6th Annual Women in Construction & Project Development

DATE: 07 OCT 2021
TIME: 04:00pm - 6:30pm
LOCATION: Falmouth Country Club, 1 Congressional Dr, Falmouth, ME 04105
Get Directions »

We look forward to returning to our 6th annual gathering of Women in Construction & Project Development this fall with an in-person and virtual event at a new venue!
**Livestream will be available HERE  starting at 5PM for virtual attendees.

We will be using a similar format again this year with three, fast-paced PechaKucha style presentations – which is a visual form of storytelling inspired by the idea to “talk less, show more” using images. Our guest speakers will each deliver a short presentation, followed by a panel discussion. As always, drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and time to network with friends and colleagues, will be provided.

This event is open to all women in the construction and project development industry so please share with your colleagues or send us the contact information of women you know who may be interested in the event so we can send them an invitation.

For safety, we ask that all in-person attendees be fully-vaccinated by September 23rd. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

With concern for social distancing, should we need to cap attendance for the event, we will accommodate attendees according to order of registration.

Safety is our primary concern, so we will follow CDC guidelines and best practices for hosting an in-person gathering. Currently, this event is scheduled to take place outdoors under a tent.

As of the date of this invitation, the Falmouth Country Club has indicated that their employees are all vaccinated.

Please register for this event HERE.

Meet Our Guest Speakers:

Be Schonewald, P.E.  –
OWNER/CHIEF ENGINEER, Schonewald Engineering Associates, Inc.

Be Schonewald founded Schonewald Engineering Associates, Inc. (SchonewaldEA) in March 2009. Be had over 20 years of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering experience with leading regional consulting firms that positioned her well for establishing SchonewaldEA. SchonewaldEA specializes in geotechnical engineering, transportation geotechnics, geotechnical instrumentation, and earthwork and geosynthetic design. Be received bachelor’s degrees from the University of VT (geology) and UME (civil engineering), and a master’s degree from UME (civil engineering). Be is a licensed professional engineer in ME and New Hampshire. SchonewaldEA is a SBA Woman-Owned Small Business and a MEDOT and NH-DOT Certified W/DBE firm.

Kavya B. Seshachar  –
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER,
Whipple | Callender Architects

Kavya, a licensed Architect in India, moved to ME in 2012 and is working to familiarize herself with the construction practices in the US. She hopes to receive a license to practice architecture, and build sustainably. Kavya finds herself in places filled with creative energy. She enjoys dancing, painting, cartooning and is really looking forward to advancement in teleportation technology so that she can be at any place, at any given time.

Heather Thompson –
FOUNDER, PRESIDENT, OWNER,
Thompson Johnson Woodworks

Ten years after becoming the sole owner of Thompson Johnson Woodworks, a residential construction company in Portland ME that specializes in distinctive, high-performance homes and quality renovations, Heather continues to bring her personal touch, high energy, and collaborative outlook to forming a business structure that attracts and challenges individuals to be great on their own and even greater as part of a team.  A native Mainer who flirted with the West Coast while getting a BA in Sculpture at UC Santa Cruz. Heather raised her family on Peaks Island, a year-round, island community just off Portland.

Meet Our Moderator:

Mary Costigan –
SHAREHOLDER,
Bernstein Shur

Calm under pressure, dependable, and a true advocate for her clients, Mary is an experienced municipal and environmental law counselor. Having worked in the public sector for years before joining Bernstein Shur, she has a firsthand understanding of the issues faced by municipal and state employees and boards—and how to help her clients confront them. Her most recent public sector position was associate corporation counsel to the City of Portland, where she advised the city staff and council on waterfront redevelopment and rezoning, among other projects, and was a resource for numerous committees—Energy and Environmental Sustainability and Community Development Committees, to name a few. Outside of the office, she teaches a Municipal Law Course at the University of Maine School of Law.