Rachel Skinner

Executive Director, WSP and President of Institution of Civil Engineers UK

Rachel Skinner is the 156th President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), focused on her theme of “Shaping Zero: Towards Net Zero Carbon for Infrastructure”. She is also an Executive Director at WSP and led its UK Transport business until taking up her ICE role. Rachel is a Patron of Women in Transport (a not-for-profit) having been one of its founding board members since 2005.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, an Honorary Fellow of the Society for the Environment, a chartered engineer and a chartered transport planner.  Rachel chairs the Carbon stream of the Infrastructure Client Group (ICG) and was recently invited to join the external expert panel established to support the UK Department for Transport’s Acceleration Unit that is focused on a faster, better and greener recovery beyond COVID-19. She served two years as an Infrastructure Commissioner for Scotland from 2019.

In 2016, Rachel was listed as one of The Telegraph’s inaugural UK Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering; in 2017 she was named the Most Distinguished Winner and Best Woman Civil Engineer at the Women in Civil Engineering Awards, and in 2019 she was confirmed by the Financial Times as one of the UK’s Top 100 Women in Engineering.

Rachel has authored, scripted and hosted publications and films on topics including “Shaping Zero” about net zero carbon for infrastructure, “Making Better Places” on place-making and future mobility, and before that about digital technology and its potential for infrastructure, industry innovation and collaboration. She is regularly invited to give keynote conference presentations and to chair international and national industry events.