Nuria Fernandez

With 28 years of experience in civil engineering and a diverse range of transportation management positions, Nuria Fernandez serves as Senior Vice President with the engineering, construction, and operations firm CH2M Hill. Ms. Fernandez has initiated business expansions within CH2M Hill’s multi-billion dollar European and Latin American markets over the past two and a half years. She was also involved as Project Manager in the early development of the Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD 2012) initiative.

In this capacity, Nuria Fernandez helped build a coalition of business organizations bringing private sector solutions for sustainability issues to world governments, the United Nations, NGOs, and other parties. The focus of this initiative is to develop a business agenda for the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainability, also known as Rio+20, which would build an environmentally sustainable future. Ms. Fernandez has also functioned as Capture Manager for major CH2M Hill programs in Panama and Brazil, raising the firm’s profile in key infrastructure markets.

Nuria Fernandez got her start in transportation with the Chicago Transit Authority, moving into a position at the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1994 and later as Deputy Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration in the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1997. Transitioning to the private sector with Earth Tech, Inc. in 2001, Ms. Fernandez focused her efforts on building the Tyco International, Ltd.-subsidiary’s reputation for mega-projects throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Expanding the company’s transportation portfolio dramatically, Nuria Fernandez aided in increasing gross revenues by over $500 million during her 5 years with the Earth Tech, Inc. Prior to joining CH2M Hill, Ms. Fernandez spent two years as Commissioner with the City of Chicago’s Department of Aviation. This position entailed Chief Executive Officer duties, which included overseeing Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport, which together make up America’s second-busiest airport system.

In addition to day-to-day oversight functions, Nuria Fernandez had distinct accomplishments as Commissioner. She successfully launched interactive