Paul Ormerod

Paul Ormerod is the Chief Executive Officer of Soto Consulting Engineers, an Australian-owned engineering design consultancy with a reputation for solving complex industrial challenges. With more than 30 years’ executive experience, Paul brings strategic vision, operational clarity, and a deep commitment to people development.

At Soto, he is leading the next chapter of the company’s growth – building on a 25-year legacy of technical excellence to scale nationally, expand associate ownership, and embed world-class processes across the business.

Bringing commercial momentum to engineering impact

Paul’s career spans over 30 years in executive leadership across banking, infrastructure, fuel systems, and commercial services. From managing director roles to global board appointments, he has led national business transformations, developed go-to-market strategies, and built high-performing teams. Prior to joining Soto, he was Head of Commercial at SECA and Chief Commercial Officer at Park Pty Ltd, following a decade-long tenure scaling Nisbets into one of Australia’s leading suppliers in its category.

This commercial expertise now underpins his leadership at Soto, where he brings structure, clarity, and strategic discipline to an engineering business poised for national growth.

People, processes, partnerships

Paul sees three major levers for Soto’s next chapter:

• People: Nurturing the next generation of leaders through clear mentoring structures and internal progression pathways.
• Processes: Embedding world-class, scalable systems that support both discipline and innovation.
• Partnerships: Strengthening client relationships built on trust, transparency and shared outcomes, moving beyond transactional engagement to long-term value creation.

He’s passionate about open communication, says feedback is key to eliminating blind spots, and values relationships built on respect and integrity.

Leadership philosophy

Paul believes great businesses are built on great people. His leadership style combines high energy with genuine empathy, balancing structure and vision with a personal approach that encourages open communication, mutual respect, and shared success. He is passionate about developing future leaders and growing a culture where people feel empowered, supported, and inspired to do their best work.

A firm believer in feedback, Paul invites team members and clients alike to help him ‘find the blind spots’, an approach that reflects his open, collaborative mindset.

Beyond the office

A native of South Wales and Illawarra local, Paul brings energy and authenticity to everything he does. He’s passionate about seeing people thrive, professionally and personally, and wants work to be a place where people can be themselves, laugh often, and feel proud of what they contribute. For Paul, the real goal isn’t just hitting business targets. It’s building a team and culture where success is shared and the future is sustainable.

Away from the office, Paul is a keen cyclist, skiing with the family, playing golf with his son, and dedicated sideline commentator at his children’s soccer matches. His leadership philosophy? Attract, mentor, and retain great people – and the rest is easy.