Sener Appoints Lisa France as General Manager for Energy, Data Centres, and Sports Divisions in Australia

The engineering and technology group Sener has appointed Lisa France as General Manager for the Energy, Data Centres, and Sports divisions in Australia. In this role, Lisa will lead the expansion of Quark, Sener’s Data Centre subsidiary, and drive the development of energy solutions and sports technology initiatives, including state-of-the-art stadium systems, such as Hypogea®, Sener’s retractable pitch system, already implemented in world-renowned stadiums such as the Santiago Bernabéu. With more than 4,000 professionals around the world, Sener is a global leader in the Mobility, Energy, Advanced Facilities for Data Centres, Aerospace and Defence and Digital industries.

Lisa will play a key role in leading Sener’s data centre engineering across Australia, focusing on providing energy-efficient, scalable infrastructure solutions that support the growing digital economy while minimising environmental impacts. Sener has built a strong reputation for designing and delivering data centres that integrate the latest in energy-efficient technology while prioritising efficiency and sustainability. Sener – through its subsidiary Quark – has a portfolio of more than 45 designed data centres, with an accumulated power of 1 GW and 350,000 square metres of built space. Sener’s work in Australia includes partnering with industry leaders to create facilities that are not only designed for peak performance but are also powered by renewable energy sources, setting new benchmarks in the industry.

On the sports side, Lisa will lead Sener’s business development of innovative solutions, such as retractable pitch systems. This cutting-edge technology, already implemented in world-renowned stadiums such as the Santiago Bernabéu, allows stadiums to retract their natural grass pitches into underground storage and replace with different surfaces. This gives the venue flexibility to host a range of events while preserving the quality of the playing surface.

Lisa brings a wealth of expertise to her new role, with a strong background in environmental science and a track record of leadership across both the public and private sectors. Having served as the State Member for Pumicestone in the Queensland Parliament and as Assistant Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Lisa focused on the roll out of Queensland’s $70B CSG industry and policies that balanced sustainable development with resource management. Lisa also served as Assistant Minister for finance, administration and regulatory reform in the Queensland Parliament.

Before joining Sener, Lisa held senior executive positions at Hatch and SMEC, where she led major energy, infrastructure, and data centre projects. At Hatch, she was responsible for overseeing natural gas and energy projects across Australia and Asia, while at SMEC, she led renewable energy initiatives globally that contributed to the global decarbonisation initiatives in the private and public sector.

Ben Neary, CEO of Sener in Australia, highlighted: “We are excited to have Lisa on board and look forward to her leadership in driving Sener’s success in Australia. Under her leadership, Sener is poised to expand its influence in the energy, data centres and sports space, continuing our focus on sustainable energy and innovative infrastructure solutions.” Lisa France added: “Australia’s growing demand for low carbon energy and efficient infrastructures is aligned with Sener’s commitment to sustainable and innovative solutions development. I look forward to using my expertise to help the company keep pushing the boundaries of technology to help our local customers meet their needs in an ever-evolving market”.