AECOM has appointed Rachel Billington as head of equality, diversity & inclusion (ED&I) in Europe. In this new role, Billington will be responsible for leading AECOM’s ED&I strategy across the region, with a focus on developing inclusive people practices and leadership and collaborating with clients to drive change in the industry.

Billington joins AECOM this week from the Metropolitan Police Service, where she was HR diversity and inclusion Lead. A diversity and inclusion specialist, senior leader, coach and mentor, she has more than 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors, including financial services and policing. 

At the Metropolitan Police she delivered a number of successful ED&I initiatives, including the organisation’s first-of-its-kind Women Returners Programme and Met Baby, a bespoke parenting support service. She introduced disability and carer’s passports and a workplace adjustments process redesign to improve support for disability in the workplace. Recently, she was programme manager of the retention workstream for the mayor of London’s Race Action Plan where she worked with senior leaders to implement Race Commitments and created local employee resource groups.

Colin Wood, chief executive - Europe, AECOM, said: “Rachel’s appointment reinforces our commitment to ED&I and she takes on an important new role that will help to shape our inclusive culture to attract, grow and retain a diverse network of professionals. She brings extensive experience in developing, leading and implementing innovative ED&I initiatives with tangible results, which will be a great asset as we continue to implement our ED&I strategy.”

Commenting on her appointment, Billington added: “AECOM’s scale and reach across multiple geographies and markets in Europe brings together a truly diverse network of talent. I look forward to working with everyone across AECOM Europe to push forward its ED&I journey, developing and leading exciting initiatives that will enable everyone to have the opportunity to thrive.”