Rebecca Clark: Operations Executive for Skanska, a Global Construction Firm

This profile on Rebecca Clark is the forth post in a month-long series of profiles about female STEM innovators in honor of Women’s History Month. This profile also celebrates Women in Construction week by focusing on Clark, Operations Executive for Skanska, a Swedish construction and development company that has grown to have divisions and projects in countries across the world. Check back each weekday to read a new profile.

New Jersey born, Rebecca Clark was fascinated with bridges from a young age. This passion turned into a career for Clark as one of few women in construction in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“I loved math and always, always had a passion for bridges. So since the 7th or 8th grade I’ve always talked about being an engineer and I think that really set the course…for me, becoming an engineer was an important way to tangibly make a difference in the lives of others,” said Clark as she reminisced on the guiding factors that led her to become an engineer in a 2013 interview with Engineer Jobs Magazine₁. “Buildings and sewage and bridges and tunnels and water – all are affiliated with infrastructure. Understanding how they are all connected is the equivalent of understanding how a city (and an economy) works.”

Clark enrolled in a joint program between Fairfield University, to earn a B.A. in Physics, and Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, to earn a B.S. in Civil Engineering. During her time at Columbia, Clark also completed an internship with ConEdison Solutions’ Steam Operations Engineering Department where she checked steam plates for outstanding asbestos fittings Criteria and designed 3D drawings of Manhattan’s steam pipe system₁.

As Clark’s skills expanded from years working in roles that ranged from an Offshore Driller Service Engineer to a Project Engineer and her breadth of industry knowledge deepened, she began to feel more comfortable in her role and saw the benefits of being a minority member of her chosen field.

In 2002, Clark took her first role at Skanska, a Swedish construction and development company that has grown to have divisions and projects in countries across the world₁. Since her first position as a Project Engineer for the US branch of Skanska, Clark rose through the ranks to become the company-wide project manager and is now the Operations Executive for Skanska as a whole.

“Project manager[s]…act as the liaison between the owner and general contractors. So, for example, let’s say the New York Department of Transportation, the designers, and then the labor force,” Clark explained in the interview with Engineer Jobs Magazine. “As a project manager you oversee your team that supervises the labor force that’s doing the physical work. And you are coordinating the design and different fabrication elements and act as the main liaison to the owner.₁”

Despite her resounding success in the industry, Clark initially tried not to stand out as one of only a few women in the construction industry for fear of being ridiculed or treated differently than her male peers, who comprise most of the industry₁.

“As a woman, you have to have thick skin. And you do have to be prepared to prove yourself at a different level,” Clark said. “Once you gain the respect [as an engineer] then your coworkers will have your back – but it’s definitely a part of the job… proving yourself. It’s still relatively new to have women working on the project – never mind being an engineer and running the project.₁”

Clark advises women in male-dominated industries to find co-workers you can trust and become one yourself for other women because there is power in a support system.

Two final pieces of advice Clark gives to all prospective engineering students—female and male—is to take advantage of internship opportunities and spend time early in their education thinking about the type of engineer they hope to be.

“When I was in college I always had internships and I think, to me, those were priceless. A lot of people we hire [at Skanska] end up coming through our co-op or internship programs,” Clark advised. “I also think it’s important for men and women as engineers to weigh out what kind of engineer they want to be. A lot of [college] engineering programs at base level involve ALL types of engineers, but when you decide what route to take it’s important that you really dive in and study the kind of engineering that interests you.₁”

Click here for information on Capitol’s construction, engineering, and critical infrastructure degrees.

References

1. Engineer Jobs. (2013, February 13). So You Want to be a Civil Engineer?. Retrieved from https://magazine.engineerjobs.com/2013/so-you-want-to-be-a-civil-engineer.htm.
2. Construction Dive. (2019, October 25). Women construction leaders discuss building their careers, demolishing glass ceilings. Retrieved from https://www.constructiondive.com/news/women-construction-leaders-discuss-building-their-careers-demolishing-glas/565473/.