Aurecon Managing Director of Energy, Resources and Manufacturing Paul Gleeson said in this role Hester would focus on digital technologies to support businesses’ growth opportunities and work closely with clients to address key challenges.

“In this time of transformation for our industries, Hester will provide innovative digital solutions while driving change and enabling internal teams to obtain value from the application of digital tools,” Mr Gleeson said.

Aurecon Chief Digital Officer Andrew Maher said Hester’s appointment underlines the importance that Aurecon places on digital strategies in modern engineering projects.

“Asset owners are seeking greater operational returns and better sustainability from infrastructure. Hester’s expertise will help us develop digital solutions to improve whole of life performance on projects but also innovate the way that we work, including how we share knowledge, collaborate and communicate,” Dr Maher said.

Hester is a chartered electrical engineer with experience in a wide range of industries including Mining, Transmission and Distribution, Renewable Energy, Civil Aerospace and Construction. Hester has worked in South Africa, United Kingdom and Australia, focusing mostly on project, design management and business strategy spanning the entire system lifecycle from R&D to construction onsite.

This diverse background has given Hester the ability to leverage best practise from one industry and apply it to the next. An example of this is adopting a system engineering approach widely used in aerospace and applying it to the modular, moveable solar power plant developed by SunSHIFT, where Hester was the Design Lead for early system development resulting in a robust defendable system design.

Ms De Wet said the development of software tools had reached a level of maturity and accessibility that would unlock new value for clients.

“I look forward to applying these tools throughout ER&M to generate new insights for Aurecon teams internally and for our clients,” said Ms De Wet.

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