Rachel Ellison takes on key regional leadership role at Mott MacDonald

Mott MacDonald has appointed Rachel Ellison to the new position of operations director for UK and Europe.

Rachel will play a central leadership role across the region together with Richard Risdon in his dual role as managing director for UK and Europe and group strategy director on the executive board.

She will focus on driving profitable, sustainable and strategically aligned growth across the UK and Europe and be instrumental in translating and embedding group strategies within the region.

For the past five years Rachel has successfully led Mott MacDonald’s advisory and programme delivery business as managing director for these services across the UK and Europe, driving growth in specialist and strategic advisory services and across programme, project and commercial management. Before this, she led the water and environment business for UK and Europe. Her diverse experience across technical delivery, business leadership and strategic growth brings a valuable depth of knowledge to this role.

Rachel Ellison commented: “As a key region for Mott MacDonald, the opportunity to develop and support its growth of our UK and European business is incredibly exciting. I’m looking forward to working closely with our operational teams, to strengthen our business, deliver our strategy, drive opportunities and champion our people.”

Rachel will be replaced as managing director for advisory and programme delivery by Kerry Hancock, who is moving from her regional development manager position. Kerry brings vast experience from across Mott MacDonald’s business and markets having previously spent four years in leadership roles for the advisory and programme delivery business.

At the same time, Sally Russell is taking on the managing director role for Mott MacDonald’s water and environment business, as Tim Hill moves into a technical director role, supporting the delivery of the Strategic Resource Options Programme. Sally brings extensive cross sector leadership experience with a strong background in the water sector, having held senior roles including design director at Mott MacDonald Bentley and portfolio lead in the advisory unit. She was most recently divisional managing director for health overseeing strategic direction, operational delivery and financial performance across the health sector in the UK and Europe.

Richard Risdon said of the appointments: "I am incredibly excited to welcome Rachel, Kerry, Sally and Tim into their new roles. Their depth and breadth of experience will strengthen our leadership capacity, drive growth, focus on delivery for our clients and ensure we remain a great company to work with and for."