Company Announcement - Aurecon’s Sonja de Klerk, Head of Quality, Environment & Sustainability, was recently announced as the winner of the Women in Quality – PDCA Solutions Outstanding Individual Achievement in Quality Award 2015. The award recognises a woman in the quality profession for outstanding achievement, demonstrated leadership, and a lasting commitment to promoting quality and making a change in her organisation.

“I am honoured to receive the Women in Quality Award. Being passionate about instilling a quality culture within in my organisation, this award is a testament to the work that we are doing in helping clients align quality audits to operational goals and risk management,” said de Klerk. 2015 marks the second Women in Quality conference and awards. The conference, which was held in August in Cape Town, South Africa, served as a platform for women in the quality profession to share their experiences and best practices with other women in the industry. De Klerk joined the engineering, management and specialist technical services company in 2006, and she has held many positions within Aurecon including Associate, Technical Director and Unit Manager before moving into her current role as Head of Quality, Environment and Sustainability. In this position, de Klerk manages a multinational team of quality and environmental management system auditors and sustainability practitioners. She is also the global representative for ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environment), ISO/IEC 17025 (Laboratories) across all of Aurecon’s geographies, which include offices in 27 countries.

De Klerk is the Chairman of  the South African sub-committee of ISO Technical Committee TC176, which is responsible for reviewing ISO 9001 and all associated ISO 9000 and 10 000-series standards. In her role, de Klerk represents South Africa at international TC176 meetings, with the most recent one being held in Ireland in early 2015.

Albert Geldenhuys, Aurecon Managing Director: South Africa, says that de Klerk is very deserving of this prestigious industry award.

“Sonja is passionate about sharing her knowledge with her team in Aurecon and beyond. She is a highly driven and energetic manager. Thanks to Sonja, quality objectives and targets are now aligned to our clients’ risks in a way that makes good business sense for everyone involved. Her teams often successfully execute quality projects in various countries and continents, which is a testament to her superb managerial skills,” said Geldenhuys.