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This article is part of a series of conversations with women leaders in the construction industry. Click here for previous discussions.
Before Erin Kenney found her way into the construction industry, she wanted to work in education.
Originally based at Suffolk Construction’s headquarters in Boston, it relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida. As a project executive, one of her most recent projects is the Palm Beach International Airport $141 million Concourse B expansion.
Now, Kenney finds a way to tie together his passion for education and construction.
He uses the moments he can to mentor people from interns to project managers looking to take the next step. And it’s working to establish a program in West Palm Beach that existed in Boston, where the construction company brings in Girl Scouts to lead them in a variety of activities to earn merit badges.
Here, Kenney talks to Construction Dive about what it means to be a woman in construction, juxtaposing her dual passions and what advice she would give to other women in the industry.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Construction Immersion: What drew you to a career in construction?
ERIN KENNEY: In fact, I always wanted to be a primary school teacher. I grew up in a neighborhood where one of my neighbors was a teacher. He had helped her through the school year, she really loved children and the concept of teaching and seeing results. But as I got older in high school, I started working with CAD and designing and I was like, “Hey, let’s try it in college, let’s see what happens.”
My first project out of school was working for an OPM in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts, working in an elementary school, and I was like, “That’s great.”
How do you bring your passions for education and construction together?
It seems to me that they run parallel. First of all, thank goodness I’m not dealing with kindergarteners and first graders. God bless the teachers who do.
Erin Kenney
Permission granted by Suffolk Construction
For me, I take it double. I take it on the owner’s side and I take it on the Suffolk side.
From the owner’s side, it’s educating owners about what we do and what we offer as a deliverable, their buildings. How do we work together to follow that path and basically achieve your end goal? It evolves as I go through it.
From the Suffolk side, we are only as good as the team that works with us on a project.
I have always been one of my mentors in business. I always feel like I need to make sure the team around me knows as much as I do, if not more. I try to take people aside and say, “Hey, this is the concept, or this is the context of this meeting,” and I educate and mentor.
It could be anyone from the intern who just walked in the door and is as green as can be, to the senior project manager who is right below me.
What does being a woman in construction mean to you?
I pondered this question for years, because I want to be seen as a human and as an equal opportunity leader in the industry, not necessarily because of my gender.
When I first got into the business, I was one of the few. I barely saw any other women in the industry, but it was kind of like, “We’re all the same, we’re all working towards the same goals and we’re trying to make it happen.” As I got older, I realized that you need that environment. It was reassuring to have these people around me.
We are different, men and women, in how we respond to things, how we manage ourselves, how we speak.
I have learned a lot. I have learned to manage the business, manage trades and be able to support myself. I knew I couldn’t come in and show all my cards. I had to get a little rough to “keep up with the boys” shall we say.
But you also have to be a sponge at the same time, and accept situations and accept conversations where you say to yourself, “OK, we’re going to maneuver this so that I’m going to achieve my goal, even if he talks to me like he does to his daughter.”
What advice would you give to other women in construction?
What does Tom Brady say? LFG?
You have to want it individually, but you have to surround yourself with the right people to make sure that as you climb the ladder you have the support around you.
Whether it’s mentors, your line manager, your project team, this will allow you to grow 100% wherever you want to be in this industry.
The world is your oyster, as I say, it’s just a matter of, how far do you want to go?
