NAWIC Excellence Awards recognise Beca’s exceptional women

At this year’s National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Excellence Awards, Beca was delighted to celebrate the success of their outstanding women including Erin Black, awarded Professional Woman of the Year, and Rising Star Award winner Lisa Mace (joint wins).

The awards, in partnership with BCITO, were held at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Auckland on Friday 27 September. Darryl-Lee Wendelborn, Beca Managing Director – New Zealand, was there on the night and says, “Congratulations to both Erin and Lisa on their amazing award wins. Both are outstanding women, doing fantastic things in their disciplines. We’ve been privileged to see Erin and Lisa grow in their careers as leaders, and we look forward to seeing what more they can bring in the future.”

“A special mention and congratulations to Gayathri Paranisamy and Sarah Duggan who were recognised with a Highly Commended Award in the Rising Star category, as well as our other outstanding finalists - Evie Wallace, Stephanie Kirk and Xin Yi Wong,” she added.

Erin Black - Professional Woman of the Year Award (Joint winner)

Erin is an Associate Business Development Team Leader based in Beca’s Christchurch office. With her strong understanding of the region and local clients, Erin has been instrumental in the formulation and execution of Beca’s commercial strategy in the southern region. Erin identifies with her father’s Northland iwi of Ngāpuhi, is a well-known champion for diversity within Beca and is a mentor and role model for young people both internally and externally of Beca. This includes supporting the development of young ambassadors of the Forward Foundation; inspiring the next generation of young female leaders in New Zealand. Erin also sits on the Board of Directors at the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Brackenridge (a Canterbury District Health Board subsidiary), and is a member to the Institute of Directors NZ.

Lisa Mace - Rising Star Award (Joint winner)

Lisa is a Senior Process Engineer who started at Beca as a graduate in 2013. Also based Christchurch, her work in the southern region includes food and beverage, industrial, wastewater and drinking water projects. In joining Beca, Lisa soon found her passion in ensuring the safety of drinking water and never looked back. Committed to her profession, Lisa spends a lot of her personal time researching, reading books and attending industry events to develop herself further as an engineer. She recently completed the Rotary Young Leadership Award to further develop her skills as an emerging leader. Lisa is also involved in actively promoting the engineering profession with school students - she was one of the founding members of the Beca School Days events in Christchurch and currently works with Engineering New Zealand as a Wonder Project Ambassador.

NAWIC is a voluntary, non-profit association of women who work in construction, founded in 1952. Its vision is to see women successfully pursue, establish and sustain careers in the construction industry. For more information, visit: https://www.nawic.org.nz/