RC106 MayJune2023 - Magazine - Page 8
LEADERSHIP
MIWA AND MEGA PROJECTS
How Acciona’s Carol Miwa applies her expertise to
tackle top infrastructure projects by Connie Vitello
AROL MIWA has more than 25 years of experience in
management and auditing for quality assurance of
health and safety, environmental and sustainability,
and for social responsibility, mainly in large-scale
infrastructure projects. In Canada and Latin America, Miwa has provided management for sites in the
industrial, power, construction, and service sectors.
Miwa is a civil engineer and occupational health and
safety engineer with a Masters in Environmental Science.
She also has formal education in Quality Engineering and
Project Management (PMI) and is a lead auditor for the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
She came to Canada from Brazil nine years ago and
has been a part of Acciona for the past six years. A business leader with outstanding resilience, persistence and
interpersonal skills, Miwa has cultivated a reputation for
creating and maintaining strong relationships at Acciona,
and within the infrastructure community.
ReNew Canada recently engaged the high performing,
multi-lingual Miwa to discuss her leadership role at Acciona. The company—recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index—entered the Canadian market 20 years
ago with one of the country’s most iconic infrastructure
projects to-date, the Deep Lake Water Cooling System
in Toronto, which provides a sustainable alternative to
conventional air cooling.
How does Miwa manage QHSE (quality, health, safety,
and environment) on mega infrastructure projects in Canada? What principles does she apply to ensure sustainable, innovative, and responsible solutions for her clients
and project teams? Find out answers to these questions
and more in the following Q&A.
Connie Vitello is
contributing editor of
ReNew Canada.
8
RENEW CANADA – MAY/JUNE 2023
What was your motivation for entering the infrastructure
sector?
I’ve always been into logical thinking and problem solving,
which comes in handy for my professional life. Growing
up my favourite subject was math, so it made sense that I
entered the field of engineering. My home country is Brazil
and I come from a school system with high standards that
is managed by government. I had great grades and was
fortunate to start university at age 17. I was also inspired
by my father, who was an economist, and three of my
uncles who were engineers. There were not many of us
women when I started in the industry. It was very male
dominated, but things have changed over the years.
RENEWCANADA.NET
ACCIONA
C
Carol Miwa, Director
of Quality, Health and
Safety, Environmental
and Sustainability (QHSE)
Acciona North America.
