Thoughtful Leadership: Advice for Emerging Professionals from Seasoned Leaders

Patrick Stevens is a Strategic Pursuits Director at Jacobs and a people-focused leader who is passionate about helping others realise their potential. Since entering the industry, he has built a career leading strategic pursuits, supporting business growth and bringing diverse teams together to solve complex challenges. Known for his collaborative and people-centred approach, Patrick believes great leadership is less about authority and more about creating conditions for others to thrive. He enjoys mentoring emerging professionals, building strong connections, and sharing practical lessons on leadership, career growth and navigating complexity with confidence. As Strategic Pursuits Director at Jacobs, Patrick works closely with leaders and teams to solve complex challenges, unlock opportunities and deliver meaningful outcomes for clients, communities and organisations.

Jessica MacDonald is the co-founder and Executive Director of Yanun Project Services, bringing over 20 years of experience in project delivery, procurement and stakeholder engagement. A dynamic and strategic leader, she guides both project and organisational direction and manages high-value infrastructure programs. Jessica is recognised for building strong client relationships and delivering outcomes for communities and contributes to industry through external committees and boards with a continued focus on inclusive leadership and creating lasting impact through practical innovation and inclusive leadership. A savvy strategist and troubleshooter, Jess is comfortable stepping outside the box and leveraging her creativity to overcome challenges and drive ongoing success.

Shya Jackson is a Technical Executive in Contaminated Land Management with WSP. She graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Adelaide in 1991. Shya started her career at BHP’s Whyalla Steelworks in the newly formed Environment Department, which was established in consideration of the Environment Protection Act, 1993 that was due to be ratified and implemented. Shya spent 14 years in Whyalla across several technical and process engineering roles, working in Steelmaking Engineering and Ironmaking Technology and then back to the Environment Department to look after Waste Management across the steelworks and subsequently the National Pollutant Inventory reporting, marine monitoring and the finally site wide contamination portfolio. Shya returned to Adelaide when her eldest was ready to start primary school and commenced working part time with Parsons Brinckerhoff in 2005. She has been with the company ever since, navigating various changes of ownership to what is now WSP. Within PB/WSP, Shya moved from Senior Environmental Engineer to the newly created role of Section Operations Manager, then on to Team Manager which peaked at 20 personnel. With the acquisition of Golder Associates in 2021, Shya moved to a more technical and project directing role within the Contaminated Land Management Business Unit at WSP. She works nationally across projects, specialising in volatile contaminants, PFAS and also gets involved in projects associated with industrial plant operations, harking back to her process engineering roots.