Directors

Marie-France Venneri

President

Marie-France Venneri graduated from University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Applied Science in mechanical engineering in 2004.

Marie joined the AME Group in 2010. She’s a project manager and her role is to successfully assist clients in advancing their projects towards clearly defined goals. Marie’s goal for every project is to surpass the client’s expectations by providing innovative and energy efficient mechanical designs.

Marie recently returned to AME after taking a year off in 2015 to travel the world. She joined CCW as a member in 2008 and then in 2010 joined the board as Secretary. She then moved to Programs Director for 2011/2012, then Vice-President in 2013/2014. Marie has a long history with CCW and believes in its purpose of helpingwomen who are in, or looking to get in to, the construction industry.

president@constructionwomen.org

Vanessa Werden

Vice President

Vanessa is a construction lawyer at Jenkins Marzban Logan LLP in Vancouver. Her clients include contractors, developers, trades and suppliers. She regularly advises clients on contracts (including CCDC and MMCD standard forms), builders liens, unpaid invoices, delays and cost overruns.

Vanessa was the Secretary on the CCW Board of Directors in 2015 and 2016, and has been the VP since 2017. Her overall goal is to assist
CCW with its mission of increasing women’s representation in the industry.

vp@constructionwomen.org

Halima Qureshi

Treasurer

Halima is an Architect with eight years of experience, working in interdisciplinary environment on array of projects both in the public and private sectors. The roles and responsibilities she took on varied from assistant design manager to assistant project manager with abilities to focus on both micro and macro aspects of the design process. In her free time, she likes to spend time with family, friends and volunteering. She is a strong believer of giving back to the community and she looks forward to her contribution to CCW.

treasurer@constructionwomen.org

Jane Andrew

Secretary

Jane has over 30 years of experience working in the construction industry. She is presently employed by the Mechanical Contractors Association of BC (MCABC); she has been a dedicated employee of MCABC for the past 22 years.

Jane started her career at a sheet metal company in the lower mainland, but wanted to spread her wings in other areas of the industry. She became part of the MCABC team in the fall of 1992 where she began working at the Sub-Trade Bid Depository for the mechanicals. From there, she was promoted to the association’s reception desk, and then Executive Assistant to the CEO. Finally, Jane earned the title of MCABC’s Director of Membership Development, Services and Events.

In her pastime, Jane enjoys skiing, golfing and volunteering.

Jane is pleased to continue her work with the Canadian Construction Women. She is looking forward to using her skills to assist other women in the trade grow professionally and reach their full potential.

info@constructionwomen.org

Kate Kirwan

Director of Programs

Kate is the Virtual Design and Construction Manager for Turner Construction Company in Canada. She has an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Architectural Technology from Dublin Institute of Technology and is an Autodesk Certified Professional, concentrating on innovative technology, 3D construction design and 4D animation. She is a recognised certified professional in BIM (building information modeling), holding a certificate of management from The Association of General Contractors of America.

Kate is involved in all stages of construction, from creating animated videos at project pursuit stage through to developing as built drawings at project close out.

In the past few years, Kate has mentored numerous BCIT design students along with high school students through her involvement with the Green Bricks organisation. Kate has presented on VDC topics at BuildEX, for BIMbc and at numerous LCI (Lean Construction Institute) – Canada conferences. She advocates for the use of building information modelling (BIM) in the construction industry and is involved with numerous BIM groups.

Kate has been involved in Canadian Construction Women since 2011 and has been Programs Director since September 2014.

events@constructionwomen.org

Elaine Chong

Director of Communications

Elaine Chong is a Principal with AES Engineering, an award-winning consulting firm providing electrical, lighting and technology design services in BC and Alberta. She supports a talented team of engineers, technologists and specialists in their work to design life enhancing buildings and infrastructure projects in our communities.

While pursuing her Bachelor of Business Administration degree, Elaine completed a co-op work term at Microsemi (formerly PMC-Sierra), a provider of Internet infrastructure semiconductor solutions. The experience opened her eyes to career opportunities in STEM. Upon graduation she worked for an IT training firm and software companies ActiveState and Sophos. After 7 years, Elaine returned to school to study building design and construction technology at BCIT. She enjoyed a variety of experiences in the industry (specification sales, interior design, public housing development) before setting roots at AES Engineering where she oversees the Vancouver office operations.

During her time at BCIT, Elaine discovered Canadian Construction Women and has been attending events ever since. CCW was a great source of support and inspiration during her career transition, and Elaine feels compelled to give-back by encouraging other women to join this rewarding industry where architecture, interior design, engineering and construction intersect.

communications@constructionwomen.org

Renée Auer

Director of Sponsorship

Renée brings more than 25 years experience in marketing, research and sales. She began her working career in advertising.

After stints at such places as JWT and Eveready, she owned and operated an award-winning tourism business and consulting company in the 1990’s in Toronto.

After selling the business, she moved back to Vancouver and eventually came to work at the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association (GVHBA). She is currently the Director of Membership & Sales and credits landing the position to her many years of absorbing good people skills and networking savvy.

She is honoured to sit as the Director of Sponorship + Director-at-Large for Canadian Construction Women.

sponsorship@constructionwomen.org

Donna Grant

Director of Community

Donna Grant heads the Marketing Department at Scott Construction Group, a locally founded construction management firm that has provided services to the BC and Alberta institutional, commercial, residential, and light industrial markets since 1984.

Donna brings many years of marketing and business communications experience to her role at CCW. She served for a number of years as Director of Marketing for a commercial interior design-build firm; provided marketing and proposal services to a local environmental recycling and waste management firm; and taught marketing and career planning at local colleges for almost 2 decades. In addition to marketing, Donna has been a business writer and editor for 30+ years, providing content to numerous business publications and companies, as well as editing multiple books.

In her role as Director of Community at CCW, Donna will magnify our efforts for student outreach to ensure that women of all ages are well informed on the many ways they can be a part of the exciting and lucrative construction industry. She will spearhead a number of events and activities each year to further our involvement in Lower Mainland communities.

OUR DIRECTORS

CURRENT DIRECTORS