Corinna is responsible for shaping strategy and overseeing the progression of nationally significant infrastructure projects, from early concept through FEED, consents, and delivery. A mechanical engineer by background, she brings over 15 years’ experience in advanced engineering research, innovation and major programme leadership.

Her track record is strong in developing technologies and infrastructure solutions, from early‑stage innovation through to deployment, and of building multidisciplinary teams to deliver complex, first‑of‑a‑kind projects. It is the objective of Corinna’s team to ensure that those projects are safe and investable and deliver long‑term value for consumers.

Her team does vital work and, encouragingly, is heavily women-driven – a small step forward towards evening up the gender in balance in the engineering sector.

 

“In my leadership team at the moment, we are 60 per cent women,” Corinna said. “In some areas, it is moving in the right direction, within research, new molecules and decarbonisation, but other areas are still quite male-dominated so there is still work to do there to get the balance right.

“I studied Mechanical Engineering at Nottingham University - there weren’t many girls on the course, just a few out of 300. I did a summer placement at Cummins Turbo Technologies which is a diesel engine company, doing turbo charger failure assessments and really enjoyed it - so much so that I ended up staying.

"I was really lucky because I had some great mentors while I was there, learning all across the business – procurement, strategy, meeting leadership. They were very good to me and because it was such a small company, it was a really good start to my career and set me up.

 

“I then moved to Jaguar Land Rover where I worked at all their local bases including their office at Warwick University. That was brilliant for me because I built up a really good understanding of research projects and developing new technologies. I set up a manufacturing research team at JLR and, while I was in that department, I had the opportunity to represent Tata at Harvard University, working with their team and sharing insight into JLRs technologies and production lines.

 

“I started working on hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen for the manufacturing plants and National Grid came and spoke to us about their ambition to build a hydrogen network. I could see the value and potential in how National Grid saw the future so was delighted to join them.”