March 3, 2026
Culture + Employee

Women in Construction Week Spotlight: Avery Girard, Project Engineer

The transition from the theater stage to the construction project site may seem like a pivot, but for Project Engineer Avery Girard, it represents a calculated alignment of distinct skill sets.

In honor of Women in Construction Week, we’re spotlighting five outstanding women selected by the Women of Webcor (our employee resource group for women, open to ALL Webcorians) leadership committee who have made exceptional contributions to Webcor while embodying our core values.

The common denominator between the two was a fascination with complex systems—whether mathematical or interpersonal.

Today, Avery navigates the high-stakes procurement phase of the SFO West Field Garage project by leveraging the technical precision of her engineering degree alongside the communication nuances she refined in theater studies.

Raised in King City — a small agricultural hub about two and a half hours south of San Francisco — Avery’s early ambitions were focused on mechanical engineering. But during her senior year of high school, her mother, noting Avery’s background in theater and her natural charisma, suggested a pivot to the stage.

She spent two years in theater before the pull of mathematics became impossible to ignore. While other students were struggling through statistics and math homework, Avery was the one offering help. She realized that while she loved performing, she craved the logic she found in mathematics. She returned to engineering at San Francisco State University (SFSU) just three months before the COVID-19 pandemic moved her education behind a Zoom screen.

While some pursued their degrees for the eventual paycheck, Avery’s motivation remained pure: a genuine love for math. Today, as a project engineer at Webcor, she has found a way to marry that technical precision with the interpersonal skills she refined through her theater studies.

Beyond Procurement and Schedules

Avery joined Webcor after meeting the team at an SFSU career fair — an event she now hosts and attends as a recruiter. Though she initially leaned toward civil engineering without a specific focus on construction, she found herself captivated by the architecture and the tangible nature of the work.

"I can fall in love with anything I do as long as I love the people," she says.

Working on the SFO West Field Garage project for the last 18 months, Avery has immersed herself in the procurement stage, seeing firsthand how design is formulated within a schedule before manifesting in real life. But for Avery, the "how" of building is inseparable from the "who." She has made it her mission to bring a sense of humanity to the job site, whether she’s running meetings or managing subcontractors.

"I work really hard to just love being at work," she explains. "I’m willing to tell people when I’m not doing well, which opens up a level of vulnerability that allows others to do the same with me."

The Challenge of the Only Woman in the Room

Avery is candid about the realities of being a young woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. The challenges aren't always overt; often, they are systemic and subtle. She notes the common tendency for the only woman in a room to be reflexively asked to take meeting minutes, order food, or handle administrative tasks, while her male peers are directed toward the field.

She recalls a moment when her Project Director, Wayne Campbell, stepped in as a vital ally. When Avery pointed out these gendered expectations, Wayne didn't just listen — he validated her experience in front of the group. When some colleagues questioned if it was true, Wayne’s insistence that it was "absolutely true" shifted the room’s perspective.

"It takes one male ally to make them believe you," Avery says. "You can't fight this battle alone."

Mentorship and the Next Generation

Avery’s journey is supported by mentors like Outreach & Partnership Manager Sharla Sullivan (pictured with Avrey below), who lives just a few blocks away. This "neighbor feel" has provided Avery with a safe space to discuss the industry's challenges. Sharla’s advice is pragmatic: these challenges are part of the business, but they don't have to define your personality.

For Avery, the goal isn't to conform to a rigid, stereotypical "construction persona." She wants to be herself — bubbly, stern when necessary, and heard. She is already paying it forward, teaching new PEs and even senior PEs the ropes of procurement and schedule management.

Whether she’s rock climbing, painting, or teaching her partner how to find calm through art, Avery carries the same philosophy: “Connection is my superpower,” she says. By playing music before meetings and getting to know the families of the people she works with, she is creating a more efficient, communicative, and ultimately more human environment at Webcor.

As she looks toward the future, her focus remains on the people. "A huge part of building is communication and understanding each other," she says. "I hope to bring that connection to every project I touch."


March 2, 2026
Culture + Employee

Women in Construction Week Spotlight: Jazlyn Carvajal

After 21 years, Project Director Jazlyn Carvajal can still hear the foreman she’d been assigned to support telling her she didn’t belong on a construction site.

In honor of Women in Construction Week (WiC Week), we’re spotlighting five outstanding women selected by the Women of Webcor (our employee resource group for women, open to ALL Webcorians) leadership committee who have made exceptional contributions to Webcor while embodying our core values.

“I remember keeping my cool and saying, ‘I’m the engineer responsible for your scope. If you can’t handle my presence, I can speak to your boss about reassigning you,’” she says. “He paused and nodded, and from that day on, we had a great working relationship.”

Although the industry has come a long way since, similar experiences continued to follow Jazlyn through those early days of her construction career. She quickly learned to advocate for herself and set expectations early: she would not tolerate disrespect, and she would not be intimidated off a job site.

“Back then, microaggressions and outright sexist comments were more common, so I had to learn how to stand my ground,” she says. “Thankfully, I see a lot more respect and awareness in our industry now."

It’s been years since Jazlyn’s dealt with such egregious comments, but she’ll never forget them—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Experiences like that remind me why representation matters,” she says.“Every woman who shows up and holds her ground helps shift the culture a little more.”

 

From Curious Intern to Inspiring Project Leader

Fortunately, derogatory comments have never held a candle to Jazlyn’s tenacity and genuine passion for construction—a fascination that began years before she could fathom a career in it.

It all began when her dad—a truck driver at the time—took her with him to haul spoils from a New York City project site when she was a child. When they arrived, he explained that the massive excavation in front of them would eventually become another skyscraper.

“I was amazed,” she says.“From that moment, I started seeing the built environment differently. Empty lots and rundown buildings became opportunities… I couldn’t help but imagine what might rise next.”

A decade later, Jazlyn began her freshman year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she majored in civil engineering while interning at an AEC design firm. There, she was given the opportunity to join an electrical engineer on a site tour at Columbia University—her first taste of hands-on construction experience.  

Throughout the day, she sat in her first OAC meeting, toured the active job site, and witnessed the many facets of a project team come together to deliver a complex structure.

She loved every minute of it. It reinforced what she’d long believed but never been able to confirm: Construction was the path for her. “That site tour pushed me to shift my studies toward construction management,” she says. “It’s a decision that I’ve never regretted in the 26 years since."

Since graduating from MIT, Jazlyn’s construction career has taken her across two coasts, four states, and two countries. To this day, she loves opening Google Earth and pointing to the iconic projects she’s helped build in some of the world’s biggest cities.

She launched her career with Turner Construction in Boston, where she contributed to Boston University’s Life Science & Engineering Building and worked in the Special Projects Division before transferring to Turner’s New York office to work on the New York Cruise Terminal in Manhattan.

After three years with Turner, she moved back to New Jersey to join Epic Management as a project manager. There, she took on the most rewarding project of her career: the buildout of Union City High School. Located in her hometown of Union City, NJ, the community-centered project was as technically challenging as it was personally meaningful.

She and her team were tasked with transforming the city’s beloved Roosevelt Stadium into a modern high school and athletic field for 2,000 students—a monumental achievement fueled by creativity, collaboration, and collective respect for Union City’s history.

“Seeing that award-winning facility open and knowing it would serve generations of students in the community that raised me remains one of my most significant professional milestones,” Jazlyn says.

In 2014, she decided to pivot to something new: entrepreneurship. Excited to move beyond construction, she co-founded her own company focused on business/professional development, where she remained until she felt construction calling her back home five years later.

Excited to take on her first construction job since leaving Epic Management, she returned to her roots at the end of 2019. This time, she would be relocating across the country—the SanFrancisco Bay Area—to join Webcor. She was ready to pick up her construction journey where she’d left off.

 

Building Webcor’s PMCM Team & Leading the TI Group

Jazlyn got started in our San Jose office, where she focused on project planning, estimating, and business acquisition with the Preconstruction team. After some time in Precon, she left to lead our Project Management/Construction Management (PMCM) services group—a small but mighty team specializing in client support and partnership services across project and construction management tasks.

At the time, PMCM primarily managed security system-focused projects for several Bay Area-based campuses for a large technology firm while working closely with our Marketing/Business Development team on portfolio expansion strategies.

Together, they developed marketing collateral, pursued new projects, and won the Parcel D project in JackLondon Square.

Last year, Jazlyn accepted a second leadership role overseeing our TI group’s operations while continuing to leadPMCM. “It’s allowed me to stay close to the work, support multiple teams, and contribute to Webcor’s growth in two dynamic areas of the business,” she says.

It’s also served as a reminder to never get too comfortable—especially in TI.

“In TI, you’re constantly stepping into new projects with new teams, clients, and expectations,” she says. “Every few years or months, you’re essentially starting fresh, and people don’t automatically know what you bring to the table.”

Fortunately, Jazlyn has 25 years’ experience in proving her worth. Those early days on New York City and NewJersey construction projects in the 2000s were a crash course in showing up prepared, staying adaptable, working twice as hard, and consistently demonstrating her value as a young woman in construction.

“You have to step up—not in a defensive way, but in a way that builds trust and credibility from day one,”she says. “That mindset has served me well over the years, no matter theproject or team.”

The Power of Webcor’s People &Culture

Six years into her Webcor journey,Jazlyn’s happy to say it’s only getting better. Now that she’s co-leading TI’s operations, she’s constantly on the move—visiting project sites, connecting with teams, and strategizing solutions to complex challenges.

“I really enjoy staying close to the teams and keeping momentum,” she says. “The variety, the people, and the problem-solving are what make this role so exciting and fulfilling.”

Jazlyn’s found that that shared commitment to meaningful collaboration permeates every level of Webcor—a unique type of “win together, fail together,” team-oriented culture that she doesn’t take for granted. After all, it’s what drew her to Webcor in the first place.

“When I interviewed in 2019, Webcor’s people and culture stood out immediately,” she says. “The welcome felt genuine, and everyone I met spoke about their projects with pride and ownership. The competitive pay and benefits were certainly a plus, but it was the authenticity and passion of the people that confirmed Webcor was the right fit for me.”

These last few years have only reinforced those initial beliefs about our people and approach to collaboration.“Active caring isn’t just a phrase here,” she says. “It shows up in how we treat our employees, field teams, trade partners, clients, and projects.Decisions are made with people and project success in mind. Being part of an organization that leads with that mindset has been incredibly fulfilling.”

Leading Beyond Projects

From interning as an MIT student to leading two vital Webcor groups as a director, it’s been a busy 20+ years. Since graduating with her civil engineering degree, Jazlyn’s worked tirelessly to build a full, meaningful career that reflects her relentless ambition and ever-growing passion for construction.

But if you ask her, she’s just getting started. Over the next few years, she’ll continue driving the TI group’s expansion into a full-on department and strengthening its presence across California.“There’s a lot of opportunity to scale what we do well,” she says. “I genuinely enjoy the pace, variety, and problem-solving involved with TI work and am excited to shape our growth.”

In addition to her director responsibilities, she’s excited to take on a new type of leadership role this year: co-leader of Women of Webcor, our ERG for women and allies (open to ALL Webcorians). SVP, Project Planning Allison McCue (who will stay on WoW’s leadership team as executive sponsor) officially passed the torch to her and Project Director Rowena Domingo last month.

For Jazlyn, it’s a rare opportunity to extend her influence beyond projects and business development and effect change at the cultural level. After organizing last year’s Women in Construction happy hour at the King Street office with Rowena, Sr. Dept. Support Manager DianeOliver, and Sr. Executive Assistant Tanja Huni, she felt inspired to step up and take on a bigger role with WoW in 2026.

“Being part of that experience made me feel connected, energized, and proud of what WoW brings to our community,” she says. “When Allison said she was looking for WoW’s next leader, I reached out to Rowena about co-leading the group because she was such a grounding, inspiring partner when planning last year’s WiC Week happy hour. She said yes without hesitation, and we let Allison know we were ready to take this on together.”


February 26, 2026
Culture + Employee

Building More Than Structures: The Collective’s Partnership with Insight Housing

In the heart of Berkeley, a few blocks from where new skylines are taking shape, stands a six-story testament to community resilience: the Hope Center. Opened in September 2022, the facility serves as a critical hub for veterans’ housing, transi

In the heart of Berkeley, just a few blocks from where new skylines are taking shape, stands a six-story testament to community resilience: the Hope Center. Opened in September 2022, the facility serves as a critical hub for veterans’ housing, transitional shelter, and permanent supportive housing. It is also the site of a burgeoning partnership between Webcor’s Black Employee Resource Group, The Collective, and Insight Housing.

For Webcor Prequalification Analyst Chanelle Jones, who helped facilitate the connection, the motivation to engage with the unhoused and vulnerable is a legacy passed down through family. Chanelle's mother, Judith Jones, spent years working with Bay Area nonprofits, introducing Chanelle to community service early on.

A Connection Rooted in Community

The bridge between Webcor and Insight Housing was built through direct, personal engagement. Chanelle first connected with the organization through Andre Green, the head chef at the Berkeley site, and later with Colette Lyman, Insight Housing’s philanthropy manager. "Over the holiday season, she and I built a strong working relationship that has already opened the door to continued partnership," Chanelle notes.

The scale of the operation at the Hope Center is significant. The kitchen serves hot meals Monday through Friday to both residents and the public. "Their kitchen serves nearly 160,000 meals each year," Chanelle says, highlighting the sheer volume of support required to sustain the program.

In the heart of Berkeley, just a few blocks from where new skylines are taking shape, stands a six-story testament to community resilience: the Hope Center. Opened in September 2022, the facility serves as a critical hub for veterans’ housing, transitional shelter, and permanent supportive housing. It is also the site of a burgeoning partnership between Webcor’s Black Employee Resource Group, The Collective, and Insight Housing.

For Webcor Prequalification Analyst Chanelle Jones, who helped facilitate the connection, the motivation to engage with the unhoused and vulnerable is a legacy passed down through family. Chanelle's mother, Judith Jones, spent years working with Bay Area nonprofits, introducing Chanelle to community service early on.

A Connection Rooted in Community

The bridge between Webcor and Insight Housing was built through direct, personal engagement. Chanelle first connected with the organization through Andre Green, the head chef at the Berkeley site, and later with Colette Lyman, Insight Housing’s philanthropy manager. "Over the holiday season, she and I built a strong working relationship that has already opened the door to continued partnership," Chanelle notes.

The scale of the operation at the Hope Center is significant. The kitchen serves hot meals Monday through Friday to both residents and the public. "Their kitchen serves nearly 160,000 meals each year," Chanelle says, highlighting the sheer volume of support required to sustain the program.


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