Jabulile Msiza is a member of the IGS Council. She holds a Master of Business Administration and two honours degrees in geotechnical and environmental engineering. In 2017 she was awarded the prestigious Consulting Engineers South Africa Young Engineer of the Year Award. Jabulile has gained around 15 years’ experience of geosynthetics at Jones & Wagener Engineering and Environmental Consultants in South Africa, where she leads the Waste Department.

Dr. Chiwan Wayne Hsieh is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST). His research focuses primarily on engineering behaviour and applications of geosynthetics and construction materials. Professor Hsieh has served as the council member for the IGS Chinese Taipei Chapter for eighteen years. A Fellow of ASCE and CICHE, Council Member of the International Geosynthetics Society (2014-2020), Asian Committee Chair of IGS (2018-2022), and member of several international technical societies, Chiwan Hsieh has also been the director of GSI-Taiwan as a member of Geosynthetic Institute (USA) since August 1999.

Patricia Guerra-Escobar has worked in the field of geotechnics for over 20 years and is passionate about the role that geosynthetics play in civil engineering to deliver innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective solutions. Patricia has worked in several countries, starting in Colombia, before moving to France, and then Costa Rica, where she worked for eight years travelling extensively across Central American countries developing and expanding the use of geosynthetics in the region.

In 2010, Patricia moved to the UK and started to work with Geosynthetics Ltd. where she is currently the manager of the Engineering department. In addition, she is the current Chair of the IGS UK Chapter and member of the TC221 of ISSMGE. A focus of hers throughout her career has been supporting designers and contractors to use geosynthetics solutions in addition to educating the next generation of engineers, through mentoring and presenting at universities.

Francisco Pizarro is a Civil Engineer from Universidad de los Andes (Chile) with a master’s degree (MSc) in finance from ESE Business School (Chile). Most of Mr. Pizarro´s career has involved leading roles for world class geosynthetic manufacturers where he was been responsible for introduction, prescription, and commercialization of erosion control, reinforcement, and drainage products.

Mr. Pizarro is serving his second term as President of the IGS Chilean Chapter since March 2019 and was re-elected for 2021-2023. During his tenure, Mr. Pizarro and the Board have been encouraging the understanding and appropriate use of geosynthetics in Chile and the rest of Latin America with a series of short courses, workshops, and events, such as, Educate the Educators. Mr. Pizarro is also supporting creation of new IGS chapters in Bolivia and Guatemala with bylaws and company recruitment. In addition, Mr. Pizarro is leading a series of conferences in several Civil Engineer Schools in Latin America to promote the use of geosynthetics in infrastructure projects.