Environmental champion crowned Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year

A business consultant who learned the value of protecting the environment by feeding wild animals in her native Lithuania has been crowned the Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year. Ingrida Vengalyte, 33, won the top prize at last night’s Future Faces Awards after taking home the sustainability category.

Ms Vengalyte is a business consultant in the Birmingham office of American firm Jacobs which offers consultancy and services in fields such as engineering and construction. And it was a triple win for the company as engineering rail technician Daisy Carter was named apprentice of the year while senior strategic consultant Yung Yu Lau took home the technology and innovation category, adding to his award for industry at last year’s ceremony.

The Future Faces Awards is an annual celebration recognising achievement among professionals aged 35 and under from across Greater Birmingham. The event is run by Future Faces, the young professionals’ arm of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, and this year’s awards marked ten years since its establishment.

The 2022 event featured a new category for health and wellbeing alongside a new president’s award and the ambassador prize which is given to a member of Future Faces.

Ms Vengalyte, whose award includes a fully funded MBA from Aston University, studied environmental engineering in Lithuania and in 2015 graduated from Coventry University with a masters in environmental management.

For the past six and a half years, she has been working on nationally significant infrastructure projects in the UK in a variety of business sectors such as nuclear, aviation and transportation.

She said her father had been her inspiration, taking her into forests to feed animals in the depths of winter.

“When I was a little girl, my dad, who works for the Environmental Forest Agency, took me to his work to show me around and introduced me to his daily job routine which was all about saving forests, protecting the environment and creating sustainable solutions to solve the most critical environmental problems,” she said.

“At that time, I was only seven years old and did not know what I wanted to do in the future. My dad was my inspiration, showing me what nature is, how important it is to understand what the environment needs, how everyone is lucky to live in it, but at the same time how significant it is to take the right measures to save it.

“I grew up in a family where sustainability and the importance of protecting our environment was planted in my DNA. Every winter and every spring I would volunteer with my dad to feed animals who live in the forest.

“When the moment came to choose what I want to do, I decided to take an environmental career path.”

The full list of winners is below and click through here to see this year’s shortlist:

Sustainability and overall Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year 2022

Ingrida Vengalyte, Jacobs

The President’s Award

Michal Nowinski, Arup

Apprentice of the Year

Daisy Carter, Jacobs

Education and Public Sector

Gurdeep Chima, Aston University

Industry and Engineering

Ashik Nazar, Arup

Legal

Ashley Kerr, Mills and Reeve

Health and Wellbeing

Jeevan Singh Chagger, Evolve

Sales, Marketing and Communications

Gurdas Singh, Wanama

Retail and Hospitality

Jacques Hobson, The Belfry Hotel and Resort

Creative Arts and Culture

Ben Wooldridge, Birmingham Rep

Charity and Third Sector

Abigail Coulson, Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust

Start-Up and Enterprise

Tom Field, Dakro Environmental

Technology and Innovation

Yung Yu Lau, Jacobs

Ambassador Award

Amy Jacklin, Virgin Money

Finance

Jamie Gibson, Mazars