Mari-Louise Ross

Mari-Louise Ross was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. She completed her Chemical Engineering studies in the beautiful town of Stellenbosch and then moved to Johannesburg, in the north of the county, to pursue her career. There she developed an interest in process control engineering and continued her studies in that field, and in business management a few years later.

She started her career lecturing in mathematics and engineering and then worked at various international engineering companies. This gave her the wonderful opportunity to travel and work in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the USA. It has also allowed her to work with team members of many different countries and cultures. This experience, as well as living in South Africa at a time of huge social and political change, has helped shape her passion for diversity and culture. She is a firm believer that any environment benefits by diversity, inclusion and constructive conversations.

Mari-Louise has focused her recent professional efforts on the project management of large international engineering projects, mainly in the oil, gas and petrochemical fields. She is also involved in various programs that strive to encourage women to develop professionally and bring more young women to enter the STEM career fields. She believes engineering is one of the most exciting professions, and engineers can make a huge impact in shaping the kind of future we would be proud to leave to our children.

She resides in Maryland, with her son Ethan, aged two.