Professional Profile + Career Transition to Market Leader in Europe

Zomraude Chantal Chalouhi is a senior fire protection and life safety professional with more than 22 years of experience in fire prevention design, permitting, code compliance, performance-based design and authority approvals. She currently serves as Market Leader in Europe and has led the Fire Life Safety and Permitting practice in Italy, coordinating technical teams, supporting complex client engagements and working directly with local authorities to obtain approvals for fire prevention projects while balancing regulatory requirements with client objectives.

Her career has been built on a strong technical foundation and a progressive international outlook. After beginning her professional journey with firms in Milan and Rome, she established and managed her own practice for 12 years, advising engineering companies and clients in the fire prevention field. Her multicultural background and broad professional experience allowed her to support both national and international projects, including major developments in Italy and abroad. In 2019, she joined Jensen Hughes to further expand her involvement in large-scale, multidisciplinary and international fire safety projects.

In her role as Technical Director for Fire Life Safety and Permitting in Italy, Chantal has combined technical leadership with strategic client management. She has coordinated fire prevention design, construction-phase support, authority interaction and sign-off activities for complex commercial, mixed-use, industrial, hospitality, healthcare, logistics and infrastructure projects. Her work has included support for landmark developments, regeneration projects, headquarters buildings, logistics facilities, international masterplans and high-profile assignments requiring coordination across disciplines, countries and regulatory frameworks.

The transition from Technical Director of Fire Life Safety and Permitting for Italy to Business Development Leader for Europe represents a natural evolution of her career. Her technical credibility, understanding of local and international approval processes, client-facing experience and ability to connect teams across countries provide a strong foundation for a broader regional business development role. Having worked directly on complex projects and with multidisciplinary teams, she brings practical insight into client needs, market opportunities and the technical strengths that Jensen Hughes can offer across Europe.

As Business Development Leader for Europe, Chantal’s focus is to support coordinated growth across the region. Her approach is not to replace the strong business development activities already taking place within individual countries, but to connect them more effectively, promote a consistent regional approach and help identify opportunities that require collaboration across multiple offices. She aims to strengthen relationships with major clients operating across borders, support cross-selling of services and help position Jensen Hughes as a unified European team with deep local expertise and access to global technical knowledge.

Her future contribution will be centred on coordination, collaboration and growth. By leveraging her experience in fire life safety, permitting, performance-based design and international project delivery, Chantal is well positioned to help translate technical excellence into strategic business opportunities. She brings to the role a strong understanding of both the operational realities of project delivery and the commercial importance of building trust with clients, creating a bridge among technical teams, regional leadership and the wider market.