Alan Sharpe

While Alan Sharpe’s 37 years of success leading $10 billion transportation mega programs around the world is admirable, what’s more impressive is his ability to cultivate a culture of transparency and trust. Honesty, humility, intent listening and keen powers of observation are the active ingredients of his leadership style. A strong advocate of collaboration, his management philosophy is “if we all work together to develop the project in the best, most efficient way, everybody will win.” The best way to achieve this, he says, is finding a common goal everyone can share on the project.

In addition to his management credentials, Alan also brings a strong technical background. Having started his career as a bridge engineer, he’s worked on the designs for several cable-stay bridges and guideway structures and written software for conducting structural analysis. As a result, he understands the fundamentals of design and often uses that knowledge to challenge technical staff to consider more optimal methods or tools. He also likes to impart some of his nearly 40 years of accumulated knowledge and enjoys mentoring the next generation of thinkers and doers.

Alan’s experience spans all modes of transportation, including rail, bridges, and highways, as well as complex structures such as cable-stay bridges, twin-bored tunnels and passenger rail expansions. He says his favorite part of his role is the buzz of working as a team and the collective excitement of delivery where everyone feels they’re equally represented, are facing challenges together and have pride in the delivery of amazing pieces of infrastructure that will be a become a legacy all can be proud of.