Steve Capper moves from BAM to become Group CIO at SNC-Lavalin

Capper to take charge of data-driven digital transformation at global engineering firm SNC-Lavalin

Steve Capper, former global CIO at Royal BAM Group, has moved to civil engineering firm SNC-Lavalin to become its new group chief information officer.

Capper made the move to the Montreal, Canada-based company this month after more than three years at Dutch construction giant Royal BAM. Before that, Capper was, first, global chief technology officer then, briefly, vice president of global technology innovation, at engineering firm AECOM, leaving shortly after the company made the executive decision to outsource its entire IT estate to IBM.

Capper has also worked in various technology and technology leadership roles at Skanska and Arup after graduating from the Leeds College of Building in 1992.

A key professional focus for Capper has been data-driven digital transformation, with such a shift starting to affect organisations even in more traditional business sectors.

"My experience in driving transformational change of large IT departments from a technology, data and employee engagement perspective in large companies, such as Royal BAM Group, AECOM, Skanska and Arup, will be a key enabler in my new role at SNC-Lavalin," Capper told Computing.

He continued: "I will be accountable in establishing and maintaining a strong relationship with our IT strategic partners, optimising the company's systems and processes, and deploying new technologies that support and enable our new strategic direction.

"In addition, I will be responsible for ensuring that all the key factors are in place to implement a successful digital transformation that is aimed at shaping our future and the future of engineering services; that is, in the greater use of data."

Capper described SNC-Lavalin as "at the crossroads of its digital age", adding that he would "help SNC-Lavalin combine traditional engineering skills with data driven technology".

Capper is also a member of the Computing Top 250 UK IT Leaders, and was a finalist and runner-up as CIO of the Year at the UKIT Awards. The 2020 UK IT Awards will be open for entries in June.