WOMEN IN CONSTRUCTION: MENTORS, LEADERS, INFLUENCERS

Lia started her career with Swinerton over 25 years ago as a field Project Engineer. She is passionate about maintaining and strengthening Swinerton’s culture and brand, developing future leaders, making a difference in our communities, supporting the success of women and diverse thinkers in our industry, and ensuring opportunities are created fairly for everyone. She proudly serves on the ACE Los Angeles/Orange County Chapter Board, an organization that exposes high school students to the architecture, construction, and engineering disciplines and provides direction, scholarships, and internships in their desired fields.  Additionally, for the past several years Lia has played a lead role in the diversification of Swinerton’s OC/LA operations while recruiting and mentoring young women and professionals from varying diverse backgrounds.  She has also led and participated in several industry mentoring events and programs for organizations such as WiOPS and SEAOSC.

“The result of success and advancement in any industry requires a combination of having great mentors and believing in yourself.  I’ve been very lucky to not only having great mentors in my life, but to be in a position to offer sound advice, direction, and wisdom to so many young talented individuals throughout my career.  Mentoring and developing others is by far my most favorite part of my job.”

Over 20 years ago, Lori started at Swinerton as an Intern Project Engineer and has risen the ranks to Division Manager, demonstrating one of the many career paths in the company. She is also an active mentor inspiring and cultivating talent at Swinerton and a community leader through her volunteer commitments and as President of The Swinerton Foundation. Passionate about the construction industry, Lori coaches and mentors younger team members to inspire professional growth, engagement, and innovation. She listens to project teams’ challenges and concerns and works to impart the knowledge and experience she has gained to help provide strategic vision. Lori recently provided oversight for a Bay Area mentorship program for Swinerton employees set to launch this summer. In January, San Francisco Mayor London Breed appointed Lori Dunn-Guion to the Workforce Investment San Francisco (WISF) Board to help the Bay Area workforce thrive by improving access and opportunities for employment through education, training, and support services.

“Mentorship is so important on your journey—having a trusted advisor that can help guide you on the most fulfilling career path. To me, being a mentor, means making myself accessible and available to team members that are craving advice on how to best navigate our industry.”

Understanding early in her career that one of the best ways to succeed is to surround yourself with smart people, Carrie placed great importance on developing talent and leadership at every level, creating strong teams through a culture of positivity, high expectations, and personal accountability. She now leads the national aviation team, which leverages talent from across the company required for project success. She was a contributor in Swinerton’s Talent Retention & Recruiting Committee that developed the company’s Career Blueprint, a talent development tool Swinerton uses to have transparent discussions on how an individual can grow in their career at Swinerton.

“Leading by example is good but not enough. Effective leadership involves motivating others to innovate and achieve beyond their expectations and yours. Talent determines what you can do; motivation determines how much you are willing to do; and attitude determines how well you do it.”

Susan’s passion for helping others, along with an unwavering commitment to Swinerton’s mission of corporate stewardship sets the standard for the rest of us to aspire to. Whether a Project Coordinator, Sr. Administrative Assistant, or in her current role, Susan finds her favorite part of her job is working with the local community. Susan takes an active role in selecting organizations, conducting extensive research to ensure the organizations we support align with our clients’, subcontractors’, and our own employees’ passions, the needs of the local community, and Swinerton’s Corporate Social Responsibility goals on a national scale.  Under Susan’s leadership, the Austin and Dallas offices, combined with support from The Swinerton Foundation, contributed to 14 separate organizations during 2019.  During last year’s Fall Giving Challenge, the Texas Division contributed more volunteer hours per employee and more financial contributions per employee than any other division.

“I’m grateful to work for a company that not only supports the communities we live and work in but encourages employees to find their passion. Helping people find a way to get involved in their community has been rewarding on both a personal and professional level.”

If you’ve worked on a mass timber project, you may have worked with Erica. With a civil engineering background, Erica has dedicated her career to building cities in ways that honor the natural resources on which our lives depend. Erica has worked to accelerate the mainstream adoption of mass timber, coming up with creative solutions to make mass timber a reality on precedent-setting projects across the United States. She is recognized as a thought-leader in the industry, and was named the Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce 2018 Sustainability Leader of the Year.

“I’m passionate about interacting and learning from people who have different experiences and perspectives, who find common ground in a love and respect for forests and trees.”