Jacobs: If/When

Michelle Freund is a is a senior economist in Jacobs’ ANZ Strategic Advisory Group. She started her career at the Department of Treasury and Financial, advising on climate change, environmental services and water management policies. She joined Jacobs (then Sinclair Knight Merz) in 2008 and has since developed expertise in business case development and economic appraisals across a range a range of sectors. Her most recent work has been focussed on the water sector, undertaking options appraisals for policy or investment decisions responding to water security and reliability requirements, water quality risk, flooding risk, and environmental water savings objectives.

Originally from California, Henry Swisher (Strategic Consultant, Energy Markets - Jacobs)is a Sydney-based strategic consultant with a background in renewable energy finance and policy strategy. He has extensive experience modelling electricity markets to provide investment advice, due diligence, policy impact analysis and has conducted numerous feasibility studies and financial models for a wide variety of energy-related projects. These have included hydrogen, large-scale solar, wind, battery storage, geothermal, bioenergy, gas turbines, and transmission infrastructure. These studies have frequently informed business cases for a broad range of projects and assets. Henry also has experience with hydrogen strategy development and is a co-author of both Jacobs’ hydrogen papers. 

Over the past 15 years, Simon Prunster (Energy & Emissions Specialist at Yarra Valley Water) has worked in the Australian energy industry in a diverse range of roles, from consulting for some of Australia’s largest commercial and industrial energy users in energy and carbon markets to developing a niche electricity management / retail service offering to medium sized commercial businesses. In his current role, Simon provides strategic direction and the implementation of renewable energy and emissions reduction policies, programs and projects for Yarra Valley Water (including their award-winning waste-to-energy project ‘ReWaste’) and also the wider Victorian water industry.

Michelle Finneran Dennedy currently serves as Board member and advisor to data centric and privacy enhancing technology organizations. She was most recently Chief Executive Officer at Drumwave and remains active on the advisory board. Before working at Drumwave, Michelle was a VP and Chief Privacy Officer at Cisco. She was responsible for the development and implementation of the organization's data privacy policies and practices, working across business groups to drive data privacy excellence across the security continuum. Michelle has also served as Chief Privacy Officer for McAfee/ Intel and Vice President for Security & Privacy Solutions for the Oracle Corporation. Before the Oracle acquisition of Sun, Michelle was Chief Data Governance Officer within the Cloud Computing division at Sun Microsystems, Inc. Michelle also served as Sun’s first Chief Privacy Officer.

Darrell Collett has over 20 years of legal experience, including 10 years in private practice as a commercial litigator and 13 years as in-house counsel with Jacobs.  While at Jacobs, Darrell has provided operations counsel support for the water and O&M businesses, and worked as compliance counsel in the Ethics & Compliance department.  Currently, Darrell provides general corporate legal services related to intellectual property, cybersecurity and data privacy in his role as Jacobs’ Global Privacy Officer.

Kari Aina Eik is the Secretary General of the OiER – Organization for International Economic Relations, based in Vienna, Austria. OiER is a global business platform facilitating cooperation between enterprises, investors, governments, international organizations and funding institutions, www.oier.pro. Focus of the work is also to initiate business partnerships for development within areas of urban development/smart cities, energy, mobility, health, education and environment. Kari Aina Eik has previously worked 15 years for the United Nations as Advisor for multi-national and multi-stakeholder program development, fund mobilization and strategic communication initiatives.

Kate Kenny, Vice President, Head of Sector - Cities and Places, leads Jacobs’ Cities & Places business in Europe. Jacobs is tackling some of the toughest challenges in the built environment, embracing innovation to redefine a more connected, sustainable and inclusive future for communities. Whether it’s improving mobility and connectivity, or safeguarding the environment, Kate and her team are devising, designing and delivering solutions for cities and communities of the future. Kate’s team offers multi-scalar and integrated solutions across the built environment: including urban development, masterplanning, transport planning, architecture, structures and civils, building services and interior design.

In this episode of If/When we spoke with Sean Sommer, Jacobs Vice President, Advanced Facilities; Dennis Miller, Jacobs Division Vice President - Advanced Connected Enterprise Solutions; and Micah Krider, ion Project Manager to better understand how the Jacobs ion platform is being leveraged to promote greater worksite safety. 

In her most recent position, Mrinalini "Lani" Ingram served as the president and CEO of Verizon’s Smart Communities program, leading the company’s initiative on digital transformation of cities, universities, utilities, and sports and entertainment organizations. Lani has been a leader in developing the Smart Communities and IoT industry for over a decade, beginning with leading Cisco's Smart + Connected Communities Strategy and Business Development team. Prior to her focus on Smart Communities, Lani spent over 21 years in finance, the last four years as the CFO for Cisco's Globalization Center in India, where she was part of the initial pioneer team that created Cisco's second headquarters and launched the company’s global IoT and Smart Communities initiatives. Lani served as president of the board of directors for Silicon Valley Talent Partnership, and on the board of directors for DialSource. She earned her CPA while working for PriceWaterhouse Coopers and holds a B.A. from Gonzaga University and an executive MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Rick Robinson is Director of Smart Places, Digital Infrastructure and Telecommunications for Jacobs. He advises cities, infrastructure operators, property developers and investors on the use of technology to improve buildings, infrastructure, places, communities and business and organisational performance. Previously, he has led Smart Cities businesses for Arup and IBM, and was Director of Technology for Amey, where he was responsible for driving advances in digital technology into public services and infrastructure that are used by about 1 in 4 people in the UK every day. Rick collaborates with a network of technology entrepreneurs, Universities and social institutions to explore innovations in digital technology, and has advised the UK Government and United Nations on their impact on the built environment, economy, communities and society. Rick is a member of the UK5G Steering Group, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Fellow of the RSA and a member of the Academy of Urbanism. He founded and co-chairs the Birmingham Smart City Alliance.

Dr. Shermin Voshmgir is the founder of BlockchainHub in Berlin and the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics. Author of the book “Token Economy: How the Web3 reinvents the internet”, Shermin has worked with several Web3 related projects during her career – she was a curator of TheDAO (Decentralized Investment Fund), and she was an advisor to several groups such as Jolocom (a Web3 based Identity Solution), Wunder (specializing in Tokenized Art Solutions) and the Estonian E-residency program. Her educational background is Business Administration with a focus on Information Systems Management from the Vienna University of Economics. 

Thomas Wendling is a systems engineer at Jacobs. An experienced engineer and actuary, he is responsible for technical and commercial aspects of water, wastewater, power, transportation, military utilities privatization, design, build, operate, and maintenance services in a variety of delivery methods and program management context. He also leads Jacobs' community of practice of 120 members dedicated to distributed ledger technology in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry. In 2016, he became an advisor to the Integrated Engineering Blockchain Consortium, a think tank composed of leaders from major organizations that provides thought leadership, best practices, and networking opportunities to professionals working in engineering and manufacturing. Prior to that, he was Chief Innovation Officer of a start-up called CoEngineers, a blockchain talent networking platform.

Dr. David Hanson is the CEO, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Hanson Robotics. David develops robots that are widely regarded as the world’s most human-like in appearance, in a lifelong quest to create true living, caring machines. He worked as a Walt Disney Imagineer, both a sculptor and a technical consultant in robotics, and later founded Hanson Robotics. As a researcher, David published dozens of papers in materials science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and robotics journals, and wrote two books including “Humanizing Robots”. David has been featured in the New York Times, Popular Science, Scientific American, WIRED, BBC and CNN. He has received awards from NASA, Tech Titans’ Innovator of the Year, and the Rhode Island School of Design. David holds a Ph.D. in Interactive Arts and Technology from the University of Texas at Dallas, and a BFA in film Animation video from the Rhode Island School of Design. 

Drew Watson is the Software Lead and Deputy Project Manager for the Valkyrie humanoid at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Drew’s work history includes roles at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the U.S. Intelligence Community. Drew has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science and Autonomous Systems from the Naval Postgraduate School.      

Georgette D. Kiser is an operating executive for The Carlyle Group, where she helps lead due diligence and technical strategies across various Carlyle portfolio companies. Previously, she was managing director and chief information officer (CIO), responsible for leading the firm’s global technology and solutions organization and developing and driving IT strategies to include application development, data, digital, infrastructure, cyber security, program management and outsourcing. She previously held positions of increasing responsibility at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. where she headed Enterprise Solutions and Capabilities within the Services and Technology Organization. She led and managed teams that provided creative solutions and leveraged technology for investment front office, trading, and back office operations. Prior to T. Rowe Price, Ms. Kiser worked for General Electric within their Aerospace Unit.

Ms. Kiser earned a B.S. in Mathematics, with a minor in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, a M.S. in Mathematics from Villanova University, and an M.B.A from the University of Baltimore. Ms. Kiser serves on the Board of Directors of Aflac, Jacobs, NCR, and Adtalem Global Education, as well as the Carlyle portfolio company, Claritas.

Heather Wishart-Smith is the Senior Vice President, Technology & Innovation for Jacobs. A registered Professional Engineer and certified Project Management Professional, Ms. Wishart-Smith is a Fellow of Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and its National President for the 2020-2021 centennial year. 

Prior to her current position at Jacobs, Heather led Innovation and Jacobs Connected Enterprise (JCE) for Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities, and before that she led the Buildings & Infrastructure Mid-Atlantic region, with oversight including design, consulting, and program management/construction management projects in the rail, highway, transit, Federal, corporate/commercial, science & technology, and related markets. 

A former Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer, she served at the Presidential Retreat, Camp David, under two different presidential administrations, among other duty stations. She has published and presented articles on several leadership, architectural, engineering, and construction topics in the military and transportation sectors. Ms. Wishart-Smith holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia. 

Dr. Michael Goodchild’s career includes posts such as Distinguished Chair Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Research Professor at Arizona State University; being an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and Foreign Member of the Royal Society of Canada, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and being named a Foreign Member of the Royal Society and Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. He holds five honorary doctorates, has served as the editor of various journals and periodicals such as Geographical Analysis, and is the author of 15 books.

Clare Bullock is Jacobs’ Director of GeoSpatial and Visualisation in Europe, and is on the Leadership Team for Digital Solutions in Jacobs Europe. Clare has over 22 years’ experience in GeoSpatial Technologies, GIS, and information management both in the UK and Australia, and is a Chartered Geographer (GGeog GIS). She has delivered projects across a wide range of technical fields that include spatial data management, spatial analysis, data specifications, data remediation and mapping.

Michael Morgan is recognized as one of America’s leading lawyers in cybersecurity. He has guided clients through some of the largest and most complex data breaches involving more than 50 million records and incidents affecting persons in over 100 countries around the world. He counsels clients on compliance with US and international regulations relating to cybersecurity and data privacy, including compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation and China’s Network Security Law.

Susan Howard's remit in her role at Jacobs includes cybersecurity consulting for transportation, utilities, and the US Department of Defense with a focus on governance, risk, and compliance, risk assessments, vulnerability assessments and design oversight. Susan has a multidisciplinary skillset in cybersecurity compliance, secure network design, software engineering, industrial control systems, technology management, product development, and telecommunications, with global experience in China, Taiwan, Europe, Israel, India, and South America.