intersection of engineering and technology, with the operators who build and maintain the physical networks that underpin Australia's digital economy employing large technical workforces across field operations, engineering, and technology functions. The HR leaders inside these organisations are managing the specific challenge of motivating and retaining people in a sector where technical talent is competed for across every industry.

29. Sally Kincaid

Sally Kincaid is the Chief People and Culture Officer at NBN Co, the company responsible for designing, building, and operating Australia's National Broadband Network, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Australian history. She joined NBN Co in May 2019 with responsibility for the People and Culture strategy. Her portfolio includes the implementation of initiatives to ensure a high-performing and collaborative workforce, focused on caring for the health and safety of employees. She has 20 years of experience directing HR teams in global financial and insurance companies across New Zealand, the UK, and Australia.

Her career before NBN Co included the role of Chief Human Resources Officer at QBE Insurance, followed by the Global Head of HR Performance and Delivery role at QBE. She holds an MBA from Henley Business School in the UK, a Bachelor of Business Studies from Massey University New Zealand, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. NBN Co employs approximately 6,000 people and serves 8.5 million premises across Australia, creating a people agenda that spans field operations, technology, and corporate functions.

Hire Jonno White for leadership development or a Working Genius workshop for NBN Co's leadership teams. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

30. Kathryn van der Merwe

Kathryn van der Merwe joined Telstra as Group Executive, People, Culture and Communications in July 2023. Telstra is Australia's largest telecommunications company, with approximately 35,000 employees across the country and significant international operations. She leads Telstra's people and culture strategy as a member of the Group Executive Leadership Team, with responsibility for attracting, developing, and retaining the technical and commercial workforce that underpins Australia's largest and fastest mobile network.

Her statement published in Telstra's 2026 gender pay gap report, committing to sustained organisation-wide action to reach a 40:40:20 gender balance by 2030, reflects the kind of quantified, data-driven approach to inclusion that Telstra's scale requires. In a sector where the competition for engineering and technical talent spans every industry in the economy, her workforce strategy sits at the centre of Telstra's ability to deliver on its network and technology ambitions.

Jonno White works with telecommunications and technology organisations on leadership development and executive team facilitation. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Water and Environmental Infrastructure

Water utilities and environmental infrastructure operators in Australia and New Zealand face some of the most demanding people challenges in the public sector: ageing engineering infrastructure, a tight market for water engineers and field technicians, community expectations of reliable service, and the specific governance and regulatory environment of government-owned utilities. The HR leaders inside these organisations are building workforce strategies for essential services that cannot fail.

31. Debbie Kirby

Debbie Kirby is the General Manager, People and Safety at SA Water, one of Australia's largest integrated water utilities, serving more than 1.8 million customers across urban, regional, and remote South Australia. She joined SA Water in 2025, bringing more than 20 years of experience in people and safety, including a previous role as Executive General Manager, People Culture Transport and Infrastructure at Downer New Zealand. Her expertise spans learning and development, employee and industrial relations, coaching, performance management, and recruitment.

SA Water operates a $14 billion-plus asset base and is delivering a major infrastructure expansion programme to support South Australia's housing growth targets. The people agenda for an organisation of that scale spans engineering trades, water operations professionals, project managers, and corporate functions, all operating under the accountability frameworks of a state-owned utility. Debbie's cross-sector background across engineering, utilities, and transport gives her a perspective on workforce practice that is applicable across all of those dimensions.

Hire Jonno White for leadership development sessions for SA Water's engineering and operational managers. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

32. Elizabeth Holley

Elizabeth Holley joined South East Water as General Manager, People, Safety and Governance in a role that oversees people operations, safety and wellbeing, and risk, legal and governance functions across the organisation. South East Water is a government-owned water utility providing water and wastewater services to 1.8 million people across Melbourne's south-east. Before joining South East Water, Elizabeth was Executive Director, People, Workplace Safety and Wellbeing at Peninsula Health, having previously held senior people and culture roles at Fire Rescue Victoria and South West Healthcare.

Her specific career trajectory, moving from health sector people leadership into a water utility, reflects the increasing cross-sector movement of senior HR talent that is bringing fresh perspectives into engineering and infrastructure organisations. South East Water's strategy is built around five focus areas including empowering its people, and Elizabeth's appointment to the executive leadership team places the people function at the centre of the utility's strategic direction.

Jonno White works with water utilities and infrastructure operators on leadership development and team facilitation. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Notable Voices We Almost Included

A number of HR and people leaders at engineering, energy, and infrastructure organisations across Australia and New Zealand came close to inclusion in this list but could not be verified with sufficient primary source documentation at the time of compilation to meet the standard required.

The people leadership function at Powerlink Queensland, the state-owned electricity transmission operator managing Queensland's grid through the energy transition, could not be confirmed by name from a primary source at the time of research, despite Powerlink's significance to the state's renewable energy future. Similarly, Ausgrid's people and culture executive could not be confirmed from a primary source within the required timeframe. Both organisations lead engineering workforces of significant scale and consequence.

The people and culture leader at GHD, one of Australia's largest engineering consultancies, was not identifiable from a primary source. GHD employs approximately 10,000 people globally with a substantial ANZ presence, and the person shaping its workforce strategy for the ANZ region deserves acknowledgement, even without the confirmable detail this list requires.

Gabrielle Curtin at Snowy Hydro, Meaghan Davis at Ampol, Angela Wiggins at BAE Systems Australia, Sally Kincaid at NBN Co, Kathryn van der Merwe at Telstra, Jodie Blake at Ventia, and Debbie Kirby at SA Water all joined this expanded list after an extended second round of discovery that searched water utilities, defence engineering, telecommunications infrastructure, and essential infrastructure services as additional sub-sectors beyond the construction, energy, and mining categories covered in the original 22-person version of this post.

Common Mistakes Engineering Organisations Make in HR

Technical sector organisations make a specific set of HR mistakes that are less common in professional services or consumer industries. Understanding them is the first step to avoiding them.

The most common is treating HR as a compliance function rather than a capability function. In engineering and construction companies, HR often gets called in for enterprise agreements, safety incidents, and disciplinary matters rather than for workforce planning, leadership development, or culture building. The result is a people function that is reactive, under-resourced for strategy, and underestimated by the business.

The second is assuming that technical expertise and leadership capability are the same thing. Engineers who are promoted to leadership roles often have deep technical skills and limited people leadership preparation. The assumptions that great engineers make great engineering managers, and that great project managers make great people leaders, are not supported by evidence.

The third is building people programmes for office-based or desk-based workers and then trying to retrofit them for operational workforces. Engineers, technicians, machine operators, and site workers have very different relationships with technology, very different working patterns, and very different learning preferences than corporate employees.

The fourth is underestimating the diversity challenge. Engineering remains one of the least gender-diverse professional disciplines in Australia, with women representing around 16 percent of the engineering workforce according to Engineers Australia data. That gap has cultural roots, pipeline constraints, and retention dynamics that require sustained, systemic effort rather than individual recruitment initiatives.

The fifth is treating psychosocial safety as a compliance box rather than a leadership question. The model work health and safety regulations now require organisations to proactively identify and manage psychosocial hazards, not just respond to incidents. In industries like mining, construction, and infrastructure where the workforce is often remote, the hours are long, and the culture has historically valued toughness over vulnerability, psychosocial safety is simultaneously the most important and the most difficult people challenge to address.

Jonno White works with engineering, construction, and infrastructure organisations on leadership development, executive team facilitation, and Working Genius workshops. Whether virtual or face to face, international travel is often more affordable than clients expect. Email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes HR leadership in engineering different from other sectors?

Engineering organisations are distinctive because the majority of their workforce is operationally focused, technically specialised, and often geographically distributed across project sites. The people challenges that result require a different set of people practices than those designed for office-based professional services organisations. The most effective HR leaders in engineering understand the technical operating model of their business as deeply as they understand HR practice.

How does the infrastructure investment pipeline affect HR in engineering?

Australia's $240 billion-plus public infrastructure pipeline means that demand for engineering talent is sustained and competitive at a time when the supply of experienced engineers and technical specialists is constrained. HR functions inside engineering companies are managing the reality of competing for the same talent pool as their direct competitors and as government clients simultaneously.

What is the biggest HR challenge in Australia's mining sector?

Psychosocial safety is the defining HR challenge in Australian mining right now. The new WHS psychosocial risk framework requires organisations to proactively identify and control psychosocial hazards. Implementing that shift inside a workforce that is often remote, FIFO, and working under significant production pressure is technically and culturally demanding. Ben Mansour of Anglo American Australia has described this as one of the most significant growth areas for mining HR in the years ahead.

What is the best way to engage a facilitator or keynote speaker for an engineering company leadership event?

The starting point is specificity: a facilitator who understands the specific dynamics of engineering and construction workforces will deliver significantly better outcomes than a generic facilitator. Jonno White works with engineering, construction, and infrastructure organisations specifically on leadership development, Working Genius facilitation, and executive team alignment. Email jonno@consultclarity.org to discuss.

Final Thoughts

The HR leaders profiled in this directory are navigating some of the most demanding people challenges in Australian and New Zealand business. A $240 billion-plus infrastructure pipeline, a projected 300,000-worker shortfall, psychosocial safety requirements that now carry legal weight, and an energy transition that is reshaping entire workforces inside energy companies are not abstract trends. They are landing on the desk of every person on this list every working day.

What makes them worth following is not just the scale of the challenges they are managing. It is the sophistication with which they are managing them. The best people leaders in engineering and technical sector organisations have learned to speak the language of the business, to ground their people strategy in commercial and operational reality, and to build programmes that serve operational workforces rather than corporate ones.

For engineering, construction, energy, and infrastructure organisations that want to invest in their leadership capability, Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, author of Step Up or Step Out (10,000+ copies sold), and leadership consultant who works globally with organisations in technical and industrial sectors. Whether you need a keynote, a facilitated offsite, a Working Genius workshop, or a leadership development programme for your managers and project leaders, email jonno@consultclarity.org. International travel is often more affordable than clients expect.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator, author of Step Up or Step Out, and leadership consultant who has worked with schools, corporates, and nonprofits around the world. His book Step Up or Step Out has sold over 10,000 copies globally, and his podcast The Leadership Conversations has featured 230+ episodes reaching listeners in 150+ countries. Jonno founded The 7 Questions Movement with 6,000+ participating leaders. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Jonno works globally and regularly travels for speaking and facilitation engagements. To book Jonno for your next keynote, workshop, or facilitation session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.

Sources

Engineers Australia data on workforce and membership figures referenced from Infrastructure Australia's 2025 Market Capacity Report and from Engineers Australia's published member statistics. KPMG Global Construction Survey 2025/2026 referenced from kpmg.com/au. Gartner HR trends data referenced from Gartner press release, November 2025. Infrastructure pipeline figure of $240 billion-plus from Infrastructure Australia and ACIF sources. All individual role details confirmed from primary sources as cited.

Next Read

The people challenges inside engineering organisations exist at the intersection of technical capability and leadership culture. Understanding who is shaping the broader HR and people and culture conversation in Australia and New Zealand gives you a wider lens for what your engineering HR function can learn from adjacent sectors.

Keep reading: 50 Essential Thought Leaders in Human Resources in Australia and New Zealand at consultclarity.org/post/thought-leaders-human-resources-australia-new-zealand