Equity Diversity & Inclusion, ESG, People Spotlight, Sustainable Legacies

Our People Spotlight series gives you an inside look at our technical experts around the world. This week, we are highlighting the Global ESG Training & Development Lead from our Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) team and providing an insight into their inspiration and work.

Based in our Coral Gables office in Miami, Lucy Bradbury is the head of ESG training tasked with helping upskill our teams to embed ESG into everything we do. She recently completed the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) Sustainable Business Practice Diploma and PRINCE2 Project Management Practitioner courses and has been working on ESG projects throughout her 6 years with AECOM.

Tell us about what inspired you to join the industry

At my previous company I was part of the client team for a construction project in Manchester, United Kingdom, refurbishing a substantial warehouse and office. As the project grew, I ended up spending most of my time on site and fell in love with it. As the project wrapped up, I knew I wanted to work in the industry full time, and I joined AECOM in August 2016. During my time at AECOM, I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work on safety, sustainability and equity, diversity and inclusion programs.

They all focus on protecting people and the planet and working towards a better future, so they have more crossover than people sometimes expect. It’s important to me that the work I do makes a difference and leaves a positive legacy, and our industry is a wonderful, impactful way to do that.

What is your favorite AECOM project that you’ve worked on and why?

I’ve developed training throughout my career, whether it be on safety, environmental compliance or LGBTQ+ issues in our industry, so I’ve really appreciated the opportunity to lead the development of our Sustainable Legacies training series over the last 18 months. It’s been a mixture of in-person, virtual and online training covering everything from broad topics like our ESG strategy to niche technical topics like carbon modelling.

It’s been extremely rewarding to have the opportunity to train tens of thousands of people, to teach them how to deliver sustainable legacies and to see the results of that training. It’s also given me the chance to work with industry leaders in the ESG space across the world, and finally meet some of our UK and U.S. teams in person after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, and ultimately move to our U.S. East region.

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.

I’m a huge believer in the idea that ‘no one gets left behind’ as we transition to a lower carbon, more just world. I recently worked with The Land Collective in London on its ESG Launchpad program to design training covering the value proposition of ESG, aimed at creating pathways for young people into skilled, sustainable green jobs and ensuring that our teams reflect the diversity of the clients and communities we serve.

Thanks to the fantastic efforts of The Land Collective, the program had a diverse cohort, and it was an honor to teach the class and give back to the community. The passion and knowledge of the participants was inspirational.

Share a piece of career advice

I recently attended an external talk by our President, Lara Poloni, and her advice was to say yes to everything! It hasn’t steered me wrong yet. As long as you can keep a work life balance, take all the opportunities you can get, that’s what makes work, and life, interesting and it’s certainly kept me on my toes!

Originally published Jan 18, 2023

Author: Lucy Bradbury