Speakers

Maria is the Project Controls Manager for ACCIONA working on LXRP Southern Program Alliance where she manages the Commercial and Finance teams she is also a Non-Executive Director with ANCAP Safety. She is a commercially focused senior leader with an Engineering background – with over 20 years’ experience in complex, capital-intensive multinationals, leading large cross-functional teams on multi-year, billion-dollar projects. She transitioned to infrastructure construction almost four years ago as the Regional Project Controls Manager at ACCIONA, and prior to this had a successful international executive automotive career with General Motors across manufacturing, finance, project and operations management, and business planning.  Maria has an MBA from the Melbourne Business School and BEng(Mech) Hons/ BSc(Mathematics) from the University of Melbourne. She is an EngExec and Fellow with Engineers Australia and is Chartered in Leadership & Management and Project Management and a Graduate of the Australian Company Directors Course. With a passion for learning and broadening her skills, she is about to also commence her Masters in Construction at the University of Melbourne.

Maria is passionate about improving gender diversity in STEMM and leadership and has lead organisational initiatives across her career. She was Chair of Engineers Australia’s National Committee for Women in Engineering 2023-2024 and is still on the committee, prior to this she was the Victorian Chair, she is also an Advisory Committee Member for Power of Engineering.