| News Release Gavin Cormack wins Engineering Leadership Award Former Beca Chairman Gavin Cormack received the William Pickering Award for Engineering Leadership at the 2009 New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards last night in Wellington. Gavin Cormack’s career in engineering spans 45 years, culminating in the role of Executive Chairman of the board of directors at the Beca Group. During the time he spent with Beca, Gavin was instrumental in helping the company grow from a small consulting engineering firm to a respected international player. In the early part of his career Gavin was a successful civil engineer, but it is in his more recent role as a leader that he has been most influential. Gavin’s leadership style has been described as soft on people and hard on results, he has a clear strategic vision that he is able to translate for every member of a team. At the Beca Group Gavin encourages a culture of flexibility, lateral thinking and recognition of achievement. Gavin has also made a significant contribution to the wider community. He is a past President and Committee Member of the Northern Club, has served on the boards of King’s College and Eden Park and was the Deputy Chairman of Ports of Auckland. Gavin is a former Chair of the Centre for Advanced Engineering, and former Vice President of the Federation Internationale de la Precontrainte (International Federation for Structural Concrete). He was a Director and subsequently Chairman of the New Zealand Trade Development Board and led trade missions to several countries. In 2003 he was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand and in 2006 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Canterbury. For more information contact: |