Award winning alumnus Belinda Virant

Winner of the 2024 Judy Raper Award for Leadership, CVEN alumnus Belinda Virant is the managing director of Transportation & Mobility Australia at Arcadis.

The annual UNSW Women in Engineering Alumni Awards ceremony recognise the amazing achievements of women engineers who are inspiring, mentoring and being role models for the next generation. Belinda Virant is certainly all of the above.

Having graduated with first class honours civil engineering degree from UNSW Civil & Environmental Engineering in 1996, Belinda has more than 25 years’ experience in the successful design and project management of major infrastructure projects, both in Australia and the UK.  At Arcadis she leads a national transportation and mobility team of 600 people, with responsibility also for two off-shore teams, in the Philippines and India, involving another 200 staff. 

Her management and leadership style is based on openness, collaboration and encouragement 'to leave the egos at home'.  Regional and local sharing of experience, skills, learning and innovations allows each project team to not 'have to re-invent the wheel' every time. Belinda enjoys the variety of skills and responsibilities involved, from looking after people, to winning work and ensuring the business is financially successful.

Her strength in transparent communications has built strong relationships with clients over several years, and driven successful project outcomes across time, cost and quality metrics. As a recognised transport leader she has served on the NSW Executive Review Groups for major projects such as the Warringah Freeway Upgrade and the Eastern Sydney Congestion Program.

On receiving the Leadership Award, Belinda said, “It's such an honour to be here and receive this award from Judy Raper herself. I truly feel so privileged, and I'm humbled because this really does mean a lot to me. I have a great passion for engineering and for what I do.

“All the way through my career, from being a design engineer onto a design manager to a project manager, to leading teams, to being a business leader and now being the managing director, the one constant is solving problems.

“That's something I just love so much. The only problem I haven't solved is why we can't attract more women into engineering. So that's a challenge I'll definitely take on.”

Belinda has a passion for creating a more sustainable transport sector and enhancing workforce culture, for, as she says, 'bringing out the best in people, and providing them with an environment to succeed.' She and her team were shortlisted for the 2024 Consult Australia Champions Of Change - Diversity and Inclusion award for their Women of Colour Program, and she is active in many other D&I roles, including being a reviewer for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Leading Women Awards - for inspiring women from all over the world from different industries.

Through her work as a leader, Belinda has encouraged her company as well as her profession and industry to embrace climate-aware sustainability pathways, address inclusivity and access issues for workers and for the community which engineers seek to serve, and of course, more female participation. "Change is happening for the better. Let’s all help to drive change and embrace it for a sustainable future – don’t be a bystander, be an advocate, question the status quo, and be purposefully inclusive. "

Huge congratulations and well done Belinda Virant! Your School is very proud of you!!!

Find out more about the 2024 Awards night here.