Professional Women in Construction on an upward trend

Real Estate Weekly,  July 11, 2007  

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In 1980, a dozen women met to explore ways to advance their status in a nontraditional industry: construction.

They formed Professional Women In Construction (PWC), an advocacy and business networking organization dedicated to create opportunities, educate, and inform women business owners, professionals and managers in design & construction and related fields.

"We had a vision," says PWC president Lenore Janis, a former owner of a steel erection firm and a veteran of New York City government's office of construction.

In many ways, the vision is being realized as growing numbers of women and minorities seek out the information, opportunities and support offered by PWC.

Gwendolyn Colbert Kushner, PWC board member and chair of the Development Committee, says, "Our networking events, seminars on upcoming projects, all-day golf outings, and trade shows stimulate business interchange for all participants."

This year, PWC is taking a leap into unchartered territory by presenting a full-scale trade show.

On Wednesday, October 17, at the Digital Sandbox at 55 Broad Street--a state-of-the-art high-tech destination in the center of the financial district --PWC will host a Northeast Region Trade Show coupled with its first-ever Professional Recruitment Fair from 10 am until 3:30 pm.

Colbert Kushner feels that replacing the organization's small-scale trade fairs with a regional mega-Trade Show and combining it with a Recruit ment Fair is a logical next step in PWC's progression. She says, "The Fair will provide job seekers an opportunity for face-to-face contact with more than one potential employer in the course of the day.

The activity of the Trade Show itself will promote heavy duty business interaction between exhibitors and visitors from a wide spectrum of the industry.

"It's one more way for us to act as a resource to our members and guests," says Janis.

PWC is, indeed, a resource with ever-broadening and expanding borders.

The national PWC headquarters is based in Manhattan, and it is flourishing with well-attended monthly events and a constituency of over 8.000 that includes women, men and major corporations and public agencies.

Sponsors include construction and real estate development titans plus leading public agencies, and supporters from the highest ranks of industry and government.

The organization's success is not only attracting attention but begetting offspring. A New England branch has been going full throttle in Connecticut since 2005 with monthly dinner meetings.

A Capital Region (Washington, DC-based) chapter was launched last September and is thriving. Capitalizing on the many expansion projects of transportation and pharmecuetical companies in the Garden state, PWC-NJ began in January 2007.

The chapter is already attracting crowds to programs featuring construction chiefs as well as facilities directors. PWC's newest chapter, Northeast PA, plans an inaugural event in September2007.

Janis notes that the only real surprise is that the expansion didn't occur sooner.

"Through the years we've seen interest from across the nation and foreign countries. We've had visitors from California, letters from as far as South Africa. We always knew that we were on the right track, and are delighted that others want to emulate PWC's positive agenda," she says.

The booming interest in the organization is evidenced from the visits to the website, www.pwcusa.org. "We receive over 22,000 visits from across the nation in a single month--with ZERO marketing," says Janis.

"It's onward and upward," she says as she looks forward to continued growth over the next quarter century and beyond.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning