Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE is Founder and Chair of AEO Group, a boutique corporate and infrastructure investment advisory firm. He joined the Board of Lagos Lagoon Highways Limited (LLHL) in 2023 and was later appointed Chair, overseeing corporate governance, project development, the concession agreement, fundraising, delivery, and operations for the proposed 70 km toll road in Lagos. Since 2015, he has chaired the Investment Committee of ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investment’s US$250 million private equity fund, supporting sustainable power generation and transport projects across West Africa. In 2025, he was appointed a Trustee and Governing Board member of Aston University, Birmingham, UK, and served on its Finance and Investment Committee. He also became Chair of the Construct Africa Industry Advisory Board, with responsibility for corporate governance and the strategic positioning of the organisation as a leading voice for infrastructure across the African continent.
Between 2023 and 2026, he served on the Board of High Speed 2 (HS2) Limited, having been appointed
by the UK Prime Minister. HS2 is a new rail investment linking London and Birmingham, with an
estimated cost of £85 billion. He played a joint leadership role in the programme reset and
strategic turnaround, served as Vice Chair of the Commercial and Investment Committee, and was a
member of the Finance and Performance Committee.
He is the immediate past Chief Executive Officer of the International Federation of Consulting
Engineers (FIDIC), serving from July 2018 to September 2024 with overall responsibility for its
global operations. During his tenure, he led the organisation’s strategic and operational
transformation, increasing annual revenue by 150% through a diversification programme.
He also negotiated and secured agreements with eight leading multilateral development banks, including the World Bank Group, to adopt FIDIC standard construction contracts for projects with an estimated annual investment value of more than US$190 billion. In addition, he established the FIDIC Academy, FIDIC Credentialing, and the FIDIC Global Leadership Forum, serving respectively as Vice Chancellor, Vice Chair of the Management Board, and Vice Chair of the Advisory Board.
Between 2016 and 2024, he served as a Board Member of Transport for London (TfL), appointed by the
Mayor of London. TfL is a transport operator with annual revenue of approximately £12 billion. In
this role, he chaired the Programmes and Investment Committee and served on the Remuneration
Committee, having previously also served on the Audit and Assurance Committee and the Customer
Service and Operational Performance Panel. also, as also TfL’s nominee to the Board of Crossrail
Limited (CRL), where he chaired the Investment Committee for the £18 billion east-west rail
development in London, now operating as the Elizabeth Line. Between 2021 and 2023, he also served as
a Board Member of Connected Places Catapult, including as a member of its Remuneration Committee.
Previously, Nelson served as President and CEO of the UK Association for Consultancy and Engineering
(ACE) for 14 years. During that time, he led the organisation’s transformation and repositioning,
representing more than 450 consultancy and engineering firms employing over 90,000 professionals, with
combined annual turnover of £9 billion. He was also appointed by the UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury
as Co-Chair of the UK National Infrastructure Plan Strategic Engagement Forum (NIPSEF) and by the
Greater London Authority, under the Mayor of London, as a member of the London Infrastructure Delivery
Board.
He has more than 40 years of experience in planning, financing, procurement, delivery, and operation of major property and infrastructure projects worldwide. He has provided corporate governance, strategic advisory, business leadership, feasibility and business case development, engineering, transaction, commercial, dispute resolution, and financial advice to major investment banks, private equity investors, and contractors on complex building and infrastructure projects. These include Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT), Public-Private Partnership (PPP), and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) models across the United Kingdom, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, including China, and North and South America. Over the years, he has earned the respect of senior corporate leaders, government decision-makers at local, regional, and national levels, and international multilateral funding institutions.
Nelson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in The Queen’s 2010 Birthday Honours for his contribution to the UK engineering and construction industry. He was also recognised as one of the UK’s 100 most influential Black business leaders from 2017 to 2019. In 2019, he was admitted as a First-Class Member of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2021, and received a Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering (FAEng) in 2023.
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