President’s Future Leaders – where are they now?

The ICE introduced the President's Future Leaders Scheme to foster and develop the skills of talented young professionals.

Each year, the newly elected ICE president chooses a group of Future Leaders to work with.

For this initiative, some of the most innovative and aspirational young people were chosen to assume industry leadership and take on the engineering challenges of the future.

So, let’s explore the fantastic achievements of our past President’s Future Leaders – and ask, ‘where are they now?’

1. Micheala Chan

After five years working on water and climate resilience in the UK, Micheala moved to the other side of the world. She joined the Asian Development Bank to provide technical assistance to improve water supply services in Vanuatu.

Only 44% of the ocean state’s population has access to safely managed drinking water, underscoring the urgency for the work.

During this time, she’s been learning from the community’s deep connection to water and nature.

“This experience has reshaped how I think about resilience,” she says. “[It has] reminded me that nature isn't just something to manage but something to learn from and adapt alongside.”

Micheala was one of Rachel Skinner CBE’s Future Leaders in 2020-21.

Since taking part in the scheme, she’s most proud of her ongoing climate advocacy. She particularly believes in empowering young, diverse voices to take meaningful actions on climate.

Whether that’s by shaping infrastructure climate policy, at COP for example, or by engaging with communities directly and helping boost their resilience.

2. Ayo Sokale

Ayo was selected as one of Professor Lord Robert Mair’s President’s Future Leaders in 2018. Since completing the programme, her career has gone from strength to strength.

Managed by Riva Media, Ayo is a keynote speaker and TV presenter who has brought her diverse talents to the small screen. She’s appeared as a presenter on programmes ranging from BBC Bitesize Science to Cbeebies, National Geographic and Channel 5.

But Ayo hasn’t stopped there – she’s also turned her hand to politics. She was elected Labour and Cooperative Councillor for Caversham in 2019 and is the Former Deputy Mayor of Reading Borough Council.

During her time as deputy mayor, she campaigned on sustainability issues, co-founding the Plastic Free Caversham Group. She is also one of ICE’s Water Superheroes, fittingly named Eco Warrior.

Ayo has repeatedly teamed up with us to help us pursue our long-term goals for the industry.

She’s a supervising civil engineer, and a member of ICE Thames Valley and the ICE Policy and External Affairs Committee.

In her work with us, she’s highlighted inclusivity, particularly the importance of hearing female, Black, and neurodiverse voices in the industry.

She’s currently a major project and programme delivery business manager at the Environment Agency, boasting almost nine years of experience in the industry.

3. Dr Joshua Macabuag OBE

When a disaster strikes, one of the first engineers you’ll hear about is Doctor Joshua Macabuag.

Josh, a disaster risk engineer, served as Paul Jowitt's President's Apprentice from 2009 to 2010.

Throughout his career, he’s designed and implemented various risk education initiatives to empower vulnerable communities to mitigate the risk of natural disasters.

He worked on urban search and rescue (USAR) deployments and safety assessments, including the Nepal earthquake in 2005, Hurricane Irma in 2017, the Haiti earthquake in 2021 and the Turkey earthquake in 2023.

In 2022, Josh participated in the ICE’s 14th Brunel International Lecture Series with a keynote address on responding to climate disasters.

In June 2025, Josh received an OBE in the King's Birthday Honours.

4. Brittany Harris

Brittany joined the ICE Future Leader scheme in 2016 under the mentorship of Professor Tim Broyd.

In 2017, she initiated the ICE’s involvement in the United Nations’ Sustainability Goals (UNSDGs), which resulted in the UNSDGs being the centrepiece of the ICE 200th anniversary celebrations.

Since completing the Future Leader’s Scheme, Brittany has gone on to become the co-founder and CEO of QFlow, which now operates in the UK, USA and Australia.

QFlow has achieved incredible feats in the carbon space, empowering teams to eliminate 100s of hours of work and £100,000s of wasted materials, vastly reducing carbon and waste from the construction process.

Brittainy also volunteers for EcoSwell – a charity that designs and implements sustainability projects that align with the UNSDGs.

Brittany joined the Environment Agency in 2024 as a non-executive director and became an Enterprise Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2018.

5. Yan Zhou

Becoming a Fellow at the age of 37 is one of Yan’s proudest achievements.

He’d set himself the goal of reaching the highest grade of membership before he turned 40 and he succeeded with a few years spare.

He obtained his chartership while he was a President’s Apprentice in 2011-12, working alongside Richard Coackley.

He’s now working as an associate director for the Construction Industry Council in Hong Kong, a government body.

He promotes high productivity construction methods, such as modular integrated construction (MiC).

Yan is also determined to give back to the industry and to the institution as much as possible. He's been a supervising civil engineer and a Professional Reviewer for the ICE.

He's also sat on the ICE Council (2019-2023) and been part of several committees, such as the ICE Communications Committee and the ICE Professionalism Panel.

6. Michelle Hicks

When you’re at a theme park, do you ever stop to think about who’s responsible for all those life-like animatronics and amazing sights and sounds?

Michelle is the co-owner and executive producer of Firefly Creations, a theme park consultancy she founded in 2020.

She’s also a civil engineer and was a President’s Apprentice in 2015-16, mentored by Sir John Armitt.

Michelle’s career has been a thrill ever since. She began her career at Chessington World of Adventure, designing and maintaining rides and amusement park infrastructure.

One of Firefly Creations’ most exciting projects yet is Kraken Cove – an immersive theme park where guests are transported to a pirate village, where they become the master of their own tale.

As Michelle shows, the sky really is the limit when it comes to careers you can do as a civil engineer.

7. Sakthy Selvakumaran

For World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development in 2023, we spoke to volunteers at SARAID who witnessed first-hand the urgent need for resilient infrastructure in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Turkey.

One of those volunteers was Sakthy, founder and CEO of the digital start-up BKwai. Sakthy worked with Geoff French as a President’s Apprentice in 2013/14.

Through innovative data analytics and AI, Sakthy has made it her mission to transform how we approach construction projects.

BKwai does this by analysing data sources ranging from satellite radar images to weather sensors to gain insight into the performance of infrastructure assets.

This helps clients understand and predict risks, enabling them to make better decisions around maintenance, upgrades and repair.

Her interest in data analytics was rooted in her academic work.

She completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge on risk and resilience in infrastructure.

She’s also a fellow of the university, and was awarded the inaugural Isaac Newton/Newham College fellowship for outstanding early career researchers.

Sakthy was also featured in Forbes’ ‘Top 30 under 30’ in Europe.

Want to find out more about how satellites could help us prevent disasters? Check out her inspiring TEDx talk below:

8. Chris North

Chris took part in the President's Apprentice scheme in 2013-2014 under the mentorship of Geoff French.

Since then, he has worked his way up from sub-agent to project manager in the delivery team of several major projects. He’s now taken on a quality director role at HS2.

His work on the Thames Tideway Tunnel – now fully connected – was instrumental to his James Rennie Medal win in 2021.

Overcoming challenges with dyslexia, Chris has forged a strong career path for himself. He has progressed through his ICE qualifications, from Incorporated Engineer all the way to Fellowship.

He’s also been a supervising civil engineer and currently volunteers on the ICE Education and Inspiration Advisory Group.

9. Lili Tao

In 2008, recent graduate Lili Tao was selected to be a President’s Apprentice to Jean Venables, the first female president of the ICE.

Lili started her career in engineering and infrastructure, working across the UK, Hong Kong, mainland China and Southeast Asia.

She’s since taken this expertise into the commercial real estate sector, working at global firm, JLL. She holds multiple influential roles at the company, balancing international best practices with local market needs.

Lili is a passionate advocate for sustainability and an active member supporting the World Green Building Council.