Protest Engineering has gained former Cardno Asia Pacific CEO Jamie Alonso as its new Chief Executive Officer.
Following 20 years with Cardno, Alonso takes the helm at the aspirational Protest Engineering, driving an accelerated growth strategy that will see the company expand significantly over the next three years.
“I’m excited about the untapped potential that Protest Engineering represents in the industry,” says Brisbane-based Alonso, who most recently held the Asia Pacific CEO role at Cardno for four years up to June 2022.
“This is a company with major ambitions.”
Alonso takes the reins from Protest co-founder and former CEO Liam Kelly, who has built a rapid success story of the geosciences, civil and structural engineering company since launching it eight years ago. Liam will take on the Chairman role and will focus on a number of key innovation projects alongside Nick Ward who’ll continue in his COO role with a greater focus on mergers and acquisitions.
Following its acquisition of Morrison Geotechnic in 2022, Protest has seen staff numbers grow to 200 with an ambitious target to more than double the size of the business by end of FY26.
Alonso says he was drawn to the opportunity to start on the ground floor of a growing company and have a significant influence on its trajectory.
“The development and implementation of strategic plans has been an important part of my previous roles and this experience will be invaluable in working with the leadership team to help guide Protest through such a planned phase of growth,” Alonso says.
Protest Engineering is on track to exceed targets this financial year and has a strong appetite for further acquisitions, with a continuing course of achieving organic growth of 15% per annum.
“My experience in this space will help guide Protest through the challenges this can represent,” Alonso says.
Alonso has plans to on-board more high-profile recruits and says the company’s culture of fostering excellence is a major drawcard and one that resonates with his own values and leadership style.
“Safety, loyalty, integrity, innovation and accountability are our core values. There is a very strong desire to invest in and embed innovation into everything we do,” he says.
“My leadership style is very open and consultative and will always support, empower and enable people and teams to be successful.”
With offices currently across Queensland, and Victoria and with plans to establish a presence into other states, Protest Engineering provides diverse geosciences and, civil and structural engineering services nationally.
