New Member Spotlight - Lisa Brown

Friday, Jun 10, 2022

CREW Calgary is excited to spotlight new member Lisa Brown, Cost Manager for Western Canada with EllisDon. Lisa has worked her entire career with EllisDon, 15 years and counting. She has worked in various roles including project coordinator, proposal style role, and now her current costing role. Her current position is unique to the organization and has a commercial component along with auditing and support function where she works with teams to set them up with success. Lisa work with different groups of people across the organization, visiting sites on a quarterly basis to check on site progress and financial position.

Lisa is originally from Ontario and attending post-secondary school out east. She did a project on EllisDon in her last year in school and found it was a unique company, very employee driven. Upon graduation she reached out to her contact there and started with the company shortly after.

1. What drew you to join the CREW network and can you share a few things you have gained being a part of/ volunteering with CREW?

I have not been able to attend any of the events so far, but I am excited to meet people and be a part of a network of women, especially being from the construction side where it is a highly male dominant. I don’t work with a lot of women in my current role, but it is great to have those connections and get an outside perspective. I look forward to seeing women lift each other up, it is so inspiring to me.

2. If you were asked to give one (or two) pieces of advice for how to build a successful career or achieve a challenging professional work goal what would it be?

I put a lot of thought into this question and one thing I have been reflecting on lately is talking about boundaries. Obviously working hard is imperative to success but setting boundaries and working smart plays a huge factor as well. I find women take on more to prove themselves and they use it for career growth and progression. In my opinion, this can lead to a workload disproportion with male counterparts and can cause a lot of strain on your workload. Over the years, I have found setting clear boundaries and being confident in what you bring to the position can create a level of respect to you, your role, and your time.

3. What does a typical day in your role look like?

One component to my job that is really enjoy is that every day is different. I primarily focus on the commercial components of construction across Western Canada, so I report on and support projects to set it up for success for business deals and financial management. This can all take place either on site or at the office.

4. If someone was to play you in a movie, who would you cast?

I had to ask my husband to help me a bit with this one, and my first thought was who also has the same bright red hair as me. I think Jennifer Lawrence is my first pick, I have a very transparent communication style and come off quite blunt… I also think I am pretty funny so she would be a great actress to play as me.