ICE Council elects new trustee board members for 2026-2027 session

The ICE Council has confirmed Alison Baptiste CBE as ICE vice president from November 2026, with a view to become president of the institution in November 2029, subject to interim annual election by the council.

The council has also approved two new members to the ICE Trustee Board for the 2026-2027 presidential year from November 2026.

They are Antonios Palatianos (council appointee member) and Carlos de Freitas (council appointee member).

They will join current trustee board members Richard Bayfield, Andrew McNaughton, Yvonne Murphy, Ohis Ilalokhoin, Paula McMahon, Andrew Enston and Jonathan Spruce.

They will work with incoming President, Julie Wood.

For more information, please visit the ICE Trustee Board webpage.

Meet Alison Baptiste CBE

Alison Baptiste is an Infrastructure and Projects Authority director in the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) within the UK Treasury. This is the government's centre of expertise for project delivery.

She drives standards, improvements and pace in the government’s biggest and riskiest projects.

Her portfolio covers infrastructure and service delivery in defence, digital, health, education, welfare, the Home Office, justice and tax.

She co-authored the government’s 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy and leads the implementation of the new Social Infrastructure Roadmap and Service Transformation programmes.

Prior to this, Baptiste led major programmes and operational delivery at the UK's Environment Agency and received a CBE for her leadership in responding to nationwide flooding.

Baptiste also has non-executive roles and is passionate about driving positive outcomes for people.

New ICE Trustee Board members

Antonios Palatianos

Antonios Palatianos is a senior associate project manager at Mott MacDonald with more than 23 years of international experience in the planning, design assurance and delivery of water and wastewater infrastructure.

He has worked across the UK, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia and Ethiopia, leading multicultural and multidisciplinary teams on complex water projects and programmes.

His recent work includes providing leadership in design assurance for a £247m water treatment plant upgrade for United Utilities and upskilling people as technical excellence lead within the account.

Palatianos has a track record of integrating carbon-aware decision-making, digital innovation and early stage design challenge into project delivery.

He has delivered measurable improvements in carbon reduction, cost efficiency, stakeholder collaboration and programme risk visibility.

As a supervising civil engineer since 2017, he has supported the professional development of engineers from apprentice to chartered level.

Elected to the ICE Council for 2024–2027, Palatianos is committed to strengthening the institution’s response to the climate emergencies, promoting early contractor involvement in solution development and future-proofing the profession.

His priorities as a carbon and climate trustee include:

• enhancing carbon competence across the profession;
• promoting whole-life carbon and nature-positive approaches;
• re-energising early design leadership through advocating for the reinstatement of design champions, and
• supporting wider supply chain adoption of climate-positive practices.

His focus is on enabling practical, evidence-led and case study inspired action to ensure carbon and climate resilience remain central to engineering practice.

Carlos de Freitas

Carlos de Freitas, South East Hub lead and technical director at Arcadis, is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the ICE.

He holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, along with degrees in civil engineering and building construction from universities in Portugal.

He began his career in Portugal before relocating to the UK in 2007 to join Black & Veatch. In 2010, he joined Hyder Consulting (now Arcadis).

De Freitas has built a 20-year career specialising in construction, civil and structural engineering design, infrastructure investment advisory and capital delivery, with a strong focus on utilities, water, and energy. 

He has held key roles including project director, framework manager, and technical director. He has led multidisciplinary teams and managed client relationships with major utility companies and infrastructure contractors.

De Freitas has been an active volunteer with the ICE since 2010, initially serving on the Structures Expert Panel (2010–2014).

More recently, he has contributed as a supervising civil engineer (since 2018), a member of the London and South East Region Water Panel (since 2020), and as a general member of the ICE Council (since 2024).

He is also a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, as well as a Chartered Structural Engineer and member of the Institution of Structural Engineers.

Outside work, de Freitas serves an employer-nominated pension trustee and is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of engineers while advancing infrastructure development through his ICE commitments and wider governance activities.