TORONTO—Two female PCL employees have been recognized for their exceptional work in the industry.
Lilianne Dobbs is the first female superintendent at PCL to celebrate 25 years with the company. Meanwhile, Lisa Kurina has been inducted into the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Women’s Leadership Initiative Championship team.
Lilianne Dobbs
“My dad was an ironworker and he’d always say to me, ‘You should work in construction. You’d like it,’ ” says Dobbs. “He always knew I wasn’t going to take a desk job.”
Growing up in a family of construction workers, Dobbs remembers always being around construction. When she was four years old, her dad built their family home and she helped by cleaning up scraps in their yard.
After high school, Dobbs thought she wanted to be a hairdresser, until one day when her dad said, “I’m taking your brother to the labourer’s union hall; are you coming?” The next thing she knew she was signing the papers and buying her first pair of steel-toed boots.
“While I was working my first labour job at PCL I discovered how much I loved construction,” says Lilianne. “I joined the Carpenters’ union, went to trade school, and started my apprenticeship here.”
At 30, Lilianne was promoted to superintendent.
“I worked hard to prove myself and I always managed to make a good impression,” she says. “My strength has always been my people skills; that’s how I’ve grown my career over the years. I’ve built a good reputation and have earned the respect of my peers, managers and tradespeople.”
Looking back at her career, she says being a woman in construction never seemed unusual to her. “Compared to when I started, there are so many more woman in construction now,” says Lilianne, who lends her time speaking to young women about careers in the trades. “When I speak to them about construction careers, my biggest advice is to go for it. It’s a career with amazing opportunities.”
Lisa Kurina
Lisa Kurina induction as a member of the ULI’s Women’s Leadership Initiative Championship team confirm she is one of the most influential women in Toronto real estate and land use development.
“Lisa Kurina has been building her entire life. With a general contractor father, she had the fortune of growing up immersed in the construction industry, in her teenage years working on construction sites where she began to master estimates and drawings, permitting, and general labour, including formwork and roofing,” reads the statement of support for her nomination.
Kurina has had leadership roles on some of PCL’s most iconic projects in downtown Toronto, and has built a strong relationship with the Great Toronto Airports Authority, which has given PCL the opportunity to work on longstanding projects at Pearson Airport, including the recently announced GTAA Baggage 2025 Master Agreement project.
“Lisa has mentored some of the strongest project managers that I know at PCL,” says Mike Love, a PCL superintendent with increasing responsibility on Kurina’s projects. “I’ve watched several female and male colleagues grow in their career from co-ordinators to project managers under Lisa’s leadership. They learn, and take it and run with it, so much so, it has become evident that Lisa has built a department that everyone wants to come to and work in.”
Kurina has also been a role model to many women at PCL and in the construction industry because of her work ethic, leadership skills, how she handles herself in various situations, and her practical and tangible advice, states PCL.
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