Honorary Captain (Navy) Jeanette Southwood has built her career at the intersection of engineering, public policy, and national service. As Executive Vice President (EVP) of Corporate Affairs and Strategic Partnerships at Engineers Canada, she helps shape policies affecting more than 330,000 engineers across the country. Her appointment as the first Honorary Captain affiliated with the Royal Canadian Navy’s national naval engineering community and Fleet Maintenance Facility Cape Scott reflects her unique role linking civilian engineering expertise with national security.
An engineer by training and an award-winning national leader, Southwood has focused her work on strengthening public confidence in the engineering profession while advancing equity and sustainability. As a woman engineer of colour, she has also challenged long-standing assumptions about who belongs in leadership roles, emphasizing that diversity of perspective improves decision-making rather than complicating it.
Her involvement with the Royal Canadian Navy grew from recognizing shared challenges between civilian infrastructure and navy engineering — reliability, safety, and accountability under pressure. In her Honorary Captain role, she supports outreach, mentorship, and professional development within the naval technical community, helping connect engineers in uniform with industry, academia, and the broader public.
Southwood is widely recognized for mentorship. Through Engineers Canada initiatives as well as the Indigenous and Black Engineering and Technology (IBET) PhD Project, the Black Engineers of Canada network, and the WXN Wisdom Top 100 Mentorship Program, she has supported early-career professionals navigating technical and leadership pathways. Her participation in Women in Defence and Security (WiDS), the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) has further extended this work internationally, promoting inclusive participation in security and technology sectors.
For Southwood, representation is not symbolic but practical — expanding the profession improves innovation and public safety outcomes.
Her advice to young professionals reflects this perspective: careers develop through persistence, curiosity, collaboration and willingness to learn from setbacks. She encourages emerging engineers to remain open to unexpected opportunities and to seek mentors across disciplines.
Looking ahead, Southwood continues advancing Engineers Canada’s strategic priorities in sustainability, inclusiveness, and public awareness while strengthening collaboration between Canada’s engineering community and the Royal Canadian Navy.
Southwood was nominated by Commander Iain A. Meredith.
