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Lauren Barbir is a business development director for tech clients as part of HDR’s Tech, Media, & Telecom Sector leadership team — a role that allows her to lean on her past experiences in water and power. HDR is a global employee-owned design firm specializing in engineering, architecture, environmental, and construction services.
Lauren focuses on collaborating globally to help grow the depth and breadth of solutions for data center and semiconductor clients. In addition to leading specific client programs, she provides executive oversight to water related project delivery and leads the overall industry engagement strategy.
Background & Experience
With more than 17 years of industry experience, Lauren understands the importance of early engagement and support through the project development into the site operations lifecycle. Her passions lie in sustainable solutions, diversity, equity, inclusion, and connecting people.
After growing up in Texas, Lauren studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. She joined General Electric (GE) through the Operations Management Leadership Program (OMLP) and spent ten years in global supply chain and operations management before shifting to a commercial focus. She completed her Master’s in Business Administration with Penn State’s Smeal College of Business Executive MBA Program then entered GE’s Experienced Commercial Leadership Program (ECLP). She worked with large industrial clients across power generation, refining, chemical processing, and food & beverage in various national and global roles before moving into key account management. After SUEZ purchased GE’s Water business, Lauren was asked to expand her role from power client key account management to data centers. This was her first exposure to the mission critical industry and was immediately intrigued by the intersection of water and energy priorities in design and applications of direct chip liquid cooling. Her role expanded to working exclusively with global data center clients with SUEZ and Veolia (who acquired SUEZ) and opened doors to working on projects with many engineering firms, like HDR. She was excited to expand her scope with data center clients beyond water treatment and was thrilled by the opportunity to join HDR in 2023.
Involvement with 7×24 Exchange and Mission Critical Industry
As a Board member for the 7×24 Exchange Greater Philadelphia Chapter and member of iMasons, Lauren is committed to supporting mission critical industry growth. As part of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter, Lauren plays a leadership role in planning events with Executive Director Janine Repine, including leading panels on Sustainability for the Chapter and Site Due Diligence at the 7×24 Regional Multi-Chapter Conference. Lauren serves as the Chapter Liaison, bringing ideas and best practices back to Greater Philadelphia. In her travels with HDR, she has been fortunate to attend events to support 7×24 Exchange Chapters around the country including Carolinas, Silicon Prairie, Chicagoland, South Texas, Lonestar, Greater Washington DC, Metro NY, and OR/SW Washington all in 2023.
She is also an active project member for the Open Compute Project (OCP) for Data Center Facilities Sustainability and Cooling Environments. Supporting her passion for diversity, equity & inclusion, Lauren participates in the iMasons Inclusion Committee, iMasons IM Women, and Women in Mission Critical Operations (WiMCO) community within 7×24 Exchange. At HDR, Lauren is a member of the Women and Employees with Disabilities Employee Network Groups (ENG) and North America IDE Council.
Additional Activities
Outside of work, Lauren serves on the Board of Governors for the Notre Dame Club of Philadelphia, which brings together alumni, family, and friends to be a “force of good” for the University of Notre Dame. She manages their Scholarship Program, which is one of the top 10 Clubs by annual awards given in the world.
She is a competitive amateur golfer and volunteers as a golf course rater for the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP). She is further active with community service activities through Notre Dame, her church, and Delaware Valley Veteran’s Home. She is a classically trained dancer and still active as a tap dancer. When not traveling for HDR or on the golf course, you will find her with her cat Mia and a cup of tea at her home in Bucks County Pennsylvania.
