Buildings + Places
Shirley Chen’s Business Profile
Empowering
& Creative
Shirley’s leadership strength lies in empowering others to become better in terms of creativity, innovation, and excellent quality. She propels the integration of landscape design, urban planning, urban design and economics services. She also promotes regional and global collaboration with offices in Mainland China, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and the United States.
Being always on the lookout for bold design ideas from history, nature, and culture, Shirley encourages and inspires her teams to approach a site context from multiple perspectives and provides platforms to exchange thoughts.
AS A BUSINESS LEADER
As managing director, one of her key foci is enabling more collaboration between the internal planning, urban design, landscape, and economics teams. Her team delivered strong and sustainable financial performance in the past three years. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, revenue increased 6% per year and profit increased 1% per year. She was also the sole representative from Asia in the 2022 CEO Circle, AECOM’s in-house top training program for its global executives.
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Shirley Chen is not only a committed, energetic, and passionate professional who gains the trusts of clients, she is also a team builder that constantly provides for others a supportive and collaborative platform. She brings positivism, creates an engaging culture that enables all to strive further together.
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Nancy Lin
Director Of Operations
Global Buildings + Places Business Line, AECOM
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Shirley is one of the most agile and dynamic leaders we have in Asia. Her ability to steer the business to improve profitability and enhanced engagement with the staff during the pandemic when the business were facing different challenges is a testament of her outstanding leadership skills!”
Patrick Chao
Senior Vice President, Director of Operations,
AECOM Asia
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AS A PROFESSIONAL LEADER
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As the best working partner, I sincerely thank you for guiding me to find a suitable career plan and helping me systematically improve my management ability, just like a lighthouse that lights up the direction for sailing sailors.
Huier You
Associate Director, Landscape, AECOM Guangzhou
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Shirley is a goal-getter. She will do everything she can and pull together all the resources she needs to achieve a goal.
Angel Yulo
Editor, Urbanism + Planning,
AECOM Hong Kong
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Shirley leads charismatically and uses her influence to draw out innovation, whether this is through ideation, workshops, refining design, or presenting to clients. Always paying heed to the varying needs of different project types, Shirley tailored her managerial approach and design methods to ensure high-quality services and deliverables are provided to the clients. She possesses a keen sense of what clients need and confidently proposes solutions, whether in design or project management which includes keeping cash flow healthy.
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She creates the space for you to step up, take action, and lead. She provides the platform for constructive criticism and feedback for decision-making. And she never stops learning.
Lukasz Podlewski
Director, Landscape AECOM Hong Kong
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AS A MENTOR
Those who have worked on projects with Shirley learn from her sharp eye for details and her pursuit of creative ideas that celebrate the local context. She empowers designers across generations to be brave with their best ideas whether they are in the research, refinement, or presentation stage of any project. She is always open to coach younger professionals and help them overcome difficult situations. She was chosen for the Asia Womentoring Program, in which next-generation women leaders are mentored by women executives in the company.
Beyond the company, she was selected for the The Women’s Foundation Mentoring Programme for Women Leaders 2023-2024 which matches 50 women leaders and executives from various sectors in Hong Kong with 50 mentees who exhibit leadership potential and the passion to spark change.
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Shirley empowers you & unlocks your full potential.
Joshua Bigcas
Associate Director, AECOM Hong Kong
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Shirley is an excellent team leader who always brings the best people together.
Alice Goh
Senior manager Business & Development, Urbanism and Planning, AECOM London
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Shirley is an exceptional leader who has had a profound impact on me over the years. She is my mentor and my role model. And when we need guidance in our professional or personal life, she becomes the greatest wave that carries and encourages us to keep going and became our better selves.
Valen Jiang
Senior Manager Graphic Design, AECOM Guangzhou
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AS AN ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN
AECOM has set an industry-leading, near-term target of women comprising at least 20 percent of senior leadership roles and at least 35 percent of the overall workforce. As she directs a renowned business and projects with global impact, Shirley is paving the way and advocating for more women leaders in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, especially in Asia.
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Shirley inspires all the women in our workplace that you can be the top leader in a male-dominated industry.
Gigi Au
Executive Assistant, AECOM Hong Kong
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I was invited to join a women-focused panel talk hosted by Shirley. She has been a strong advocate for young female professionals like me. The voice empowerment builds up the visibility of female employees and plays a crucial part in gender equity at our workplace.
Eva Hu
Project Landscape Designer, AECOM Hong Kong
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AS A GLOBAL TEAM AMBASSADOR
She is proactive about global collaboration and is swift to reach out to other regional teams when she senses an opportunity to enhance project outcomes or to advocate for more Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. Shirley represented the teams she managed at regional conferences and was also the sole representative from Asia in the 2022 CEO Circle. These conferences are also platforms for knowledge and cultural exchange.