Six appointments, beginning on the formwork deck

Mandate

Make sure the company has the skilled crews, supervisors and working conditions its bids assume.

Outcomes

• Hired 48 apprentices for a British Columbia guideway package, 31 still employed in June 2026
• Opened confidential counselling to everyone on our sites, including subcontractor crews
• Raised hazard reporting among permit-holding workers from three to 27 over comparable periods
• Increased registered apprentices on payroll from 118 in 2019 to 212 in 2026

Decisions in context

As chief human resources officer I connect bidding with the workforce that has to deliver it. Before a major bid I review with estimating and operations whether we have, or can develop, the carpenters, operators and supervisors it assumes. I lead labour relations across our unionised Ontario trades and our mixed British Columbia crews, the apprenticeship office, training and the assistance programme. Health and safety reports separately to the chief operating officer, and I work closely with its vice-president on staffing and reporting culture. I present workforce risk and compensation matters to the board committee three times a year. In 2023 foreman development joined my remit after exit interviews showed new supervisors leaving within two years. The hardest part of the role is arguing for costs that pay back slowly, such as mentors, counselling and foreman training, against projects with fixed completion dates.

Reason for the move

Still in post; any outside directorship would be held in parallel with Brenmarrow's consent.

Mandate

Manage relations with our trade unions and plan hourly staffing for major projects.

Outcomes

• Represented the company on an employer-side bargaining committee for one trade
• Cut grievances reaching arbitration from 23 in 2013 to seven in 2018
• Set up the hourly staffing model for the new British Columbia office

Decisions in context

This role taught me how a contractor lives inside agreements it does not write alone. Our Ontario trades bargain across the province through employer associations, so my influence lay in how we applied the terms, how fast we resolved grievances and how superintendents dealt with stewards. I sat on one employer-side bargaining committee and learned how often a dispute starts with a local habit rather than a clause. On transit projects I negotiated the workforce terms of project labour agreements and handled disagreements between trades over the assignment of work. When we opened the Surrey office in 2017 I designed staffing for union and non-union crews working on the same structures. Grievances reaching arbitration fell from 23 to seven over five years, mostly because site managers settled issues earlier. It was slower work than winning an argument at the table.

Reason for the move

Promoted to lead the whole people function after the previous CHRO retired in early 2019.

Mandate

Improve conditions and safety for employees and the subcontracted trades working on our sites.

Outcomes

• Introduced a common orientation for every subcontracted worker entering our sites
• Added working-condition and safety terms to trade-partner contracts
• Reduced site supervisor turnover from 28% to 13% a year

Decisions in context

Pellandine employed its site supervisors and sales and office staff, while framing, drywall, roofing and masonry crews worked for subcontractors. My challenge was to improve conditions for people we did not employ. I introduced a single orientation for every worker entering our subdivisions, delivered in several languages, and worked with purchasing to include safety and working-condition terms in trade-partner contracts. Several trade partners resisted those terms at first, and two stopped bidding for our subdivisions. I also learned that a builder's own supervisors set the tone: a superintendent who shouted at a framing crew undid any orientation. Supervisor turnover fell from 28% to 13% after we changed how they were selected and coached. The role showed me the limits of indirect influence, which is why I wanted to work for a contractor that employs its trades directly.

Reason for the move

Moved to heavy civil work, where the company directly employs its trades.

Mandate

Improve site training and, later, hiring and onboarding of field workers.

Outcomes

• Redesigned site orientation around the first two weeks on a new project
• Introduced buddy assignments for workers new to a site
• Completed a part-time industrial relations degree in 2004

Decisions in context

I joined Quillbarrow as a coordinator, not a safety professional, and relied on the qualified staff in the safety department for technical judgement. My value was that crews knew I had worked on the tools. My first lesson there was that a binder of procedures meant little to a worker in his first week. I rebuilt site orientation around what new workers actually needed in their first fortnight and introduced buddy assignments so nobody started a task alone on a new project. In 2003 the company asked me to manage field human resources, covering hiring and onboarding for hourly crews. During those years I studied industrial relations part-time and finished my degree in 2004. The combination of site experience and formal study helped me understand that safety, supervision and employment terms were parts of one system rather than separate departments.

Reason for the move

Joined a homebuilder to lead human resources and trade-partner relations.

Mandate

Lead formwork crews safely to the pour schedule.

Outcomes

• Led formwork crews on parking structures and two highway bridge decks
• Trained eleven apprentices to journeyperson certification
• Introduced a pre-shift crew check before every pour

Decisions in context

As a foreman I learned that the pour schedule shaped every decision my crew made. On well-planned weeks we worked carefully; on weeks promised to a client before anyone checked our numbers, people rushed and borrowed workers joined crews they did not know. Two injuries I witnessed happened on such days. I introduced a short crew check before each pour, covering who was new, who was tired and what had changed since the day before. I also trained eleven apprentices through to certification, which taught me how much of a journeyperson's time teaching really takes. The pour schedule was never wrong to matter; it was wrong to be the only thing that mattered. These years gave me the question I still ask before a bid: who exactly will do this work, and are they ready?

Reason for the move

Moved into site safety and training after seeing how staffing caused incidents.

Mandate

Complete a carpentry apprenticeship and work as a formwork carpenter.

Outcomes

• Completed carpentry apprenticeship and certification in 1992
• Worked on wall, column and deck formwork for parking structures
• Took on the crew's layout work in the final apprenticeship year

Decisions in context

I joined Garnetfield at eighteen as a first-year apprentice. My foreman, a patient but demanding carpenter, taught me to read drawings, lay out walls and columns and check bracing before a pour. I attended trade school in blocks each year and worked on the crew the rest of the time. The work was physical and seasonal; winter brought layoffs, and I learned how uncertain income affects the way people work and what they are willing to say. I completed my apprenticeship and certification in 1992. In my final year I took on layout for the crew, which gave me my first taste of responsibility for other people's work. Those years shaped my respect for skilled trades and my sense of what a good mentor gives an apprentice. I still keep the layout square he handed me when I finished.

Reason for the move

Promoted to carpenter foreman.