Georgia Elliott-Smith has taken over from Mathew Riley as chair of Engineers Without Borders UK.
Engineers Without Borders UK is a registered charity that campaigns for 鈥渋ndividuals and organisations to put global responsibility at the heart of engineering鈥�. It is part of the Engineers Without Borders network across more than 60 countries, originating in France as Ing茅nieurs sans Fronti猫res, to mirror the better known M茅decins Sans Fronti猫res for doctors.
Its mission is to improve access to clean water, sanitation, energy and infrastructure.
New chair Georgia Elliott-Smith runs her own environmental consultancy business and last year set up a campaign group called Fighting Dirty that sued the government over its sewage sludge treatment policies.
She began her career spending five years in the 1990s working for Bovis (later Lendlease) in environmental management. She was then business development manager for quantity surveyor Franklin & Andrews and later spent a year as head of sustainability for Mace.
But she grew frustrated with corporate life: 鈥淚 knew I was delivering projects, hitting targets, all the rest of it 鈥� but none of it was changing anything. It felt like PR, not progress,鈥� she says
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She became involved in campaigning, she said, because she was inspired by the Extinction Rebellion protests in London in 2019.
鈥淚 remember seeing it and thinking, 鈥榃hy aren鈥檛 I there?鈥� It forced me to confront my own arrogance 鈥� that assumption that because I was qualified and experienced, I knew best. The people at those protests weren鈥檛 naive. They were grieving. They felt helpless. And they were trying to do something about it.鈥�
Her predecessor as chair of Engineers Without Borders UK, Mathew Riley, stood down after 18 months as he moved to New York earlier this year to take up a job with Turner & Townsend. He was previously chair operating officer of consulting engineer Ramboll.
Riley鈥檚 processor was Jon Pritchard, then chief executive of the Mineral Products Association, who held the part-time voluntary role for six years.
John Kraus, chief executive of Engineers Without Borders UK, said that Elliott-Smith鈥檚 appointment represented a new chapter for the organisation.
鈥淕eorgia鈥檚 bold leadership, deep sector expertise, and long-standing commitment to environmental and social justice will strengthen our ability to drive systemic change,鈥� he said. 鈥淕eorgia understands the realities of both industry and activism, and she brings the clarity and conviction needed to unite engineers across sectors in the urgent task of building a more sustainable and equitable future.鈥�
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