Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Construction

While the number of women in the construction industry is on the rise, it’s still a male-dominated environment and an intimidating place for a woman to succeed. However, Anna Stern is proof that women can not only thrive in construction, but they can also bring with them new perspectives, ideas, and methods for dealing with challenges and building relationships.

Growing up in a construction family was a huge benefit to Stern, as she specialized in construction law at Michael Best & Friedrich. “It was a good fit…I didn’t have that internal learning curve that many lawyers do just trying to understand what a change order is.”

“I practiced at a large law firm for about five years, specializing in construction law. Tri-North was one of my clients at the firm and they offered me the opportunity to move in-house in the dual role of Vice President and General Counsel. I handle all of our legal matters and also oversee the daily operations for the entire company, which includes our corporate headquarters here in Madison and four satellite offices,” she says.

Responsible for managing roughly 250 employees, Stern has emerged as a strong female voice in the male-dominated construction industry. Her simple advice for gaining credibility and respect? “If they can see you’re providing value, they aren’t going to care. They will respect you.”

She goes on to further say, “I was never raised to believe that there were limits to what I could do because I was a female. Because I’ve never felt that way, I’ve never had a hard time voicing my opinion in a room full of men, even when it’s a group of men who have been doing this much longer than I have. If someone ignores my comments because I’m a female, I have the ability to speak louder or repeat myself. If you shrink away from providing your insight because you’re worried the men in the room will ignore you, you will not succeed in a male-dominated industry.”

Stern recognizes what other women in the past have done to open doors for her. Born in 1980, she has seen the residue of what she refers to as the old guard—a generation that saw few women working, much less working in a field like construction. Speaking about the old guard Stern says, “Some have changed with the times, but I can see how difficult it would have been for a woman to work with such people.”

Following in the footsteps of her predecessors, Stern wants to further open doors for everyone, but especially women in construction. “A female architect that we know recently had the idea to start Women Building Wisconsin, and we at Tri-North worked with her to get the first and subsequent events going. The goal of Women Building Wisconsin is to connect women within the construction industry, and the ultimate goal is reach out to women entering the industry so that they can find mentors.”

She has worked tirelessly to establish internships and job-shadowing events for local youth to get them interested in construction and believes that her position as a female is a benefit in breaking down perceived barriers. “To be quite honest, it helps that I’m a female who is coming around and talking to people, because that’s not necessarily what you see in our industry all that often.”

Anna Stern is a great role model for anyone looking to run a successful business. She is smart, motivated, cares about the people working for her, and has used her success to help open doors for others. We care about hiring the best and brightest people we can find and while the tire business might also have the male-dominated stigma, we want to break the mold. Keep up to date on our current openings on LinkedIn.