Louise Adams is Aurecon’s Chief Operating Officer. As a member of the Group Executive Leadership Team, she reports directly to the Global CEO.
Louise is responsible for driving the financial, operational and people performance across all areas of the business to achieve the Group’s strategic business goals.
Prior to her current role, Louise was the Chief Executive for Australia and New Zealand, overseeing a workforce of approximately 4300 people involved in the delivery of infrastructure solutions in the transportation, water, defence, built environment, energy, resources, telecommunications and aviation sectors.
Louise became the first female Executive Director on Aurecon’s Global Board in 2013 and is its global spokesperson for Women in Leadership. She is passionate about organisational diversity and its role in innovation and advocates for female leadership and equality within STEM.
In 2018, Louise was awarded a Chief Executive Women (CEW) Scholarship to attend Wharton Business School and is a member of Australia’s CEW Group. Most recently, following the Second Australia-Vietnam Economic Partnership Meeting held in October 2021, Louise was appointed as one of three inaugural Business Champions to further two-way trade and investment opportunities between business communities in Vietnam and Australia.
Louise is also a member of the National Advisory Board of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia and is the Chair of Consult Australia’s Champions of Change and appears at many industry events. In November 2020, Louise was named the Australian CEO of the Year, part of The CEO Magazine’s Executive of the Year awards. In October 2021, Louise was named a Deakin University Alumni of the Year, and in November was elected to the Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering (ATSE).
As a Chartered Civil Engineer, Louise has over 20 years of experience managing and designing civil and multidisciplinary projects in land development and technical advisory for project planning. With a background in stormwater management, flood risk assessment, and mitigation, Louise has undertaken work in the public and private sectors and participated in emergency relief efforts.
In previous roles, Louise has led major civil and multidisciplinary projects in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Iran, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Guyana, North America, Pakistan, Libya, Qatar, and the UAE.