Women In Infrastructure: Reframing The Narrative|EP 1

In our first episode of A WINning Perspective: The WIN Canada Podcast, panel host Riccardo Cosentino sits down with three nominees of The Women’s Infrastructure Network (WIN) Canada WIN Awards: Marie-Noël Ouellet, Katie Pelly and Yumna Nasir. The panelists share their industry successes, challenges within the male-dominated industry and hopes for the next generation of leaders.

“I found that it became a bit easier—or that I wasn’t the only one—when the people around the table became more diverse. So, even though I might still be the only female in certain meetings, if the men are more diverse in their background, then everyone has to try a little harder to connect to each other and therefore, I can fit in a bit more easily in that conversation.” — Katie Pelly

“For sure, I think diversity and diversity of thought specifically. Whether it be diversity of... ” — Yumna Nasir

Key Takeaways:

• The internal conversations of women within a male-dominated industry and resisting conformation as a means to succeed
• The fears of family life as a women in infrastructure: How to we attract and retain women into their senior tenure
• How to be a better ally, companion and sponsor for women
• The importance of recognition of contributions to the industry during the WIN Awards
• The danger of associating flexibility with female; the shift in mindset necessary for better performance across the board

Marie-Noël Ouellet is responsible for leading the global financing strategy in the infrastructure and energy sectors at CDPQ, which includes investment strategy, portfolio construction, negotiation and transaction structuring, as well as risk management. Under her leadership, the Infrastructure Financing team offers senior and junior debt financing to varied sectors, most notably in the transportation, renewable power and telecommunications sub-sectors. She is also a member of the Infrastructure sector Debt and Equity Investment Committees.

Katie Pelly is a Construction Manager with EllisDon Civil, and is currently the Design-Build Project Director on a large P3 Design-Build transportation project. She holds a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Queen's University, and has 18 years of construction management experience with EllisDon, having taken on a range of roles and responsibilities including leadership, design management and coordination roles on IO, Metrolinx, MTO, TTC and YRRTC projects. Katie has also led various transit P3 Design-Build pursuits, helping to manage and facilitate the direction of EllisDon’s Civil division. Katie is passionate about supporting women, and looks to create meaningful opportunities for women to connect; she is a Board Director with the WTS Toronto Area Chapter and is a member of WIN and CAWIC.

Yumna Nasir, Director of Operations at Plan Group, has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, International Facilities Management Association, and Canadian Women in Infrastructure. Yumna has proved herself through difficult and unique occupations such as becoming the Facility Manager and Operations Lead for the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games, leading a team of over 70. She then undertook a new adventure leading the charge on developing plans and practices to implement for the first time on the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit Project (largest P3 transit project in North America) as its Property Manager. She is a member of two Program Advisory Committees (APFM and Building Systems Engineering Degree) in order to ensure that industry trends and education are forever married so new graduates have numerous opportunities.

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The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community via LinkedIn:

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