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Top Women in Construction 2021: Outstanding Service to the Profession

Dan Heilman//October 21, 2021//

Pat Wagner

Pat Wagner

Pat Wagner

Pat Wagner

Top Women in Construction 2021: Outstanding Service to the Profession

Dan Heilman//October 21, 2021//

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WINNER: Pat Wagner, Executive director, Construction Careers Foundation

Pat Wagner has pioneered Construction Careers Foundation’s mission: “to increase the diversity of entrants into the construction trades and to enhance young people’s access to construction-related employment opportunities.”

The organization leads a statewide program called Construction Career Pathways, designed to build awareness of careers in Minnesota’s construction trades among middle and high school students. The idea is to encourage them to apply for apprenticeships in the trades after they graduate.

CCF fosters partnerships between construction trades and their related trade associations and schools, teachers, students, parents, labor and business. During her tenure, Wagner has created new programs for students in grades 6 through 12, pushed for diversity and inclusion in the trades, and elevated the visibility of women and minorities and their critical role in the future of Minnesota’s construction industry.

COVID-19 and social unrest caused disruption for construction crews, and it required Wagner and her team to deliver remotely what is usually hands-on programming. The CCF team found ways to reorganize program delivery mechanisms to meet the needs of students, teachers, schools, industry and labor representatives along with community leaders. They made a successful transition to a fully virtual program environment, and actually experienced increased interaction among participants.

Wagner has also spearheaded outreach efforts through the development of new content for educators on the ConstructionCareers.org website and pushes for more engagement with the website through CCF’s social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram. The organization served more than 15,000 individuals and more than 3,500 students in sixth through 12th grades.

Pandemic or no, Wagner has built and upheld strategic partnerships with the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, Apprenticeship Coordinators Association of Minnesota, Construct Tomorrow and participating school districts. She also oversees a volunteer board of directors composed of construction-business owners, management firms, trade associations and labor leadership.

Part of CCF’s efforts has been through meeting students where they are and on their terms. Wagner pushed for creation of a free mobile app called “Construction Trades,” whose user interface was designed to let kids personalize their app experience and explore construction careers that fit their interests.

To reach educators teaching from home and supply them with creative construction content for their students to view, Wagner implemented a monthly outreach newsletter to remain connected with more than 4,000 Minnesota educators. Since May 2020, scholarship information along with more than 50 original construction worker profiles and apprenticeship opportunities have been shared with middle school and high school students.

FINALISTS

Jenny Winkelaar, 

Director of workforce and community development, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49

Jenny WinkelaarJenny Winkelaar has a lot on her resume besides her day-job duties. She co-founded Women Building Success, a nonprofit organization with the mission of recognizing, celebrating and promoting success of women in the construction trades.

She also developed and is co-administering a statewide adult multi-trade apprenticeship preparatory program that is industry designed and driven, focusing on providing equitable access to registered apprenticeship careers to underrepresented populations in the construction industry.

Winkelaar has been organizing an Operating Engineers High School Pathway Program for Minnesota, soon to expand to North Dakota in January 2022. Any public high school student in Minnesota can apply to take four courses during a semester that will prepare them for a career in the heavy equipment industry.

As part of the program, students receive high school elective credit, articulated college credit, as well as credit toward the heavy equipment apprenticeship program. In the 2020-21 school year, 117 students enrolled from 37 counties and 66 school districts.

Janelle Miller

Janelle MillerContract administrator, Peterson Companies

Janelle Miller is the Swiss Army knife of Peterson Companies. During her two decades in construction. Miller has accumulated an impressive list of roles in the field and in the office.

In her role as contract administrator, she does contract term negotiation, subcontractor solicitation, subcontract negotiations, diversity equity planning, recruitment and retention, specification review, contract compliance and bid preparation. She has been a field engineer and a project coordinator in addition to her contract work.

Miller also is vice president of the Minneapolis-St. Paul chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction and leads WIC (Women in Construction) Week events in Minnesota every year.

Shanae Phillips

Community affairs manager, Mortenson

Shanae PhillipsUnder Shanae Phillips’ guidance, Mortenson’s community affairs division has committed more than $60 million to about 150 women- and minority-owned firms across the nation, and more than 300,000 hours have been worked by 400-plus women and people of color through early 2021.

Phillips’ work also aims to improve the company’s processes. She led a pilot program at Mortenson to implement an enterprise-wide tracking system for business and workforce inclusion. She also led the effort to collect company-wide data on business and workforce inclusion. That data helps inform decisions and quantify the economic impact Mortenson is having in our communities.

Her success has many facets: maintaining relationships with community leaders, contracting organizations, community-based organizations, neighborhood groups, minority- and woman-owned businesses, local businesses, governmental agencies, unions, advocacy groups and public officials.

To that end, Phillips supported the launch of the first-ever Construction Inclusion Week (CIW) in October 2021. CIW is the product of Time for Change, a group of six leading general contractors in the U.S. (Mortenson among them) working toward developing a more inclusive construction industry.

Stacy Arnold

Director of safety, RJM Construction

Stacy ArnoldSafety first? Safety always.

Stacy Arnold’s diligence in upholding training and safety awareness throughout RJM and regarding OSHA standards and requirements in general has led to the organic development of a safety culture at RJM.

During the previous 12 months in her role as safety manager before her promotion in April 2021, Arnold worked with the leadership team to implement a highly regarded and effective COVID-19 safety program for all RJM’s staff and project partners.

Arnold is an active member of the Association of Women Contractors-MN and is involved in Minnesota Commercial Real Estate Women (MNCREW), as well as other industry organizations.

She is a vocal and active advocate for women in construction, whether in the office or field. Including organizing and participating in roundtable discussions, panels and outreach events, Arnold works to elevate and educate women in the industry. She also works in mentorship programs for students who are seeking job and training alternatives to a four-year college degree.

 

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