Louisa Finlay appointed as Kier’s chief operating officer

Kier Group has revived its chief operating officer role, appointing Louisa Finlay to lead a wide remit covering digital transformation, corporate real estate and sustainability.

Finlay stepped into the post in January 2026, taking on responsibility for operational excellence, health, safety and wellbeing, digital, data and IT.

She will retain her group chief people officer duties until a successor is appointed later in the year.

Finlay joined Kier as a trainee engineer and was made chief people officer in 2023.

She has also held several managing director roles within the company, including profit-and-loss leadership positions, and previously helped deliver the Stirling Prize-winning Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge.

Announcing her appointment on LinkedIn, Finlay said the move would bring together her experience across site delivery and corporate functions.

She said: “I’m looking forward to heading up our drive to become a naturally digital business and to bringing together my time on site with the functional roles to drive forward our ways of working.”

She described her time as chief people officer as a period of “transformational change” focused on productivity and employee engagement. In 2023, she received the lifetime achievement award at the European Women in Construction & Engineering Awards.

Finlay will sit on Kier’s executive committee and work closely with group managing director Stuart Togwell.

Source: LinkedIn announcement