PERSONNEL
Breaking
Breaking
the Mould
As president and CEO of B.C.’s Fraser River Pile & Dredge, Sarah Clark is
one of the few women at the top of the piling profession in Canada
By Mark Halsall
Founded in 1911 in New Westminster, B.C., Fraser
River Pile & Dredge (FRPD) has grown to become
Canada’s largest marine and land foundations firm.
In recent years, this growth has been guided by
Sarah Clark, a Queen’s University engineering graduate who
rose through the ranks in various capacities in the construction
industry to become president and CEO of FRPD.
On top of being an accomplished executive in a maledominated
industry, Clark is also a working mom. Clark and
her husband have two children, a 12-year-old and a nine-yearold,
and every day she strives to strike that illusive work-life
balance that can be difficult for both men and women in the
construction profession.
Clark agreed to share her story in a recent interview with
Piling Canada.
Could you start by telling us a bit about your background and how
you came to be president and CEO of Fraser River Pile & Dredge?
Sarah Clark: After graduating with a civil engineering degree
from Queen’s University in 1990, I worked for the Ontario
Ministry of Transportation in the Engineer in Training Program.
This was a great opportunity as much of my five years there was
spent on work sites, where exposure to contract administration
and learning about construction methodology provided a
very valuable complement to my more formal education.
In 1996, I moved to Bombardier Transportation where I
worked as a contract administrator in the company’s systems
division, which provides and integrates all of the wayside
equipment for the transit lines.
I had many opportunities at Bombardier, as a project
manager and in business development in Jacksonville, Fla.;
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