John McGuire appointed as Chief Innovation Officer at Aurecon

In a move to reshape the company to better serve its clients to compete in the digital age, Giam Swiegers, Chief Executive Officer, is making some strategic changes at Aurecon with the appointment of John McGuire as Chief Innovation Officer.

Reporting directly to Swiegers, McGuire will drive the change to embed a global culture of innovation within Aurecon. He will also lead the organisation to achieve its goal of partnering with clients to design their future, determine their reactions to a variety of different competitive situations, and discover innovate pathways to thrive in the age of digital transformation.

Digital is challenging many businesses to think differently. It is challenging how businesses connect and service existing customers. It is raising the possibility that if organisations do not adapt and change, then their market could be disrupted by others more agile and adept. Design thinking is a way of dealing with these possibilities by reimagining new models of business and new models of service and working with clients to co-design what these look like.

This change, Swiegers says, demands innovation. “Organisations are struggling to differentiate themselves in the hyper contested environments of the digital age and many are now looking to innovation as a source of differentiation.”

“The sources of innovation will often come from outside of your own industry or your own sphere of knowledge. Bringing diverse expertise bases and different experiences and different points of view is increasingly being used as a method for innovating.”


McGuire’s strategic appointment and focus on the use of design led thinking in solving the complex problems will see Aurecon challenge its clients thinking to bring forth new ideas and knowledge and deliver differentiation as a source of competitive advantage in a highly contested market.

Together with teams throughout the organisation, McGuire will build the vision and capabilities to help Aurecon compete in the world of tomorrow and to evolve the company’s offering — using creativity, expertise and design led thinking — to unlock new value for its clients and create solutions that are symbiotic with the communities in which it operates.

McGuire says, “This is an incredibly exciting time to be an engineer. In the last two to three years, the growth of computational analytics, data availability and accessibility, system and people connectivity, and immersive visualisation, has opened a new world of opportunity for businesses. Coupled with data gathering on system and infrastructure performance, we are seeing new channels for connecting with and servicing customers that we would not have dreamed of a few short years ago.