Top 10: Chief Human Resources Officers in Construction

The construction industry employs hundreds of millions of people globally. This makes the executives responsible for the people within construction companies some of the most strategically important figures in the sector. 

This is especially true as the industry enters a race for specialist talent driven by increasingly complex projects, and a technological transformation that is changing the skills needed on site faster than at any point in its history.

The Chief Human Resources Officers and people leaders at the world's biggest contractors are shaping what construction looks like for the next generation.

From Mumbai to Madrid, Stockholm to San Francisco, these are the executives shaping the workforces that will build the world. 

10. Susan Masters 

Title: Vice President of Human Resources & Assistant General Counsel
Company: EMCOR Group 
HQ: Connecticut, US

EMCOR Group is a Fortune 500 mechanical and electrical construction firm employing more than 46,000 people across more than 400 locations in the US and UK.

Susan leads the HR function for one of the most operationally complex contractors in North America, overseeing workforce strategy across a highly decentralised business that spans data centre fit-out, industrial facilities management and beyond.

She also serves as Assistant General Counsel, providing legal counsel across employment and labour relations, which is a dual role that gives her an unusually broad perspective on workforce risk and compliance.

The company has capitalised on the retrofitting trend, upgrading ageing commercial assets for energy efficiency, creating sustained demand for skilled trades and specialist engineers across its workforce.

9. Wayne Davies 

Title: Chief People Officer
Company: Laing O'Rourke
HQ: Kent, UK

Wayne joined Laing O'Rourke as Chief People Officer in January 2026, becoming the first person to hold the role at group executive committee level. 

He brings with him 15 years of HR leadership experience from General Electric across worldwide assignments, as well as senior roles at Emirates Airline and on a major Middle Eastern construction giga-project. Group CEO Cathal O'Rourke says Wayne brings "an outstanding track record leading people functions across complex, international organisations". 

His appointment signals Laing O'Rourke's intent to place people strategy at the heart of its next phase of growth.

8. Rosemarie Demonte 

Title: Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer
Company: Turner Construction
HQ: New York, US

Turner Construction is the largest general contractor in the US and a subsidiary of Grupo ACS. Rosemarie has served as CHRO since 2020, leading the HR and recruiting group across a workforce of thousands of construction professionals. 

She is responsible for talent management, knowledge and learning, employee relations, recruitment, compensation and benefits across one of the most active construction programmes in the US. 

Turner is currently among the primary beneficiaries of the data centre and digital infrastructure build boom, creating significant demand for skilled construction talent across a number of specialist disciplines.

7. Emily Gepner 

Title: Chief Human Resources Officer
Company: AECOM
HQ: Texas, US

Emily was appointed CHRO at AECOM in March 2025, taking over from Shirley Adams who retired after nearly a decade in the role. Emily oversees people and capabilities priorities across a 45,000-strong global workforce. 

Her role encompasses talent attraction, learning and development and workforce planning. She also continues to lead Enterprise Capabilities, AECOM's global workshare organisation focused on scaling delivery across geographies. 

Her appointment comes as AECOM intensifies its focus on infrastructure advisory and programme management, requiring a pipeline of highly specialised engineering and technical workers in multiple markets.

6. Justin Zaccaria 

Title: Chief Human Resources Officer
Company: Bechtel
HQ: Virginia, US

Bechtel is one of the world's largest privately held engineering, procurement and construction firms, delivering some of the most complex infrastructure projects on the planet.

Justin leads global HR and all enterprise-wide HR programmes and processes, partnering with Bechtel's global business units to ensure talent strategy aligns with the company's project pipeline and long-term objectives. 

With major programmes spanning nuclear, data centres, transport and clean energy, Bechtel's workforce requirements are among the most technically demanding in the industry.

5. Carlos Cerezo 

Title: Chief Human Resources Officer
Company: Ferrovial
HQ: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Carlos was appointed CHRO at Ferrovial in 2020, having joined the company in 2006. He previously served as HR Director of the Corporate Area and HR and Communications Director of Ferrovial Services before taking on the group-wide role. 

Ferrovial employs tens of thousands of people across its construction, infrastructure concessions and services divisions globally, with a growing focus on the North American market. 

The company has successfully repositioned itself around managed lanes and sustainable transport infrastructure, requiring Carlos to build a workforce capable of delivering increasingly complex long-term concession programmes.

4. Therese Tegner 

Title: Executive Vice President, Human Resources
Company: Skanska
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden

Therese has served as EVP Human Resources at Skanska since April 2022, sitting on the Group Leadership Team of one of the world's largest construction and development companies. 

With operations in the Nordics, Europe and the US, Skanska employs around 90,000 people globally. Therese's remit covers group-wide people strategy with a strong emphasis on culture, values and workforce development across a highly international organisation. 

Skanska has made sustainability in construction a central pillar of its business strategy, which means Therese's people agenda is targeting workers who can deliver low-carbon construction programmes.

3. Dr C. Jayakumar 

Title: Executive Vice President & Head of Corporate Human Resources
Company: Larsen & Toubro
HQ: Mumbai, India

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is India's largest engineering and construction conglomerate, with operations spanning infrastructure, energy, defence and technology.

Dr Jayakumar has spent 38 years at L&T, rising through the business to lead corporate HR across one of Asia's most complex employer organisations, at a time when the company is riding the wave of India's infrastructure investment cycle and expanding aggressively into GCC markets.

The company is integrating digital twins and AI-driven project management into its core construction operations, creating significant demand for skilled tech workers, as well as traditional engineering talent.

Managing that dual workforce is at the centre of Dr Jayakumar's people agenda. L&T's ability to attract and retain talent at scale is central to its ambition to become a preferred partner for sovereign wealth funds on mega-scale infrastructure programmes across Asia and the Middle East. 

Beyond L&T, Dr Jayakumar serves as Honorary National President of the National HRD Network, India's premier body of HR professionals, further cementing his position as one of the most influential people leaders in the construction and engineering sector.

2. Martina Steffen 

Title: Chief Human Resources Officer & Chief Sustainability Officer
Company: HOCHTIEF
HQ: Essen, Germany

Martina joined HOCHTIEF in 1989 and has spent her entire career within the group, rising to Executive Board level over more than three decades. Since 2021 she has served as a Member of the Executive Board and Chief Human Resources Officer at Hochtief, also leading its sustainability strategy as Chief Sustainability Officer.

Her dual role reflects the growing overlap between workforce strategy and sustainability in the construction sector, as clients and investors demand progress on workforce diversity, safety culture and social value alongside environmental performance.

HOCHTIEF operates globally through major subsidiaries including Turner Construction in the US and CIMIC in Australia, making Martina's remit one of the most geographically complex HR roles in the industry.

Her long tenure gives her a depth of institutional knowledge that is an asset as HOCHTIEF navigates the pressures of a global skills shortage and the transition to lower-carbon construction methods across its international portfolio.

1. Ludovic Demierre 

Title: Vice-President, Human Resources
Company: VINCI
HQ: Nanterre, France

VINCI is the world's largest non-Chinese construction company by revenue, employing 294,000 people across more than 120 countries. Ludovic was appointed VP Human Resources in August 2025, joining the Executive Committee and succeeding Jocelyne Vassoille who had held the role since 2020. 

A VINCI veteran who joined the group in 1995, Ludovic has held HR leadership roles across multiple divisions including VINCI Construction France, Eurovia and the group's HR Development and Diversity function. He takes the role at a pivotal moment as VINCI drives forward one of the largest construction workforces on earth, managing the people agenda across concessions, energy solutions and construction simultaneously. 

Ludovic is responsible for 294,000 employees across more than 120 countries, covering everything from major infrastructure concessions and airport operations to complex civil engineering and building construction. 

VINCI's ambition to lead on sustainability and social responsibility adds further complexities to the role. Ludovic is leading work to embed those values across the company’s huge workforce. His deep knowledge of the group across three decades makes him well placed to lead that effort.