Women Impacting Turner (WIT) Participating at the 2021 She Builds Summer Camp

About WIT

The Women Impacting Turner Employee Resource Group (WIT) empowers and advocates for women to enhance their professional growth and visibility, challenge unconscious bias and create the right environment for success.

With more than 122 active WIT members, their Florida team focuses on professional development, connection and community.

From negotiation skills to giving and receiving feedback, professional development sessions are offered on a quarterly basis and designed to increase talent development opportunities within the Turner team.

Recently, WIT has also launched a new initiative to help women feel more connected to their Senior Leaders.  The Working Women’s Brunches take place monthly and includes 5-6 Florida women meeting with one of their senior leaders to encourage dialogue around bridging the gap and the focused initiatives surrounding the advancement of women.

With WIT member industry experience ranging from new hires to 35+ years in construction, their connection events bring employees together to form friendships and mentorships – all while having fun. Team buildings, jobsite tours, and annual retreats connect WIT members across the state.

Each year in March, WIT organizes Women in Construction week with its annual Thank a Trades Woman Blitz, speaking opportunities at local high schools and industry networking events. Each October, WIT organizes their company’s involvement in breast cancer awareness and community events.

Women make up more than 19% of the Turner Construction workforce in Florida and represent the best in the industry across all roles including project superintendent, project engineer, project executive and business manager, just to name a few.

They are proud of the women at Turner Florida who make their company shine. Because of them, the future of construction looks bright.

2021 She Builds Summer Camp Involvement

4 leaders and members of WIT will be conducting a hands-on activity at the 2021 She Builds camp on the topic of leadership development.

Bio:

How do you start as an entry-level, temporary administrative assistant – in an industry you
know nothing about — and 22 years later become the first female Operations Manager in
the southeastern US for the world’s largest construction company? Meet Carmen Gonzalez.

Born and raised in Miami, Carmen graduated from Coral Park High School. With hopes of
becoming an elementary school teacher, she got a job with a temporary agency to save
money for college. She was placed at Turner as an administrative assistant – her first
exposure to the construction industry. Raised in a divorced family by her single mom who
worked two jobs to financially support the family, she felt the expected career for her
would be a safe and traditional one: teaching or perhaps accounting. Construction was never
even a consideration.

A quick study, Carmen was rapidly given additional responsibilities. Her supervisor told her that
if she wanted it, she would have a bright future in construction. He motivated her by showing
her a path and the opportunities between a teacher and senior project manager. Carmen
jumped at the chance and enrolled in 101 classes – blueprints, codes, accounting – and loved
every minute of it. By juggling working on various projects as a superintendent and an engineer,
in 2012 she graduated FIU with a B.S. in Construction Management and continued excelling in
the company through various roles such as Project Engineer, Project Superintendent, Project
Manager and now Operations Manager.

In her progression with Turner, she has served in various roles: Project Engineer, Field Engineer,
Assistant Engineer, Purchasing Agent, Estimator, Assistant Superintendent, and Project
Superintendent. Her client list includes such globally recognized brands as Pepsico, FDOT,
Caterpillar, FAU, Telemundo, American Express, Royal Caribbean, Delta Airlines, and many
others — including FIU! She leads the operational aspects of each of her projects, such as
launch, execution all the way through turnover and ensuring they are set up for success with
proper staffing and overseeing the financial and operations from start to finish.
When she is not staffing a project, meeting with a client, or mentoring members of her
team, Carmen loves spending time with friends and family, including her daughter, her son,
and her incredible stay-at-home husband. So much for “safe” or “traditional” – she created
her own unique and exciting path.

Carmen is a leader in Women Impacting Turner (WIT), where she coaches, mentors, and
develops content and programming for women to excel in their construction careers.

Bio:

For Tiffany Spence, watching her mom work hard to provide for her family was and
continues to be her inspiration for her choice of a career. Tiffany’s family emigrated from
Jamaica a few years before she was born. Her mom, a teacher, unfortunately found herself
in a country that did not recognize Jamaican credentials. To support her family, she juggled
as many as three jobs at the same time – all while encouraging Tiffany to work hard in
school to have a bright future. She recognized her abilities in math and science and
encouraged Tiffany to be an engineer; construction was never a thought.

Tiffany graduated from Maria Regina High School and was accepted to Temple University,
earning a BS in Civil Engineering and later an MS in Business Administration from the
Devry Institute of Technology. While at Temple, she twice interned with Turner and
decided construction would be her path. As Tiffany notes: “Something about seeing a dirt
lot turn into something beautiful never ceases to amaze me.” She was offered a position and
began as an Assistant Estimating Engineer in the Philadelphia office in 2009. She then
worked in the New York City office before she was transferred to Miami in 2017.

Because Tiffany is drawn to the business side of the construction business, she currently
serves as a Procurement Agent. She procures all subcontractors and vendors on a
construction project and is responsible for deciding which vendor is providing the best
price and solution for their particular part. She analyzes project schedules and determines
what materials and labor need to arrive on a jobsite at any given point. She thrives in this
role because, as she notes, she loves seeing the big picture and setting up each project for a
successful outcome.

In her 12 years with Turner, Tiffany has served in various roles: Project Engineer, Assistant
Engineer, Assistant Superintendent, Project Superintendent, Cost Analyst, and Senior Cost
Analyst. Noteworthy projects include the New York City Police Academy and upgrading
Terminal Two at the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. Her favorite project
to date? Overseeing the construction of a playground to bring happiness to sick children at
the St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital in Queens, New York City. (Seeing Nick Cannon doing
charity fundraisers as Nick’s NCredible Kids of St. Mary’s was also a bonus!)

Tiffany is leader in Women Impacting Turner (WIT), where she coaches, mentors, and
develops content and programming for women to excel in their construction careers.

Bio:

Born into and raised in a military family, Bonny is grateful for all of the diversity in people,
communities, and cultures she met growing up. Although her family moved constantly –
third grade was spent in three different schools – she was never exposed to construction as
a profession. She always loved reading, writing, traveling, and meeting new people, and
wanted to somehow build on that as a profession. She became editor of her high school
newspaper as well as her college one, and after graduating from college moved to Los
Angeles to find work as a reporter.

After covering crime and feature stories, she moved to Texas to work for a magazine.
Growing bored with the slow pace, but still enjoying the writing and the networking, she
applied those skills to work for an architecture firm in marketing. She appreciated the
collaborative nature between architects and contractors, and after teaming with them to
win, design, and build projects, she was immediately hooked on construction – the ability
to create a building that will impact countless people.

For Turner Miami, Bonny develops the marketing and sales efforts. Each day is different
and a new opportunity to solve problems, network, and be creative: meeting with clients or
consultants, writing a proposal to a client, developing a presentation with a project team,
developing social media content, or creating an outreach event. Turner Construction is
globally recognized for its amazing projects, commitment to diversity and inclusion, and
sound environmental practices, so it’s a truly fun (and easy!) company to sell.
Bonny has an AA from The University of Maryland-Munich, Germany, a BA in Journalism
from Western Washington University, and an MA in Mass Communications from Texas
State University. She is a member of Women Impacting Turner (WIT).

Bio:

“If I had known about construction operations as a career path, I would have done that.”

Born and raised in Miami, Scarlette knew her gift with numbers would be what she would eventually do for a living – she just wasn’t sure in which capacity. After graduating from Miami Coral Park Senior High School, she earned a BS in accounting from the University of Miami and began working for the city as an auditor.

She enjoyed the work and diversity of projects but did not enjoy her supervisor’s management style. Knowing her accounting skills are transferable, she answered an advertisement for a cost analyst position at Turner Construction. She quickly progressed and became a project accountant for a variety of construction projects, such as FIU Everglades Hall and the Royal Caribbean Parking Garage at the Port of Miami.

Scarlette now serves as the Accounting Manager for the Miami office, managing the overall day-to-day activity of the accounting department and oversight of all office accounting staff. She ensures that all invoices are paid to suppliers and trade partners. She reviews quarterly account reconciliations and makes the recommendations for improvement to the Financial Manager. She especially likes the presence of so many women in the office and in leadership positions for a well-rounded, diverse workforce.

Scarlette stresses that although many perceive accounting to be a “stiff or formal” profession, it is a very creative one – one that requires a lot of communication skills. Each project has a new project team, new mission, so working with different and evolving groups is an exciting challenge. Now that she has been exposed to the industry, however, she wishes she had pursued construction on the operations side.

Scarlette is a leader in Women Impacting Turner (WIT), where she coaches, mentors and develops content and programming for women to excel in their construction careers.