Martyn Lawns

CEO Industrial Projects DHL Industrial Projects

Martyn Lawns BEng, is an Honours Degree Qualified Chemical Engineer, with over 25 years’ experience in procurement and supply chain. 

Before joining DHL, Martyn led regional procurement teams in the US, Canada, Europe and Africa, and was formally the Vice President & General Manager Procurement North America and Europe & West Africa for Mining Multi-national Rio Tinto with responsibility for managing over 20 operating sites in 13 countries with 300 logistics and supply chain staff.

Since joining DHL in July 2014 as the Global Head for Mining Sector, Martyn has held a number of roles within Industrial Projects such as Global Head of Business Development for DHL Industrial Projects, where he led the team of Global Sector Heads focusing on our industry vertical from Renewable Energy to International Oil Companies and indirectly led our Global Sales team with over 100 field sales reps across 45 countries. 

Martyn held the position of Regional Vice President Industrial Projects Operations, overlooking business development and projects operations within European region, until May 2025 where he was appointed as the DHL Group Senior Vice President responsible for driving the New Energy initiative part of DHL Strategy 2030. 

DHL Group’s New Energy Initiative supports the global energy transition by delivering integrated logistics solutions for renewables, batteries, hydrogen and grid infrastructure—combining project logistics, regulatory expertise and risk-managed execution to help customers scale sustainable energy supply chains worldwide.

Whilst continuing to drive the New Energy Initiative Martyn was appointed CEO of DHL Industrial Projects in August 2025 a position on the management board of DHL Global Forwarding & Freight Management team.  Where he leads a team of over 900 dedicated Project Freight forwarders in 50 countries, executing to the highest standards of safety, performance of complex heavy-lift logistics, driving growth across energy and infrastructure sectors while ensuring operational excellence, risk management, and customer-centric delivery worldwide. 

Martyn is passionate about innovative solutions and accessing new technology for our customers as they execute their projects, he prides himself with a customer centric approach and solution-oriented, entrepreneurial mind-set.