40 Under 40 in Canadian Construction

What does it mean to be recognized in this third edition of the Top 40 Under 40 in Canadian Construction, as presented by On-Site Magazine and SitePartners? The 40 individuals in the pages that follow are our industry’s young leaders. They are the innovators and professionals who have vision within their companies, as well as beyond their own walls. They are the top minds who are working to help shape the future of the construction sector in Canada, and they are doing so with purpose.

As you will read, each brings a unique set of experiences and skills to their role, but they all share a common trait regardless of where in the country they work or the specific job they fulfill. Each of these 40 individuals share a motivation that pushes them to aim ever higher. Whether they are a business owner, engineer, executive, trades professional, software developer, legal professional, researcher, or any of the other roles you can find among the 2022 honourees, their ability to execute their vision is what is going to keep the industry moving forward

We are proud to highlight these talented individuals, and we hope that their stories will help influence others in our industry.

 

Agnes Wietrzynski

President and CEO

QM Environmental

Mississauga, Ont.

On a mission to help the environment, in April Agnes Wietrzynski was handpicked by Wes Hall, one of the Dragons on CBC’s “Dragons’ Den,” to run his environmental and industrial services company, QM Environmental.

Building on her leadership and management experience, Wietrzynski has an aim to navigate QM to more than double its size. To that end, she will be leading significant projects in important Canadian sites such as the Port Landsin Toronto.

Wietrzynski holds an MBA from Queen’s University, which she completed while working in the industry, earning the program’s Creativity and Innovation Award. She is also a board member of the Ontario Environment Industry Association (ONEIA) and is highly skilled in the art of team building, cultural integration and inclusivity.

 

Alexis Barr-Gusa

Partner

Dentons Canada LLP

Edmonton, Alta.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is not just a set of vague targets and goals for Alexis Barr-Gusa. She is dedicated to putting these practices into action.

As a partner in Dentons’ Edmonton and Vancouver Construction, Infrastructure and Public Private Partnerships (P3) groups, Barr-Gusa is regularly involved in the negotiation and drafting of project agreements, including complex multi-phased engineering, procurement and construction contracts and P3 transactions involving a wide variety of infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars. She also frequently leads presentations to members of the construction industry on relevant and current construction issues.

She is a coach and mentor, and a member of her firm’s WomenLEAD (Leadership, Entrepreneurism, Advancement, and Development) Canada affinity group, as well as its Indigenous Inclusion Working Group.

She is also passionate about renewable energy and has pursued key opportunities to advise nationally and internationally on renewable projects.

 

Andrew Kavanagh

Vice-President, Finance

Aecon Group Inc.

Toronto, Ont.

Having joined Aecon’s finance team in January 2010 as a co-op student, Andrew Kavanagh quickly demonstrated his potential, resulting in an employment offer upon completion of his studies in May of 2011. He has been on a vertical trajectory ever since.

This past February, he was named vice-president, finance at Aecon Utilities, a subsidiary of Aecon Group Inc., with a scope of accountability that includes finance, procurement, and continuous improvement across the utilities sector.

Committed to continuous improvement initiatives, he has been integral to the success of his company’s utilities team, with continual efforts towards leading edge innovation, lean construction solutions and a highly efficient supply chain. Consistently demonstrating that he cares not only about Aecon’s success, but of the success of the people and projects around him, the CPA also commits time and effort to Aecon’s mentorship program to help support the career advancement of others.

 

Andrew Neill

President and CEO

ANC Group of

Companies

Brantford, Ont.

Andrew Neill started his career in construction at the age of 17, progressing to superintendent at 21, before moving to EllisDon at 27 to become a superintendent and then a project manager.

At 31, he started Andrew Neill Construction (ANC) as a general contractor and construction management firm, building custom homes before growing the business into the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors. A few years later, ANC Modular was incorporated.

After achieving CSA A277 certification for the modular units, ANC Modular Inc. has gone on to successfully manufacture many design-build projects for municipalities and government-funded affordable housing projects, mostly as part of Canada’s Rapid Housing Initiative.

Most recently, Andrew has developed an international patent pending design incorporating a modular volumetric and concrete superstructure.

 

Anya Barkan

Sustainability Manager

Multiplex Construction Canada Ltd.

Toronto, Ont.

After eight years working at Toronto Community Housing as an associate construction manager, Anya Barkan joined Multiplex Construction Canada this past January as a sustainability manager.

Since joining the team, she has helped the company earn the 2022 Green Building Pioneer award from the Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC) and be recognized as a finalist in Procore’s 2022 Groundbreaker awards in the Excellence in Sustainability category.

Experienced in the construction of residential, commercial and life-science buildings as well as infrastructure, she continues to push the envelope when it comes to supporting the environment through her company’s sustainability-driven initiatives, including the aim to reach carbon neutrality.

She is constantly seeking change and improvements for the businesses and communities in which she builds, and has dedicated herself to changing the built environment through environmental, social and governance strategies.

 

Brandon Searle

Director, Innovation and Operations

UNB Off-site Construction Research Centre

Fredericton, N.B.

Instrumental in the ongoing development of the Off-site Construction Research Centre (OCRC) at University of New Brunswick (UNB), Brandon Searle has been actively growing the centre’s board and partners. The OCRC recently introduced its first executive board of construction leaders from across the country and secured collaborative research projects with more than 20industry partners.

The centre, which was established in 2019 and includes computational labs with over 14 workstations, a state-of-art collaboration space and seven full-time employees. OCRC also continues to advance its technical capabilities with a new building envelope testing lab. Based on the significant, and rapid, growth in the OCRC, Searle was promoted from innovation director to director of innovation and operations in late 2021.

A licenced professional engineer under the Association of Professional Engineers & Geoscientists NB, Searle is also the co-founder and partner at DCA Consulting Inc., sits as a board member and secretary for Building Transformations (formerly CanBIM), and is an active member of the Off-site Construction working group with the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction.

 

Briar Beers

Vice-President

Cutting Edge

Consulting Inc.

Kamloops, B.C.

After earning a degree in civil engineering from the University of Waterloo, Briar Beers developed her career as a senior project manager before taking the leap to becoming an owner at Cutting Edge Consulting (CEC), an industrial construction company with a focus on bridge construction and rehabilitation, mobile crane services, pile driving, welding, fabrication, and other such services.

As one of the company’s key leaders, Beers developed its safety program and helped it achieve COR certification. She also developed the company’s project management and estimating programs and fostered its growth over a five-year period from a single employee to a company with more than 60 workers.

An advocate for women in the construction industry, Beers is a mentor and a teacher. In addition to dedicating time to participate in Chamber of Commerce activities, she also partakes in community events and local shows.

 

Cayley Van Hemmen

Interiors and Special Projects Division Manager

Canadian Turner Construction Company

Vancouver, B.C.

After joining Turner Construction’s Vancouver business unit as an intern in January of 2013, Cayley Van Hemmen has advanced through a number of roles at the company to now find herself as the company’s interiors manager of its Special Projects Division (SPD).

A team player who aims to make those around her better, she played a key role in restructuring the division. She joined Turner when it was a seven-person company in Vancouver and has helped it grow into a business unit with more than 145 people over the past 10 years.

In addition holding a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UBC, an MBA from the UBC Sauder School of Business, and a LEED AP Building Design & Construction distinction, she is also the co-chair of the mentorship committee at the Urban Land Institute and is a dedicated proponent for industry equity.

 

Cheyanne Hammell

Special Projects Manager

PCL Construction

Toronto, Ont.

Promoted to PCL Toronto’s senior operations team as special projects manager in 2022, Cheyanne Hammell has managed several high-profile projects, including the renovation of the observation level at the CN Tower, the implementation of a complex baggage handling and sorting system for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, and the first long-term care home built under Infrastructure Ontario’s Accelerated Build program, delivered in just 13 months.

Starting at PCL as a student, Hammell completed four work terms before officially joining the company in 2007 as a field engineer. Since then, she has progressed through various roles, including project manager and senior project manager.

In 2020, Hammell was the Toronto district recipient of PCL’s Robert Stollery Construction Leadership Award, given to one rising project management star per year who models excellence and inspiration. She is also dedicated to encouraging young girls to explore career opportunities in the construction industry.

 

Clayton MacEachern

Area Manager, Fort McMurray

Flint, a Division of ClearStream Energy Services

Fort McMurray, Alta.

A passionate and innovative leader, Clayton MacEachern has led his business unit of 1,200 team members for over 3 million exposure hours without a recordable injury.

Joining Flint as a heavy equipment operator in 2010, MacEachern has grown with the company, and now as area manager he oversees its largest corporate business unit. This spring he also became a Harvard Business School alum.

He is an advocate for equality, community, and reconciliation, and was able to successfully build a joint venture partnership with the Fort McMurray #468 First Nation in 2021.

He turned his passion for training, apprenticeship and mentoring into the development of Flint’s Emerald Career Training Program that uses heavy equipment simulators to train high potential candidates. After six years, the program is launching up to 150 careers each year and has added a second training centre in central Alberta.

 

Colby Chubey

Senior Project Manager

Graham

Saskatoon, Sask.

Currently leading a joint venture submission for a large energy project with two gas turbine facilities in Saskatchewan, Colby Chubey joined Graham as a project coordinator in 2010. His in-depth technical knowledge, attention to detail, work ethic and leadership qualities were quickly noticed by his peers and leaders while working on the Key Lake Acid and Steam Facility project.

Always willing to roll up his sleeves when needed and go above and beyond, Chubey was nominated because he cares about the success of others around him.

A believer in constant development, Chubey holds several professional certifications and is continually championing innovation to address process efficiency and jobsite challenges at Graham. His work to design and fabricate a temporary IT infrastructure solution to provide internet connectivity on new sites has been shared and used by teams across the business as they move on and off projects.

He also actively participates in student information sessions, awards nights and other industry forums.

 

Darren Sauer

Director of Development

Wales McLelland Construction

Richmond, B.C.

Professional and passionate, Darren Sauer started his construction career as a labour right out of high school. After graduating from BCIT, he started working as a project coordinator, then a project manager, managing ever larger and more complex projects for Wales McLelland.

He rejoined the firm three years ago following a five-year period working for a private landowner and developer.

In his newest role at Wales McLelland, he provides leadership and strategic direction for the company, exploring new market opportunities, improving processes and functions, growing the business, while recruiting and developing staff and expanding its services for its clients.

Over the past three years, that has included the creation and growth of a Development Services department with a growing team of four.

 

Felipe Suzuki

Technical Manager – Hurontario LRT

John Laing

Toronto, Ont.

Felipe Suzuki has contributed to major infrastructure projects in Canada and internationally since 2006. He initially developed his technical skills by working on several designs for transit projects, gaining progressive construction and contract management experience on multibillion-dollar projects, including as a core member of the team that executed the Subway Line 4 in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympic Games.

In 2017, he moved to Canada with the goal of helping companies to structure and deliver PPP projects. At the same time, he completed a two-year validation process and successfully obtained his P.Eng. license for civil engineering in Ontario. In 2019, he joined John Laing’s asset management team and has been a key member of the Mobilinx management team delivering the Hurontario LRT Project.

 

Graham Currie

Regional Manager

Ledcor Construction Limited

Calgary, Alta.

Graham Currie immigrated from the United Kingdom in 2010, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in building surveying and a master’s in project management before taking on his first construction role. In Canada, he got his start at Ledcor as a junior project coordinator on The Bow Project – a $1.6 billion office tower in Calgary. Since then, he has worked on flagship projects across Western Canada, gaining knowledge in Edmonton and Saskatoon before returning to Calgary, where he is the regional manager of the Ledcor’s building construction branch.

With his leadership and experience, the Calgary Building Construction branch recently opened a new office downtown and is on track for its most successful year yet.

 

Hammad Chaudhry

National Director

Digital Project Delivery

EllisDon Corporation

Calgary, Alta.

Hammad Chaudhry is a pioneer in digital construction technologies in Canada. EllisDon’s national director of digital project delivery overseeing the company’s strategic approach to digital construction, he started his career as an architectural technologist.

In 2014, he joined EllisDon as the project BIM coordinator for Brookfield Place Calgary, spearheading the project’s VDC processes, creating and maintaining the BIM requirements, and managing the construction models, field layout strategy, and interference and clash coordination.

In 2017, he was promoted to VDC manager for Western Canada where he managed and executed BIM and VDC on over $3 billion of construction projects. Today, he focusses on advancing EllisDon’s business by integrating and digitizing project delivery using the latest digital tools and solutions.

 

Inder Mann

President & CEO

Mann Group

Surrey, B.C.

Inder Mann has been a driving force at the Mann Group for nearly two decades, growing the company from four people to a 50-person team. Along the way, he has established several vertical integrations and acquisitions, developing a civil services team, acquiring LifeTec Construction Group and developing a mortgage investment corporation known as Aventus Capital Corp.

He began his career at Mann Group in 2004 with involvement in every part of the operation. His journey provided him with hands-on experience running and leading every function of the construction and development process, from financing, development planning, permitting, estimating, project management, sales, property management, and more. In 2016, he became president and CEO of the company. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated foresight, making critical business decisions and developing the company through strong vertical integrations.

 

Janice Chuang

Vice-President, Infrastructure Investments

Ledcor Industries Inc.

Vancouver, B.C.

In 2015, Janice Chuang joined Ledcor as its treasury manager, quickly building a solid understanding of Ledcor’s diverse business lines and successfully delivering enterprise-wide and division-specific financing solutions. In January of 2021, following a succession of expanding roles and responsibilities, Chuang was promoted to vice-president of infrastructure investments at the company, where she leads the financing strategy for Ledcor’s infrastructure pursuits.

Her previous experience provided her with insights into construction financing, including for the construction of the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre, a float plane terminal project that redeveloped the Coal Harbour area ahead of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

A member of Ledcor’s Executive Inclusion and Diversity Council, Chuang has also represented the company on the board of Bringing Woman Together, a not-for-profit organization empowering women to network, grow and develop, volunteering as a mentor for others.

 

Jason Herd

CEO/Founder

Tradetraks Inc.

Hamilton, Ont.

Jason Herd is a disruptor in the construction software space. Starting in the electrical field at 16, Herd was one of the first youths enrolled in the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program in its inaugural year and has been on a fast track ever since. He completed the two-year electrical engineering technician program at Mohawk College in 18 months, was licensed at the age of 21, and by the time he was 29 he managed the planning, estimating, and negotiations of the contract for Tim Hortons Field, home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Under his direction as vice-president and director of business development, Fairway Electrical Services grew from $3.5 million to $20 million, landing it among Canada’s fastest-growing companies list. When he saw gaps in operational processes, he turned to technology, founding Tradetraks, a purpose-built SaaS platform built on the core pillars of running a successful trades business: operations, finance, health and safety, and communication.

 

Jean-François Bertrand-Pelletier

Vice-President Technologies and Client Experience

CREO Solutions

Montreal, Que.

Jean-François Pelletier, one of the co-founders of CREO Solutions, aims to help owners, developers andcontractors implement technologies that help them reach operational excellence through data-driven management and continuous improvement.

The mechanical engineer has spentthe past four years building CREO Solutions to help its clients mitigate risks through the use of technology. Eminently conscient of the challenges faced in change management, he makes use of personalized guidance and education to assist with projects deploying new and innovative technology. He has also collaborated with academic institutions, such as University of Quebec in Montreal, to host conferences and share best practices in data and information management.

To date, Pelletier has implemented project management information systems on such notable projects Montreal’s mega hospital, CHUM, and Quebec City’s tramway system, while also streamlining and optimizing document management procedures for the Montreal airport.

 

Jesse Gardner

Partner

Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP

Toronto, Ont.

A partner in the Construction and Infrastructure Practice Group at Singleton Reynolds, Jesse Gardner advises a wide variety of construction and infrastructure clients on dispute management, including court proceedings, mediation and arbitration.

As a member of the Professional Services Committee at the firm, Gardner has taken a lead role in the recruitment of students and associates and was instrumental in developing the firm’s summer student program. He has also led the firm’s harassment committee and has assisted in presentations relating to equity and diversity.

Gardner is a frequent speaker on topics related to the construction law industry at legal and educational events. He has been recognized by Who’s Who Legal and Benchmark Canada as a “litigation star.” He is also featured as a leading construction lawyer in Lexpert Globe and Mail reports, including the special report on infrastructure.

 

Jordan Clouthier

District Manager

PCL Construction

Regina, Sask.

Jordan Clouthier began his PCL career as a field engineer in Ottawa before quickly progressing to project coordinator and then project manager, working on many unique and challenging projects while gaining valuable experience in various sectors, including healthcare, aviation, retail, high security, and commercial and institutional construction.

A civil engineering graduate from Carleton University, he joined PCL in 2008 and has since earned his LEED Green Associate designation.

In addition to working on such major projects as the Bayshore Shopping Centre, Mattawa Plains Compound, and the Ottawa Macdonald Cartier International Airport, he has been recognized at PCL through the company’s High Potential Development Program, which typically selects fewer than 10 participants out of the more than 4,500 employees in PCL’s operations group.

 

Joseph Gvildys

Cement Industrial Director, Western Canada

Lafarge

Calgary, Alta.

Passionate about the intersection between manufacturing and sustainability, Joseph Gvildys has illustrated that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand. In Ontario, Gvildys led two major sustainability initiatives that both resulted in carbon dioxide reductions: developing and implementing cement kiln dust (CKD) as an addition to cement to lower the CO2 associated with the product; and leading the conversion of an idle ball mill into a slag grinding operation, which replaced a portion of cement.

In his current role as cement industrial director, he is part of a team working to identify creative uses for capturedCO2 and illustrating that the possibility of full carbon capture and sequestration is very real.

In 2021, after a series of promotions in cement distribution, including managing all cement terminals in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest in the U.S., he was promoted to his current role, and is now responsible for all Lafarge cement plants and grinding stations in the region, overseeing a team of 350 people.

 

Katie Dempster

Vice-President

Industrial Relations and Development

Graham

Calgary, Alta.

A key member of Graham’s senior leadership team, Katie Dempster leads the business relations and development function of Graham’s industrial division, with a focus on new business acquisition as well as supporting customer retention and organic growth opportunities.

Adept at supporting customers in adopting collaborative contract models, she has helped her division build a backlog of business of over $2 billion while achieving $1.2 billion in annual revenues across operations in Western Canada and Ontario, as well as Ohio and Pennsylvania.

She is a member of Graham’s Sustainability Committee and has brought her unique perspective on how energy producers can be part of Canada’s green future via energy transition and greenhouse gas reduction project development. A participant in various industry forums and networking events, including the Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA), Canadian Heavy Oil Association (CHOA), and Calgary Women in Energy (CWIE), she is an influencer with peers and customers.

 

Kevin Brennan

General Manager

Cavanagh Concrete Ltd.

Carleton Place, Ont.

Kevin Brennan started his career in the concrete field at the age of 17, developing experience as a labourer and dispatcher with Lafarge Canada. He rapidly climbed into higher positions within the organization while attending the University of Ottawa full-time as a student-athlete, completing his honours bachelor of commerce in 2010.

At Lafarge, he served as the project manager for the MHLH Helicopter Support Facilities in Petawawa, Ont., and concrete project manager for the Lansdowne Park Stadium redevelopment project, followed by the Ottawa Light Rail Transit tunnel.

In 2017, he joined Cavanagh Concrete as operations manager, earning a promotion to general manager in February of 2020, and taking responsibility for all day-to-day ready-mix operations of the business. In addition to implementing several new supplier partnerships, he has also led the design of a new concrete production facility site, which is entering the construction phase in the coming months.

 

Kevin Goldberg

President

SoilFLO

Toronto, Ont.

Kevin Goldberg began his career working for a company handling liquid solidification on subway tunnel spoils. After experiencing the pain of handling disposal paperwork, the Western University environmental engineering grad began exploring a venture to solve this problem. In 2019, he and fellow engineer Adam Matyja started SoilFLO, software that enables users to manage the movement of excess material across construction projects.

The company has since expanded internationally, with customers in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia in addition to more than 100 customers in Canada, including three LRT subway projects in Ontario.

A disruptor in the earthworks industry, Goldberg’s work has brought a new layer of environmental control to an industry that otherwise did not exist. Quarries and other various rehabilitation projects across Canada can now confidently import soil with a lower risk of contamination.

 

Mi Kim

Senior Commercial Manager

Jacob Bros

Construction

South Surrey, B.C.

A leader of equity and diversity initiatives and a devoted supporter of women in construction, Mi Kim is working to ensure that programs impart meaningful change at companies and drive lasting impacts on the industry.

The senior commercial manager for Jacob Bros Construction, a multi-discipline general contractor primarily focussed on heavy civil and building construction, is a people person with the ability to deliver effective and positive change in commercial management, governance and contract management.

In addition to mentoring engineers within her own company, she has spent time facilitating growth of young female engineers through the Women in Engineering group at the University of British Columbia, and earlier in her career, served as an active operations recruiter at university and college career fairs.

 

Milan Mann

President, Real Estate Development and Construction

BM Group of Companies

Coquitlam, B.C.

In addition to leading BMG’s real estate division and its current development pipeline of 16 active projects, Milan Mann is also navigating the land redevelopment process at the family-owned firm, from concept through to sales and construction with the company’s general contracting and project management company, Penmat.

BM Group is a family-owned and operated portfolio of companies based in British Columbia, and Mann has been pivotal to the growth and acquisition strategy which has led to the group now consisting of 16 companies. The company is supported by a team of over 400 and has additional offices in the U.S. and India.

Diversity has long been championed at the minority-owned corporation, providing opportunity for those in need of a first chance, and sometimes even a second, to get a foothold in the construction industry.

 

Octavio Flores

Area Operations Manager

Flatiron Construction

Vancouver, B.C.

Moving to Canada in his youth, Octavio Flores soon developed an interest in the construction industry. At 19, he purchased his own equipment and began working on small commercial and residential projects before rising through the corporate construction ranks, winning numerous awards along the way. Today, Flores holds an executive position with Flatiron where he leads a team of over 30 professional staff and oversees projects across Western Canada.

Flores is recognized for his decades of experience in complex projects (worth up to $17 billion) and management of alternative and traditional delivery contracts. He is most notably accomplished in the construction and management of bridges, light rail and high-speed train systems, hydroelectric dams, highways, freeways, airports, tunnel boring, and open surface mining.

Outside of Flatiron, Flores is actively involved in many industry associations. He speaks at his university, volunteers with humanitarian events, and engages his network to help build affordable housing for families in need.

 

Parm Dhaliwal

CEO

Steelix Developments

Surrey, B.C.

As the company visionary for Steelix, Parm Dhaliwal is focused on creating homes that will make a lasting impression on the neighbourhoods where the company builds. For its Harlo project in Surrey, B.C., he worked with the municipality to increase the density to rezone an initial project of 30 townhomes into 132 much-needed condos. Currently under construction, the project is on track for occupancy by the summer of 2024.

Wanting to get homeowners’ feedback to influence future projects, Dhaliwal has created an online survey to understand their needs better. For every survey response, a tree is planted in B.C. to give back to nature.

Using a structured methodology, Dhaliwal creates KPIs for his team to help understand roadblocks and celebrate wins, which he says is fundamentally how the team grows and improves from each challenge.

 

Rick Morrison

President

Quattro Constructors

Vancouver, B.C.

Over his 20 years of experience in construction, Rick Morrison has held many roles, including president, area manager, project manager, superintendent, field engineer and estimator, with experience that spans a range of construction projects, including dams, bridges, highways, water and sewer construction, and municipal development.

In the three years since starting Quattro Constructors with only a team of two, the company now numbers more than 100 employees and averages five or more major infrastructure projects a year.

Morrison, a registered professional engineer in B.C. and Alberta, is known as a dedicated and results-oriented manager with an ability to listen, understand and address client needs. Among the key projects that he can count on his resume are the Highway 8 reinstatement, Site C generating station and spillway, Ruskin Dam Generating Station, and the Donald Bridges and Approaches project.

 

Rob Clifford

Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

Salus

Vancouver, B.C.

Rob Clifford, co-founder and CTO of Salus, has a passion for developing people as well as software. At Salus, he has built and led a team of engineers in bringing to life a health and safety software platform that mirrors industry best-practice workflows with a high degree of usability.

Despite a lack of prior ties to the construction industry, Clifford saw merit in an idea presented by company CEO, Gabe Guetta, who was running a large high-rise window installation company at the time. Facing challenges around managing his own company’s safety, Guetta approached Clifford for a possible solution. Immersing himself into the industry, Clifford went to work to gain a deep understanding of the regulatory requirements, the processes and the challenges faced by construction companies and their employees when it comes to safety, harnessing that new knowledge into a software platform that solves real challenges for the industry it serves.

 

Robert Barth

Partner and Senior Vice-President, Construction

CentreCourt

Toronto, Ont.

Robert Barth has more than 17 years of high-rise residential construction experience, joining CentreCourt in 2014. At CentreCourt, he has played an instrumental role in the creation and growth of CentreCourt Construction, the company’s construction management function, making significant contributions to many of the company’s 19 completed and ongoing developments, bringing deep expertise in the development and oversight of construction budgets, schedules and project teams.

He currently oversees five active construction projects in the Greater Toronto Area, totalling over 2,350 units and $1.5 billion of development value. He is actively involved in the GTA real estate community and is a committee member of the Hold’em for Life Charity Challenge, which is dedicated to raising money for cancer research. The organization has raised more than $42 million since 2006 to be distributed to leading local cancer research centres.

 

Ruairi Spillane

Founder and Managing Director

Outpost Recruitment and Moving2Canada

Vancouver, B.C.

Ruairi Spillane moved to Canada from Ireland in 2008 for an employment opportunity in finance. After the global financial crisis, he identified that Canada was experiencing a labour shortage in construction at a time when his native country was exporting construction talent. After observing Canadian contractors recruit from Ireland and the U.K. and having the first-hand experience of assisting his brother relocate to Canada as a civil engineer, Ruairi set out to build an agency that would specialize in matching global talent with Canadian construction firms.

In 2012, he launched his two companies, Outpost Recruitment and Moving2Canada, with the symbiotic goals of recruiting construction talent, both local and international, while enabling newcomers to navigate the immigration and settlement process by themselves.

Since its founding, Outpost Recruitment has successfully placed hundreds of workers from around the world on some of Canada’s largest building and infrastructure projects. The award-winning Moving2Canada website provides free online resources to help job seekers, generating more than 500,000 visits monthly.

 

Ryan Johnston

President

West Coast Pile Driving (2013) Ltd.

Maple Ridge, B.C.

Ryan Johnston began his career as a general bridgeman/pile driver with various pile driving companies in the Lower Mainland of B.C. He worked his way up through the industry to become a top crane operator and the president of his company, West Coast Pile Driving. Taking on the leadership role in the company, Johnston not only works directly in the field operating the company’s heavy equipment and machinery, but he also handles office tasks including estimating, project management, invoicing, and business development.

His company, which is a certified Aboriginal-owned business, offers a variety of pile driving and shoring services, recently expanding capabilities to include ground-release drilling. Specializing mainly in sheet piling, Johnston’s company is outfitted with top-of-the line sheet pile installation and pipe pile installation equipment featuring several Junttan and ABI Piling Rigs, and has become known their ability to serve, with excellence, large general contractors and work on large projects around B.C.

 

Scott Longmuir

CEO

Threeosix Industrial Services Inc.

Saskatoon, Sask.

As a civil engineering technologist with an Applied Science Technologist (AScT) designation, Scott Longmuir has over 17 years of hands-on experience in the construction, mining and engineering sectors. His entrepreneurial spirit began in the early 2000s in Alberta where he worked to create, develop and operate business interests in the engineering and construction services space.

In 2016, he launched Threeosix Industrial, a company focussed on being an industry-leading contractor in the industrial, mining and energy sectors with strategic operations and partnerships across Canada. The company, which now has more than 250 employees, has a goal of providing a professionally managed and safety conscious approach to construction, maintenance, fabrication and mining.

Longmuir strongly believes in creating opportunities for community members local to their projects, and this is evidenced by the company’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and capacity-building within the communities in close proximity to the areas in which it operates.

 

Sean Lal

Legal Consultant/Senior Commercial Advisor

Systech Infrastructure Inc.

Toronto, Ont.

Instrumental in building a collaborative relationship with contractors on major Metrolinx subway projects, Sean Lal is a qualified solicitor in Ontario and New York State with more than 10 years of experience in legal, construction, commercial and contracts management.

For the past five years, his focus has been on Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT and Finch West LRT projects with Aecon Construction, and the new Ontario Line subway, new Younge-North subway, and the Scarborough subway extension projects. Prior to that, he was project counsel on the Waterloo LRT project, another large LRT project that was completed in the Ontario.

Passionate about mentoring new lawyers and engineers in construction, he dedicates time each week to mentoring and discussing the commercial thought process required in the day-to-day activities on large construction projects, including how to take large complex issues and convey them simply and efficiently.

 

Shane McKernan

Director of Construction

Chard Development Ltd.

Vancouver, B.C.

Currently the director of construction for Chard Development, an urban real estate development firm based out of Vancouver, Shane McKernan is a seasoned construction professional with a successful career path as a Red Seal carpenter, project manager and Professional Quantity Surveyor (PQS). He has been working in B.C.’s lower mainland for over 15 years.

Since 2012, as a PQS, he has consulted on over $963 million in construction costs. In his project management capacity in that time, he has worked on commercial office and tilt-up buildings, townhomes, multi-family residential and multi-tower high-rise residential construction projects with combined construction costs in excess of $600 million.

He was the first student member of the CIQS B.C. Chapter, and has held positions as chapter treasurer, vice-president and president. He is also a past observer of the organization’s national board, where he helped cocreate a Young Quantity Surveyor (YQS) community within the CIQS framework.

 

Venus Garg

Vice-President, Program Management BL

AECOM Canada

Markham Ont.

A collaborative, versatile and innovative leader, Venus Garg has built a wealth of experience in the transportation infrastructure space leading large multi-disciplinary teams of managers, engineers, field coordinators and other staff to deliver world-class transportation solutions. He leads complex infrastructure pursuits on both the advisory side and design-builder side, procured under various delivery models like P3, Alliance, Program Delivery Partner and Progressive Design-Build (PDB).

His work as capture lead at AECOM has significantly improved the company’s use of its global talent, as well as increased its knowledge base and application of collaborating contracting methods which are relatively new to Canada.

With his strong work ethic and collaborative approach, he has been key to the successful delivery of such critical pursuits as the VIA High Frequency Rail, QEW/Credit River Bridge, Union Station, GO Expansion delivery partner, Scarborough Subway Extension and the VivaNext bus rapid transit project.

 

William Donnellan

Principal CEO of Construction

IRL Construction Ltd.

Vancouver, B.C.

William Donnellan grew up in the building trades. Having qualified as a carpenter in Ireland, and coming from a family of tradespeople, he has spent the past 14 years gaining direct experience in all areas of construction in Canada.

Under his leadership, IRL Group has established a solid reputation for work in concrete, framing and wood tackling commercial and residential projects throughout B.C. This past year, the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) in B.C. recognized him with the 2022 Gord Stewart Workplace Health and Safety Innovation Award for his company’s use of an intelligent illumination safety system that makes workers more visible on a site.

In 2017, the Vancouver Regional Construction Association presented Donnellan with its U40 Excellence in Construction Award in recognition of him growing IRL from its starting point of three employees in 2009 to more than 70 working on projects across Canada.

On a parallel path to his construction company, Donnellan has also built up a hospitality division, which has benefitted from his skills in construction as it developed five Irish pubs in Vancouver.

 

Yuri Bartzis

Innovation Director of Operations, Canadian Building Operations/Quebec Building

Operations

Pomerleau

Mississauga, Ont.

An advocate for innovation in construction, Yuri Bartzis is a mentor, leader, influencer and strategist. After several years of gaining site experience supporting construction projects and bringing BIM to a national player in the market, Bartzis transitioned to Pomerleau Construction as an innovation manager. Three years later, he became one of the company’s directors of innovation operations, leading a team of over 50 VDC coordinators throughout Canada.

A virtual design and construction specialist himself, he participated in building the innovation team at Pomerleau and continues to be involved in adopting new technologies in construction.

In 2019, Pomerleau, and Bartzis’ team, was recognized by Building Transformations (formerly CanBIM) with its General Contractor’s Award for the development of the Willow Square Continuing Care Centre long-term care facility in Fort McMurray, Alta.

Bartzis is also a sought-after speaker on the topics of BIM and digital construction tools and techniques and sits on several industry think tanks and advisory committees.