Louise Adams (civil engineer)

Louise Adams FTSE is a Chartered Civil Engineer and as of October 2022 Aurecon's chief operating officer.[1][2] In 2020, Adams was awarded Australian CEO of the Year by The CEO Magazine.[1] Previously she served as the Chief Executive for Australia and New Zealand at Aurecon, overseeing a workforce of 4300 people.[1] In 2013, Adams became the first woman to serve as executive director on Aurecon's Global Board and is Aurecon’s global spokesperson for Women in Leadership.[3] Adams has worked as a civil engineer for over 25 years.[1]

Adams is passionate about championing diversity in STEM fields and acknowledging, what she calls, the uncomfortble truth that the engineering sector has a "significant lack of cultural and gender diversity".[4] She says that: "For decades, our industry has been positioned as a male-centric profession. Promoted with images of hard hats and heavy machinery, a profession most suited to men. I believe this has narrowed our thinking, our perspectives, it has created a gender imbalance, siloed cultural profiles and above all – stifled potential for diversity of thought and, in turn, innovation."[4]

In 2018 Adams graduated from the Wharton Business School,[4] through the Chief Executive Women Scholarship.[5]

In 2021, Adams was recognised as a Deakin University Alumni of the Year[6] [5] and later that year, in November, she was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.[2]

In 2023 Adams was made the Australian Business Champion to Vietnam by the Australia Vietnam Poliy Institute.[7]