Alison Mirams (Hocking, 1991) has had a remarkably successful career in property construction. At the age of 32 years, she became the first woman and the youngest person worldwide to be appointed to the role of Director at Multiplex.

In 1986, when Alison was in Year 7 at MLC School, she was one of only two girls to join the Cadets program. Alison’s sister Jennifer Hocking (1989), who also attended MLC School (their mother, Helen Hocking, was a Teacher at Kent House from 1989 to 2005) says that the experience of Cadets as well as taking Speech in the HSC, laid the foundations for Alison’s construction career.

Alison went on to gain a Bachelor of Building (Construction Economics) and a Graduate Diploma in Urban Estate Management from the University of Technology. She is also a graduate of the Company Directors Course run by the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

After a 16-year career at Multiplex where she had ultimate responsibility for the projects in her control, including site operations, senior client liaison and design, Alison became the leader of the NSW/ACT regional business unit for Lend Lease’s Building business. In 2017 Alison took on the role of CEO of the boutique tier one construction firm Roberts Co. Since commencing, Alison has built Roberts Co. into a company with 140 full-time staff supported by a $640m build pipeline.

Alison is a prominent female executive in an industry renowned for a lack of diversity. She is driving positive change in the construction industry by directly influencing the gender diversity ratio at Roberts Co. by growing the female talent pool through sponsoring university women in engineering and by promoting and mentoring women in construction.

In an April 2020 interview with The CEO Magazine, Alison proudly stated ‘My team is 50% male and 50% female. We are 30% female if you slice the organisation vertically, which is amazing for a construction company.’

Aside from her business role, since 2018 Alison has been a member of the UNSW Foundation (Director since 2019), and last year she joined the Advisory Board of AeroPM, an Australian firm providing professional consulting services to Defence.

In recognition of her career achievements, Alison received the Laing O’Rourke Business Woman of the Year award at the 2018 National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) NSW Awards for Excellence.