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Industry’s top leaders recognised at European CEO Awards

European CEO Award winner, Karin Sluis of Witteveen+BOS.

Consultancy and engineering leaders from across Europe were honoured last night, as the winners of the European CEO Awards 2018 were unveiled.

The annual awards, organised by the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) and now in their eighth year, highlight exceptional leadership and business best practice in engineering and consultancy firms across Europe.

This year’s winners were selected from nominated entries across Europe by a judging panel comprising industry experts and leaders chaired by Roger Flanagan, professor of construction management at the University of Reading.

Three CEO award winners were announced at a gala dinner in London on 5 November 2018. Judging panel chair Roger Flanagan said: “We have made the three awards for very different reasons and all have made an amazing contribution. They have demonstrated great leadership, great qualities, and they are special in different ways. They are a credit to the engineering profession and some might even describe them as ‘visionary’.”

The three winners of the European CEO Awards 2018 are:

Gerry Carty of RPS 

The judges said that Carty demonstrated strong leadership to rebuild the firm during period of low-growth and reorganised the business to achieve key objectives and transformed the project delivery process. He also prioritised investment in personnel development, training and HR systems and impressed with his strong commitment to work life balance for employees providing clear guidelines. Carty also impressed the judges with his strong contribution to the industry and professional associations.

Ciarán Kennedy of Barrett Mahony Consulting Engineers

The judges said that Kennedy demonstrated excellent achievements in increasing employee numbers after a difficult period and turned around his company’s finances positively following a recessionary period. Kennedy also established a programme of sustainable, strong and focused growth for the firm that proved to be very successful and impressed the judges with his successful implementation of smart technologies and BIM to assist in all project delivery. The judges also noted his strong contribution to the consulting engineering profession and the industry.

Karin Sluis of Witteveen+BOS

The judging panel said that Sluis had demonstrated a clear commitment to sustainable development goals in all projects and activities and had introduced innovative workplace practices including an employee education programme and workplace redesign. She has successfully lead substantial increases in employee numbers and profit margins and shown a substantial and impressive contribution to the industry with tangible outcomes including attracting young people to consulting engineering.

Three other awards were announced at the gala dinner as follows.

Ambassador Award - John Turzynski of Arup

Lifetime Achievement Award - Graham Nicholson of Tony Gee and Partners

ACE Lifetime Achievement Award - Nelson Ogunshakin

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