FIDIC’s committee chairs gathered online today (9.9.21) as part of a virtual session at the business days of FIDIC’s annual online conference event. The chairs gave an update on their work over the past 12 months – work which had continued despite the challenges of the global pandemic.
Addressing the meeting, FIDIC president Bill Howard thanked the committee chairs and members for their hard work in challenging times. “Our committees are the lifeblood of FIDIC and so important to what we do as an organisation,” he said. While there was still a way to go, Howard said that FIDIC’s committees were definitely heading in the right direction and he looked forward to seeing their further progress in the months and years ahead.
Despite the undoubted difficulties and challenges of the past 12 months, FIDIC’s committees had pivoted well to a fully online status to meet that challenge. While the work of the committees is still evolving, the meeting heard that their outputs and engagement with stakeholders is enabling FIDIC to be more external facing and is helping the organisation to make a positive impact on and widen its influence in the global infrastructure industry.
Chairing the online event, Chris Campbell, CEO of Consulting Engineers South Africa and the chair of the FIDIC Directors and Secretaries Advisory Council, said that FIDIC’s committees had done extremely valuable work over the past year and were a critical cog in pulling the various strands of the organisation’s work together and raising FIDIC’s profile.
The meeting heard updates from the chairs of all 11 FIDIC committees as listed below.
Business Practice Committee (chair, Andrew Read, director of Pedersen Read in New Zealand), Capacity Building Committee (chair, Stephane Giraud, FIDIC Expert at Plan J Consulting in France), Contracts Committee (chair, Vincent Leloup, managing partner of contracts consultancy Exequatur in France), Integrity Management Committee (chair, Richard Stump, vice president of RS&H in the USA), International Financial Institutions Committee (chair, Manish Kothari, president and CEO at Sheladia Associates in the USA), Membership Committee (chair, Enni Soetanto, managing director of Mott MacDonald Indonesia), Risk, Liability and Quality Committee (chair, Nicola Grayson, chief executive officer of Consult Australia), Sustainable Development Committee (chair, Tracey Ryan, managing director of Aurecon – New Zealand), Directors and Secretaries Advisory Council (chair, Chris Campbell, CEO of Consulting Engineers South Africa), Diversity and Inclusion Council (chair, Dr Michele Kruger, Discipline Lead – Water Services Advisory, for MPAMot South Africa) and the Future Leaders Council (chair, Adam Białachowski, CEO, B-Act/Vintage Consulting).
The chairs answered questions from attendees on a range of issues and it was clear from the discussion how interconnected the work of the committees is and the opportunities for greater global collaboration and engagement. “There are real opportunities for collaboration between different international organisations as a result of their connection with the FIDIC family,” said Chris Campbell, underlining the importance of the collaborative and team-orientated approach of the FIDIC committees.
Closing the event, Campbell thanked all the attendees and urged them to get more involved in FIDIC and its work. "If you want to be part of the process of change then come onboard, get involved with our work and make a contribution to the future of the industry," he said.
There will be a committee-by-committee update on progress included in the FIDIC Annual Report 2020-2021 which will be published following the FIDIC general assembly meeting next week.
