Agenda LEAP 2026

Registration & Breakfast

Time for attendees to finish checking in and to get your LEAP conference badge at registration at the Waterfront Ballroom and Foyer.

Opening Keynote – The Working Brain – “Unlocking Your Full Potential”

In this powerful opening keynote, Dr. Brynn Winegard reveals the science behind how high-performing professionals actually think, focus, and thrive at work. Drawing from neuroscience research and real-world corporate experience, The Working Brain acts as the missing manual for your brain, showing you how to work with your brain instead of pushing against it. 

Attendees will learn how to tap into their brain’s natural rhythms and apply Dr. Brynn’s MERIT Framework (Move, Eat, Rest, Interact, Think) to design workdays that drive clarity, confidence, productivity, and long-term mental wellness—without burnout.

Mental Fitness Over Willpower
Learn why willpower is overrated—and how aligning your work with your brain’s natural rhythms leads to stronger focus, energy, and decision-making.

The MERIT Framework in Action
Walk away with a practical, science-backed framework you can immediately apply to optimize your workday, performance, and mental well-being.

Sustainable High Performance
Discover how to protect your cognitive health while building a long, successful career—boosting confidence, resilience, and clarity at every stage.

Networking Break

Featured Artist and Electrician

Carly Steiman: Tradeswomen Exhibit

Toolbox Session – Owning the Room

Owning the Room is a leadership session designed to support women in construction as they step into professional spaces with confidence, credibility, and presence. Drawing on firsthand experience supporting construction leaders through recruitment, leadership development, and workforce strategy, this session explores what it truly means to “own the room” in environments that have not always been designed with women in mind.

Rather than focusing on personality or performance, the session reframes presence as a practical leadership skill. It addresses the real dynamics women in construction face, from walking into rooms where they may be the only woman, to navigating technical conversations, site-based leadership, and decision-making environments with clarity and authority.

Participants will leave with practical tools and mindset shifts they can apply immediately, along with a deeper understanding of the shared responsibility to create space and opportunity for the women coming up behind them.

Toolbox Session – The Smart Side of Soft Skills

This workshop explores how soft skills, such as communication, empathy, clarity, and connection, can be the strategic differentiators that move a career forward.

Before entering the engineering industry, Sophie spent eight years working in hospitality. That experience shaped the way she communicates, collaborates, and navigates challenging situations. She credits much of her early career success, and the positive feedback she received from leaders, to the soft skills she developed long before she landed her first role in engineering. Those foundational abilities opened doors, built trust quickly, and helped her stand out in environments where communication is often just as important as technical expertise.

This workshop breaks down why soft skills matter, how they influence reputation and opportunities, and how to intentionally build them over time. Participants will learn practical strategies for strengthening communication, and demonstrating leadership through everyday interactions. The session also covers how to cultivate presence and professionalism in ways that support long-term career growth.

Toolbox Session – Leading with Compassion

Leading with Compassion is a leadership session designed to help industry professionals strengthen their leadership approach through empathy, awareness, and accountability. The presentation explores how compassionate leadership is not a soft skill, but a strategic one, improving communication, retention, and team performance.

While rooted in the principles of trauma-informed practice, the session frames compassion as a universal leadership approach that benefits everyone. It holds particular relevance for women in construction and those who identify as allies, as it validates and amplifies leadership qualities such as emotional intelligence, and trust-building.

Participants will leave with practical tools and insights to apply immediately, building stronger, safer, and more connected teams across all levels of the organization.

Networking Break

Networking Challenge

Networking Lunch

Networking Challenge

Panel – By Popular Demand: Allies in Action

Who are our allies—and what does the next stage of allyship and sponsorship look like for Women in Construction?

This thoughtful and engaging panel brings together male allies who are actively championing inclusive workplaces and helping create real pathways for women and gender-diverse individuals to advance in the construction industry. Moving beyond awareness and good intentions, the discussion will explore what effective allyship looks like in practice—on jobsites, in leadership teams, and across organizations.

Panelists will share candid insights into how they are using their influence to advocate for equity, challenge outdated norms, sponsor emerging talent, and foster environments where women can thrive and lead. The conversation will also examine the evolution from allyship to sponsorship: what it takes to move from support to action, and how allies can help open doors, amplify voices, and drive meaningful change.

Designed to be honest, practical, and forward-looking, this panel will offer tangible takeaways for leaders, managers, and peers who want to strengthen their role as allies and help build a more inclusive, resilient construction industry—together.

Panelists
• Jorge Gutiérrez, President, 4C Services Inc
• Amit Patel, VP & Senior General Manager, Turner Construction
• Jesse Percy, MBA, AScT, PMP, RBT2 Infrastructure Projects Technical and Commercial Lead, Port of Vancouver
• James Zelinski, Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer, Pitt Meadows Plumbing

HERStory – Strength, Resilience, Skill and Structures We Build

Women arrive at events ready to learn and connect — and we navigate them with a set of decisions that have become second nature: who we trust, what we engage in, when we leave, and how we guard our own comfort. These decisions don’t pull us away from the professional experience; they’re part of it.

This session looks at that truth directly and explores what those choices teach us about boundaries, intuition, community, and the quiet reality that safety shapes how we move through our careers. It’s an invitation to reimagine what our spaces could feel like when presence isn’t negotiated against protection, and when women don’t have to manage safety and opportunity at the same time.

HERStory – Step In. Stand Tall. Lead. Lessons, Culture and Community

In this powerful HERstory, Brittany Manulak shares her journey as a female business owner in the trades, navigating early challenges in a male-dominated industry and leading by example to build a strong, values-driven company culture.

With honesty and insight, Brittany explores confidence in leadership, believing you belong in the room, and the importance of calling out bias to drive real change. She highlights how women in the trades have become catalysts for growth, bringing new perspectives, raising standards, and reshaping leadership.

Brittany shares how to intentionally build an inclusive company culture.  Leading construction teams to recognize diversity as a strength and the value women’s perspectives bring in driving performance, balance, and better outcomes.
Brittany closes with a call to support those coming up behind us and build teams rooted in respect, competency, and opportunity.

Candid conversation with Misty Van Popta, MLA for Langley-Walnut Grove and the Official Opposition Critic for Infrastructure

Building Influence: From the Job Site to the Legislature

In this dynamic discussion, MLA Misty Van Popta and VRCA President Jeannine Martin explore how women are building confidence, influence, and real impact across the industry and in public policy. Expect insight, honesty, and practical and personal perspective on what it takes to lead in rooms where decisions are made.

Speakers
• Jeannine Martin, President – VRCA
• Misty Van Popta, MLA for Langley-Walnut Grove and the Official Opposition Critic for Infrastructure

Networking Break

Sisterhood at Work – Thriving Through Change

The Sisterhood Panel brings together influential women leaders and change-makers from across the construction industry for an engaging, candid discussion about the opportunities and challenges women face on the jobsite, in the boardroom and throughout their careers. Building on the success of the Sisterhood at Work panel featured at the 2025 conference, this session emphasizes community, resilience, and actionable strategies for career advancement and workplace inclusivity.

Panelists
• Shelby Clerihue, CPHR Director, People & Culture at Kindred Construction
• Kimberly Corlett, Industry Partnership Manager at Procore
• Haylee Morgan, Division Manager, Houle Electric
• Holynde Smiechowski, Corporate AI Lead for PCL Constructors Inc.

Moderated by Stephanie Hun, President of CCW, the panel will explore topics such as:

• Navigating work-life balance and well-being in a demanding field.
• Fostering mentorship, sponsorship and internal support networks.
• Practical ways organizations can champion diversity, equity and belonging.
• Personal stories of resilience, leadership and professional growth.

Fireside Chat – “The Future We’re Building” – A Strategic Conversation with Women Shaping the Next Decade

The Fireside Chat, an intimate, dynamic conversation that brings together visionary leaders to share their personal journeys, lessons learned, and strategic insights on navigating and transforming the industry. This discussion offers attendees an opportunity to gain real-world perspectives on leadership, resilience, and professional growth from women who have shaped change.

Panelists
• Sam Brezden, Founder & Lead Strategist, Swain Solutions
• Sonia Hartwell, President, Berto Contractors Ltd. 
• Melissa Holland, SVP, Capital Infrastructure Project Delivery, BC Hydro

Moderated by Jeannine Martin, President – VRCA, and Regina Marklund, Project Director – Turner Construction Company

Wrap-up

Closing Remarks

Stay, connect, and end the day on a high note!

Don’t rush out just yet. Close out LEAP by joining us for an intentional wrap-up networking session designed to turn inspiration into real connection. This is your time to reflect, exchange insights, and build meaningful relationships with women and allies from across the construction industry.

Whether you’re expanding your circle, finding future collaborators, or continuing a powerful conversation from the day, this relaxed and welcoming environment is where connections truly take shape.

Stay, connect, and leave LEAP with more than notes—leave with a network.