Global critical infrastructure leader names Deepa Poduval to lead global sustainability across enterprise

With sustainability evolving from a corporate responsibility to a critical business imperative for Black & Veatch, Deepa Poduval’s recent promotion to become the engineering and construction company’s global sustainability leader is a natural synergy, given how deeply sustainability has been engrained in her since her upbringing in India.

As a senior vice president and 19-year Black & Veatch veteran, Poduval has been elevated to the company’s leadership team with a singular focus on sustainability across the enterprise. She will reinforce the company’s long-term commitment to net zero carbon emissions both in its operations and in executing projects for its clients as central to the company’s vision to be THE leader in sustainable infrastructure.

It’s as much a core value to Black & Veatch as it is to Poduval personally, who since joining the company in 2005 has held increasingly significant roles, most recently having guided what now is the company’s strategic advisory practice supporting global clients to tie business outcomes with sustainable development. Poduval’s passion for sustainability began during her early years in India, where she observed people queuing up for their daily water delivered by trucks and energy suppliers regularly cutting power to balance the load. For Poduval, it was an influential culture that naturally embraces conservation and recycling, with everything being creatively reused, repurposed and repaired.

“Sustainability is a value that profoundly drives me in guiding how Black & Veatch responsibly solves some of the world’s most challenging infrastructure problems,” Poduval said. “Sustainability is not simply a buzzword. It’s about doing the smart thing, and our clients, partners and all our employee-owners are aligned on creating economic pathways that preserve and protect critical resources and drive sustainable development for all.”

“Sustainability is core to our purpose and vision, and it’s a foundational company-wide commitment in everything we do from how we execute our projects to how we operate in the communities where we live and work,” Black & Veatch Chairman and CEO Mario Azar said. “As a seasoned sustainability leader, Deepa will be instrumental in helping steer and advance our strategic vision by leveraging the expertise of Black & Veatch in decarbonization and other global megatrends driving the evolving needs of the world’s critical infrastructure.”

In her previous role leading Black & Veatch’s global strategic advisory practice, Poduval helped clients achieve sustainability, growth and resiliency goals related to their critical infrastructure investments. She will play a vital role in advancing Black & Veatch’s reduction efforts to meet specific emissions targets in its annual corporate sustainability report, which comprehensively documents the systematic impact the company is making regarding climate change, decarbonization, resource depletion, water pollution, social issues and other pressing humanity challenges.

Black & Veatch’s 2024 Sustainability Report will be released later this year.