2023 40 Under 40: Rebecca Birmingham, 37

Ventures Lead; IP + Digital Counsel, Arup; JD, Brooklyn Law School

By Consulting-Specifying Engineer May 15, 2023

How can great ideas be scaled to positively influence the built environment? For some insight, look at Birmingham’s career. Birmingham is the Ventures lead for the Americas region for global sustainable development consultancy Arup, as well as intellectual property and digital counsel in its New York office. She helps Arup and its collaborators realize the potential of innovation to improve the built environment. Graduating from New York University’s Gallatin School with a degree in interdisciplinary studies, Birmingham’s focus was on how technology advances influence the perception of art and architecture. At Brooklyn Law School, Birmingham studied intellectual property law, including built environment and art law. Birmingham joined Arup in 2018 to build upon its legacy of innovation with a scalable commercial lens. She helped develop the Americas region strategy for Ventures, Arup’s in-house ideation, incubation and acceleration program. A major part of her role as Ventures lead is supporting external collaborations, understanding how to solve critical challenges and finding ways to influence the built environment alongside others. Birmingham’s leadership roles also give her the opportunity to help guide internal training efforts and initiatives, ensuring Arup members are engaged in the firm’s goal of digital transformation. Away from work, Birmingham is a music historian and record collector, with an emphasis on midcentury recordings. She occasionally DJs at events around the world. Birmingham also enjoys a good tapas crawl, true to her Catalunya roots.