Danielle Skelley OBE MBA BEng CEng MICE FCIHT, known as Dana, is Managing Director of Grain of Sand Consulting Ltd. Prior to setting up her own consultancy business she was Director of Strategy and Operational Excellence at

Skanska Skanska AB () is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. It was established in 1887 as a concrete product manufacturer. History Aktiebolaget Skånska Cementgjuteriet (Scanian Cement Casting Ltd) was established i ...

. She is a Council Member of the

Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT, formerly the Institution of Highways and Transportation) is a British learned society for the planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of land-based transport system ...

. She was Director of Asset Management at

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

Early life and education

Skelley was born and raised in London. She studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...

, graduating in 1987. She was the only woman in her class of 150 civil engineers.

Career

Skelley is a Chartered Civil Engineer. She became chartered whilst working on the refurbishment of heritage bridges. She became more interested in the business side of engineering, and completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

. She was appointed as Head of Consultancy Services at

Wandsworth Council Wandsworth London Borough Council, also known as Wandsworth Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Wandsworth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour m ...

in 1989. She joined

in 2000 as Principal Engineer for the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. In 2006 she was promoted to Chief Engineer and became Head of the London-wide Road Network. That year she was named Surveyor and

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

Municipals ''Engineer of the Year''. Skelley was made Director of Roads in 2008 and led a team of 500 engineers. At

, Skelley was responsible for a £4 bn road modernisation plan, which included preparing the capital for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, almost all of the Thames crossings and strengthening the

Hammersmith flyover The Hammersmith flyover is an elevated roadway in West London which carries the A4 arterial road over and to one side of the central Hammersmith gyratory system, and it links together the Cromwell Road extension ( Talgarth Road) with the st ...

. She led a team of 500 engineers. She worked with FM Conway and Arizona Chemical to create environmentally friendly roads for London. She partnered with

Costain Group Costain Group plc is a British construction and engineering company headquartered in London, England. It was established by Richard Costain and Richard Kneen in 1865, initially operating as builders in and around Lancashire. During the early 2 ...

to refurbish the

A40 road The A40 is a trunk road which runs between London and Goodwick (Fishguard), Wales, and officially called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road (A40) in all legal documents and Acts. Much of its length within England has been superseded by motorw ...

. Skelley was a judge at the 2012

Institution of Engineering and Technology The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution. The IET was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871,Engin ...

Young Woman Engineer of the Year award. Skelley is a champion for making efforts to engage young people with engineering. She was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, "For services to Transport in the UK". She was included in the inaugural

Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering In 2016 the Women's Engineering Society, Women's Engineering Society (WES), in collaboration with the ''Daily Telegraph'', produced an inaugural list of the United Kingdom's Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering, which was published on Internatio ...

in 2016. In July 2017 Skelley joined

. In 2017

announced that Skelley had been appointed to the board of trustees. She appeared on their podcast celebrating International Women in Engineering Day. She gave the

Worshipful Company of Paviors The Worshipful Company of Paviors is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Paviors can trace their history back to medieval times; they were responsible for the paving and maintenance of London's streets. It received a Royal Cha ...

annual lecture at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelley, Dana Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Officers of the Order of the British Empire Transport for London Engineers from London Alumni of Kingston University British civil engineers Alumni of the University of Bradford British women engineers