'March Forward' with Roads Australia this International Women's Day, as we celebrate public and private sector progress towards an inclusive and sustainable workforce.
RA is committed to building a transport sector that attracts, engages and retains women as part of a diverse workforce, while shaping the transport networks of the future.
Over 1,000 RA members identified in RA’s 2024 'Strength in diversity: Empowering women in the transport sector’ report that the challenges facing our industry, in truly representing the broader society in which we operate, are clear. We must challenge one another to do better, to acknowledge the issues and take action to create a sustainable workforce that actively supports women at every level and every part of the transport supply chain.
This year, we take on the challenge to turn promises into progress. What can we learn from those in our industry who are taking the bold steps? How do we take these lessons and implement them to continue the March Forward to gender equality in our industry?
#MarchForward
Our speakers:
Hear from 2024 John Shaw Medallist, Madeleine McManus OAM, CEO at Centre for Professional Engineering Education and Centre for Pavement Engineering Education (CPEE), 2024 Roads Australia Fellow Isolde Piet, in her capacity as leader of the historic all-female TBM crew working to deliver Suburban Rail Loop, and Major Road Projects Victoria's Executive Program Director, Alexis Davison.
Madeleine McManus OAM | CEO | CPEE
Madeleine McManus OAM, FIEAust, NER, CPEng, EngExec is a distinguished engineer and trailblazing leader with over 25 years of experience across diverse sectors. Currently, she serves as CEO of the Centre for Pavement/Professional Engineering Education (CPEE), Global Director of Robogals, member of the National Pavement Taskforce, and Chair of Yarra Trams – the world’s largest tram network.
An innovator, disrupter and multidisciplinary problem solver, Madeleine has consistently broken new ground in her field:
• She was the first woman to chair Engineers Australia in Victoria, where she led the engineering response to the Black Saturday Fires.
• She designed and launched an internationally recognized collaboration program that bridges industry and academia, winning three national awards of excellence.
• Madeleine made history as the first female CEO of CPEE.
• As Project Director, she oversaw the creation of the world’s largest LEGO suspension bridge for the 2019 World Engineering Convention in Melbourne.
• Most recently, she was appointed Chair of Yarra Trams.
Her leadership has been widely recognized, including the John Shaw Medal from Roads Australia in 2024 for “outstanding and innovative leadership in transport and her continuing contribution”. In 2017, she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to engineering and education.
Madeleine is passionate about using her skills, drive, and smarts to make a meaningful difference and impact and she believes life is too short to be a spectator.
Isolde Piet | Construction Manager – Tunnels | Suburban Connect
Isolde 'Izzy' Piet was the first female TBM pilot in the world and will now be leading as Construction Manager for Tunnels on the Suburban Rail Loop project between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley.
She began her career in the civil construction industry over 20 years ago and has worked around the globe in the Netherlands, Turkey and more recently in Australia. Her interest in construction and engineering came about through her hobby of surfing and learning about the design of surfboards. This then prompted her interest in technical design.
Isolde obtained her Master of Science Civil Engineering, Underground Construction at the Delft University of Technology. Her first role out of university was working on what was considered the largest tunnel at the time - the Groene Hart Tunnel.
While in Australia, Isolde has set up a precast factory to manufacture tunnel segments in Brisbane and worked on North East Link project most recently.
Isolde is a strong supporter of attracting more women into the construction industry and will lead the construction and operation of the SRL East twin tunnels between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley, and all the tunnelling crews, including the world’s first all-women tunnel boring machine crew.
Isolde recently completed the RA fellowship, where she was part of the team that was awarded Best Project.
Alexis Davison | Executive Program Director | Major Roads Projects Victoria
Alexis is an experienced leader with more than 25 years’ experience spanning all stages of project delivery. During her extensive career, Alexis has held key roles on major projects in the public and private sectors in Australia and the UK.
Alexis is an Executive Program Director at Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) and is responsible for overseeing a diverse range of areas including Project Development, Land Planning and Environment, Engineering and Innovation, Social Value and Inclusion, Sustainability, Roads Program Delivery, and ecologiQ – an initiative she was instrumental in bringing to life across Victoria’s Big Build program of works.
Alexis actively champions the need to address the under-representation of women in the construction industry and is a regular mentor in the Women in Transport mentoring program. She was a key driver in the development of MRPV’s internal Gender Equality Action Plan, and in the roadmap Towards Gender Equity (2024-2027) developed in collaboration with the Victorian National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC); a plan to work with construction partners to drive equitable gender outcomes across new MRPV projects.
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If you are interested in partnership opportunities, please email emma.drummond@roads.org.au
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