Engineering News Record reports: Fix Industry Challenges by Beating Your Own Workplace Fears, CEO Tells GWIC Audience

"I encourage City Colleges of Chicago students to use AI not just as a tool, but as a collaborator. It is truly important that students and the future workforce understand that they have to know how to maintain critical thinking with regard to AI," said Doris Espiritu, district-wide Dean of Engineering at the City Colleges of Chicago. "Otherwise, you're going to have bridges that fall apart if we just believe in AI.

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At the Groundbreaking Women in Construction conference held earlier this month in San Diego, attendees were urged to transfer their determination and confidence from solving their own workplace crises to risktaking necessary to tackle economic, project and workforce complexities across the industry.

"How we lead ourselves ultimately determines how we change this industry-through self-limiting beliefs … fear of criticism or judgement from others, moments of permission that no one is giving and … in spite of the voice in our own head," said Emily Cohen, CEO of United Contractors, one of California's largest and most influential contractor groups, in sharing her career momentum with the more than 660 people attending the event.

"I had to be willing to push past the fear of failure alongside me for the entire ride," said the chief of the trade group with more than 800 union contractor and associate members representing 40,000 employees who was elevated to CEO last year. "The key is knowing how to hide it, when to overcome it, and when to use that fear as fuel to take the big risks. This lesson in managing fear has been as much a part of my leadership journey as anything."

Veteran industry C-suite members said industry leadership needs are generating change. "Leadership in the industry really is past the stereotypes, and all the bravado," said Bob Clark, executive chairman of contractor Clayco. "Leaning into technology is really super critical and will level the playing field, absolutely."

Developing and sustaining the right culture also is key, others said.

Construction Women Reach Beyond New Diversity Barriers as Needed Leaders

"Really strong culture allows people to not only be who they are, but also who they want to be, and for me that's really been so empowering," said Krista Twesme, senior vice president of Mortenson. "It's taken a little bit of time for construction to really figure out that culture is not programmatic, it is lived."

Three C-suite chiefs-Dina Kimble, president and CEO of Royal Electric Co., Mary Teichert, CEO of Teichert Inc. and Staci Woolsey, CFO of Granite Construction-recalled that overcoming bumps in their leadership journeys has led them to smooth and expand paths for next-generation women. Teichert said she urged company managers to focus on people, not just numbers.

"What I learned is how to use my agency-starting small in areas or departments that I could influence, she said. "If you lead for people and take care of people, the numbers will come."

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Living in Miami, Anya Freeman knew well the impacts of rising seas and climate change, so her motivation was clear in a career switch from government prosecutor to founder and CEO of Kind Designs, a tech startup that installs its own 3-D printed "living seawalls" at U.S. coastal sites, with growing buy-in from customers and investors. Noting cost savings to install a living seawall compared to a traditional one, she said the firm ended its first year in 2025 with $1 million in revenue and a nearly $150-million work pipeline.

"I encourage our students to actually use AI not just as a tool, but also as a collaborator. It is truly important that students and the future workforce understand that they have to know how to maintain critical thinking with regard to AI," said Doris Espiritu, district-wide Dean of Engineering at the City Colleges of Chicago. "Otherwise, you're going to have bridges that fall apart if we just believe in AI."

Added Lucy M. Labruzzo, CEO of San Diego-based Engineering Partners Inc., "We can solve the technical issues in a day, but managing stakeholders, communication and collaboration takes months, and that's really where we're focusing our team. We use AI, but that doesn't mean we're going to lose positions, it's to create opportunities for more growth."

Using AI for technical tasks such as data management "allows our people to get in the field, learn construction and how to connect," emphasized Emily Kay, CEO of Balfour Beatty California operations. Experts also focused on new industry diversity approaches such as keeping career opportunities open for those with neurodiversity challenges such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia. Meredith Adragna, director of talent acquisition at The Haskell Co., said her firm evaluates applicants' job descriptions, leadership tracks and how they talk about neurodivergence.

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