Jennifer Makkreel is a chartered construction and capital-projects leader with more than 20 years’ experience delivering complex building and infrastructure programmes in the UK and internationally. She is Director of Capital Projects at the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford, where she leads the delivery of a major capital programme supporting ambitious scientific research and innovation.

Jennifer holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Ottawa and became a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) in 2008. Her career combines strategic programme leadership with hands-on delivery of technically and operationally complex projects in academic and public-sector settings.

Before joining the Ellison Institute, Jennifer was Associate Director of Capital Projects at the University of Oxford, leading a team of programme and project managers responsible for a capital portfolio of approximately £2 billion. She served as Project Director for the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities: a 24,000-square-metre interdisciplinary facility comprising a 500-seat concert hall, experimental performance venue, academic faculties, libraries and research institutes. She also led the programme for the Global Leadership Centre, transforming Oxford’s Osney Power Station into an executive education facility.

Earlier roles include Head of the Project Management Office at Oxfordshire County Council, Project Manager at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and Project Manager at PCL Constructors Canada Inc. Alongside her professional work, Jennifer is Vice Chair of the CIOB Client Steering Group, a CIOB Client Champion, and a former Chair of the CIOB Oxford branch. She has also supported academic standards as an external examiner at Oxford Brookes University.