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.
Jean-François Pelletier, one of the co-founders of CREO Solutions, aims to help owners, developers and contractors implement technologies that help them reach operational excellence through data-driven management and continuous improvement.
The mechanical engineer has spent the 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Professional and passionate, Darren Sauer started his construction career as a labourer 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 20 industry 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Lands in 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.
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.