Engineering and advisory consultancy Cundall has announced the appointment of Sonya Ku as an associate in their Sydney-based ESG advisory team. Ku brings “a wealth of experience in sustainability,” the company said in a media statement, with her background in the development of sustainability strategies at organisation such as Mirvac, Investa, and Hyder Consulting. She was a key player in Australia’s green building movement as national technical manager of Green Star Rating Tools at the Green Building Council of Australia.
Julian Bott, Cundall APAC managing director, said she was an asset to the team. “Her successful work with high-profile organisations at both the strategic and technical level demonstrates her capacity to achieve influence at scale – which is exactly what both Cundall and our clients seek to achieve.”
Ku’s focus will be to help clients confidently take science-based, global leadership positions in sustainability, including creative approaches to strategy, portfolio management, and development.
In addition to her exposure to the property industry, Ku’s background and passion for ecology will be of great benefit to clients that want to understand and adopt regenerative approaches to biodiversity in design and development of built assets, Bott said.
“Leading organisations are increasingly looking to step up and respond to the biodiversity crisis and manage their impact on nature alongside other ESG measures,” Ku commented.
Electricity, gas and water metering company Intellihub Group has announced Alastair McKeown as the new chief financial officer. McKeown brings over 20 years of experience in senior finance roles and leadership positions in the energy sector, having held the position of chief financial officer at EnergyAustralia for over six years and previously serving as CFO at CitiPower and Powercor, as well as finance director at Centrica, a UK-based multinational gas and electricity company.
Infrastructure consulting firm AECOM has appointed Dr Kaya Wilson as its new climate resilience lead based in Canberra. In this role, Wilson will help clients understand and enhance their climate resilience and focus on national and ACT government clients.
With a diverse background, Wilson has experience in the private industry, academia, and government, including roles at Geoscience Australia and the Australian Climate Service. He holds a PhD in tsunami modelling from the University of Newcastle and is also a published author, diversity consultant, and public speaker.
AECOM chief executive Richard Barrett said the appointment will help the firm in its “help our clients cope, recover, and prosper under changing climate conditions”.
“Specialist climate-related roles will be integral as we manage the impact of climate change,” Barrett commented.