An award-winning engineer, Jeanette Southwood (ChemE 8T6, ChemE MASc 8T8) is Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Strategic Partnerships, at Engineers Canada, the national organization of the 12 engineering regulators that license Canada’s more than 295,000 members of the engineering profession where she leads a team focusing on the future of the profession. Prior to joining Engineers Canada, Jeanette led the Canadian Urban Development & Infrastructure Sector and the Global Sustainable Cities teams at an international consulting firm.
Jeanette is a Fellow of Engineers Canada, and a recipient of the Province of Ontario’s “Leading Women Building Communities Award”. She was honoured as one of Canada’s Clean50 2014 for her work and dedication to sustainable development, leading change, championing innovation and changing our world for the better. In 2014, she was also inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering which recognizes engineers contributing in exemplary ways towards their disciplinary fields and the wider community.
A dedicated volunteer with a number of organizations and on several Boards over the years, Jeanette has received an Honorary Doctorate, the Ontario Professional Engineers Awards (OPEA) Engineering Excellence Medal and was named one of WXN Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. In 2017, she was recognized as one of the Women of Innovation. In 2018, Jeanette was inducted into Professional Engineers Ontario’s Order of Honour and also was selected to provide the Dineen Lecture. In 2019, she received the Governor General’s Sovereign’s Medal.