Following the announcement that the ACE Board has appointed Hannah Vickers as the new ACE chief executive, we profile her career to date.

A civil engineer by profession, Hannah joins from the Institution of Civil Engineers where she led the policy and public affairs team. This included the development and roll out of Project 13, the industry-led response to creating and adopting a new infrastructure delivery model and establishing a new industry "think tank" to set future strategies for civil engineering communities around the globe.

Prior to this, she was headhunted into a role at Infrastructure UK, part of HM Treasury, leading their Project Initiation Routemap team which focused on advising senior stakeholders from private and regulated sectors to improve the delivery, performance and outcomes of major projects. Spearheading a combined team with academic, government and industry experts, she delivered 22 successful Routemap exercises, supporting increased value for money and confidence for a range of projects including HS2, Crossrail 2 and the development of the Olympic Park in London.

As part of this role, she also developed and delivered successful training programmes on infrastructure planning, appraisal and delivery to the governments of Indonesia, Argentina, Indonesia, China, Egypt and Brazil on behalf of the UK government. She chaired a panel of industry experts to produce technical materials on asset and risk management considerations. She was also called on as an advisor to ministers on infrastructure, working closely with the Commercial Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

She joined Infrastructure UK after ten years at the Environment Agency where she worked in a number of different roles, including project management across a range of flood defence schemes, as well as broader management positions in capital construction and corporate and commercial strategy.

She successfully completed a BSc in River and Coastal Engineering from the University of West of England and was incorporated as a civil engineer (MICE) for her work on the hydraulic design of flood embankment and flood storage reservoirs.