11/2019 – Construction Business Owner Magazine: Outstanding Women in Construction
THIS INDUSTRY IS CHANGING. For some, that truth is hard to stomach. But others are leaning in, no holds barred. The construction leaders of tomorrow are welcoming tech adoption, alternative methods for project delivery, and other changes with open arms. They’re also looking to a labor force that has historically been underrepresented as a way to alleviate he ongoing skills shortage.
Currently, women represent only 9% of the construction workforce. In the field, that statistic has an even starker contrast: For every 100 men on the jobsite, there is only one woman. However, many of the women who go to work in construction every day do so with the rive and a vision for a more diverse and more inclusive workforce.
In the following pages, we’ve highlighted 20 of those women. CBO’s Outstanding Women in Construction drew nearly 200 nominations from industry leaders for women working in the office, in the field, and everywhere in between, all over the United States and in a myriad of sectors of the industry.
Finalists were chosen based on their skills, leadership and management techniques, as well as their exceptional contributions to their companies, industry and communities. The women in this section represent some of the very best of the industry—each and every one is working to build a better environment for all who work in construction, regardless of gender, race or background.
Tiffany LaBruno, Director of Professional Services, Gafcon
Job Must-Have: “Tech, of course! Specifically, Microsoft Teams and OneNote, because the tools allow me to work on multiple devices and collaborate with my team in real time.”
A woman working in construction is rare enough, but a woman working in construction technology—that’s a unicorn, according to Tiffany LaBruno. She’s proud to say she’s not the only one out there, though. She manages a team of 10 in her role with Gafcon, and eight of them are women. After getting her start as a project administrator for a multifamily contractor in California, LaBruno went to work as a consultant with the Navy Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC). She helped manage the construction battalion’s projects and facilities finance system for 20 years. She made the move to Gafcon 6 years ago.
Although Gafcon is software agnostic, her role is focused on helping guide the company’s team managers and project owners through program implementation, life-cycle reporting, etc. She is also charged with setting standards on Gafcon projects for process optimization, requests for information (RFIs), submittals, safety reporting, building information modeling (BIM) and more. Put simply, her team goes into a fairly low-tech environment and works to generate a passion for tech usage on the jobsite.
