Meet our new Executive Director

The ITA Executive Council is thrilled to introduce our new Executive Director, Helen Roth. Helen, a Norwegian national, is recruited to the ITA with outstanding credentials and enthusiasm for the position and its goals. After working a notice with her current organisation, Helen will join the ITA on 1 January 2025.

Roth’s appointment marks a new chapter for the ITA, bringing experience and administration expertise to the Executive Director post for the smooth and efficient working of the Association’s Executive Council and its vital Secretariat services, and to ensuring integration and support of the ITA federation of Member Nations, Committees, Working Groups, Prime Sponsors, Supporters and members, and to its association with the United Nations and other global partners and collaborators.

Fluent in English and German, and with a knowledge of French and other languages, Roth’s transition to the ITA comes after eight successful years as CEO of the VIA, a national Norwegian transportation infrastructure network. The organisation was created to facilitate collaboration, entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the value chain for safe, smart and sustainable solutions for national highways and roads, including over bridges and through tunnels - areas in which Norway has tremendous global experience and knowhow. Roth led the organization through its establishment phase and under her leadership has become a key player in shaping Norway's future transport infrastructure.

Reflecting on her time at VIA, Roth said: "I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have worked with so many talented individuals across the VIA network. Together, we have accomplished incredible things, and I am proud of the results we have achieved as a team. I will take these experiences and development processes with me to my new role as Executive Director of the ITA." VIA Chair, Anne Stine Johnson, praised Roth’s leadership, stating: “Under Helen’s management, VIA has consolidated its position as a leading national player. On behalf of the board and the industry, I want to honour her tireless efforts. We wish her every success in her new world-engaging role at the ITA.”

Roth began her career after earning university degrees in journalism, practical teaching and management competency, obtaining a Master’s Degree in European Studies from the RWTH Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University in Germany in 2004, and working towards an Executive MBA Degree from the University of Stavanger. Building on an internship at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, her career in recent years has focused on the fields of innovation and transportation solutions. As project manager at Rogaland Kurs - og Kompetansesenter (RKK), Roth mobilised companies to participate in European Union research and innovation programmes and at the VRI Rogaland regional R&D organisation her duties included project progress and budget management, reporting to the Norwegian Research Council. Her role as a senior advisor for Rogaland County Council in the business development unit had her responsibilities covering a diverse range of tasks including managing the grant scheme programme, developing and writing applications for public support schemes, and coordinating interdisciplinary work on tunnel safety on behalf of the political leadership. Her other career interests include membership of the Norwegian reference group of Cluster 5 Climate, Energy and Mobility in Horizon Europe 2022–2024, member of the Rogaland County steering committee for the work on tunnel safety, and member of the steering committee of the six-year long University of Stavanger led Capacity Boost Tunnel Safety research project.

As CEO at the VIA, Roth has had overall responsibility for strategic planning, financial management, preparation and conduct of board meetings and annual general assemblies, communicating with members and sponsors, development, operation, and maintenance of websites and social media channels, liaison with authorities at regional, national, and European levels, and planning and execution of national and industry conferences.

ITA President, Arnold Dix, has expressed enthusiastic support of Roth’s appointment. “Helen’s leadership and experience qualities are precisely what the ITA needs to navigate the evolving growth and administration of our Association. Her proven ability to drive innovation, foster collaboration, and achieve results makes her the ideal steward for our activities and goals. We are thrilled to welcome her and excited to chart the way forward with her.”

Roth joins the ITA at a crucial time for the international tunnelling and underground infrastructure industry. Exponential growth in global urbanization and the critical demand on infrastructure to meet urgent challenges associated with the consequences of rapid climate change, as well as the rise of humanity on the move as refugees and the journey of nations to meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, all create great demand on societies. The work of the ITA is to support these efforts from an underground solutions perspective and to bring together industry leaders, engineers, contractors, and public agencies to address the benefits and particular challenges of the underground environment, providing expertise and knowledge-sharing to benefit communities worldwide.

We welcome Helen to our international Association and look forward to an official in-person welcome at the 2025 ITA General Assembly in May next year at the World Tunnel Congress in Stockholm.