President

Luana Buratynski

North American Architectural Sales and Product Coordinator
Northern Facades Limited

Luana Buratynski, CTR is the North American Architectural Sales and Product Coordinator for Northern Facades Limited, a division of Flynn Group of Companies. She obtained her Bachelor of Business degree, majoring in marketing, from Griffith University, in Queensland, Australia. In 2017 she became a Certified Technical Representative upholding a (CTR) designation through the Construction Specification Council of Canada.

Her career has over 10 years’ experience in the ICI sector. She sharpened her skills as an organized and detail minded coordinator with significant experience in operations, design development and variation changes for P3 projects while working at Vanbots/Carillion Canada from 2009-2013. She was involved in several key P3 bid projects, which led to her job site experience for document control and project coordination. Notable projects include Center for Addiction and Mental Health and Forensics Services and Corners Complex. She was then recruited to the heavy equipment rental division at Toromont Cat, supporting the machine sales team, for rental sales of large earth moving Caterpillar equipment to major companies, in land development, mining, solar farms, and civil infrastructure projects. Once her contract ended in 2015, Luana was recruited to once again step back into the building side with Ontario Panelization, to take on an Architectural Sales position working with architects, specification writers, and engineers on providing preconstruction building envelope cladding material selection. Luana has now moved forward to expand her career with the Flynn Group of Companies, Northern Facades Ltd. Team, and has the privilege to work with many diverse and talented people across North America planning the future of our building landscape.

Luana is a huge supporter of promoting women within the construction industry, currently completing her two year term as the CAWIC Special Events Director. She has planned and executed several successful events for the benefit of CAWIC, and also recruited new members, sponsors and CAWIC volunteers in the process.  She has also been a major influence to the Women In Construction, Construct Canada Seminar Group for quite a few years. She is a passionate advocate for helping others grow their businesses within the construction industry, and is involved with several industry organizations, Toronto Construction Association (TCA), Construction Specifications Canada (CSC), Urban land Institute (ULI), Construction Specification Institute (CSI), and Ontario Building Envelope Council (OBEC).

Director, Secretary 

Julie Zabizewski

Project Manager, Vestacon Limited

Julie has over a decade of experience in the construction industry, having started with an internship at Pivotal Projects, and subsequent to graduation was hired at Vestacon Limited, a construction management and general contracting firm specializing in corporate tenant improvements. She’s gained a wealth of experience and knowledge, working collaboratively with a resourceful team of professionals, learning different stages of the construction business as she’s been a part of the company since its preliminary stages, and has gained an understanding of the needs and issues related to this sector.

She graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Architectural Science, majoring in Project Management, and shortly thereafter obtained the LEED Green Associate designation, to further her knowledge on building resource efficient and environmentally responsible solutions. After a few years’ experience at Vestacon, she then acquired the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. On top of the responsibility of overseeing construction projects, she’s also the designated Health and Safety Management Representative, committed to enhancing the workplace environment, and ensuring employees follow safe work procedures.

Julie is an advocate for women building careers in construction, as they are an extremely valuable resource and make a positive contribution to the field. In collaboration with a group of female leaders from different sectors, she has participated in organizing and hosting seminars at Construct Canada with topics on addressing key strategies to help employers obtain, train and retain skilled women in Canada’s construction industry, as well as discussions on how to effectively implement a mentorship program and its key benefits to career and business development. She has also contributed annually at the Habitat for Humanity GTA Women Build, where she most recently gained the title of Women Build Ambassador based on her commitment to this organization and her fundraising efforts. Her goal is to reach out to young women, who haven’t yet decided on their career choice, and enlighten them on the variety of opportunities that the construction field has to offer.

Director

Acacia Ashick

Project Coordinator, URBACON

Acacia is the Project Coordinator of Special Projects for URBACON; a commercial General Contractor in Toronto specializing in corporate interiors, data centres, industrial and institutional builds. She obtained her Honours Bachelor of Arts & Science majoring in Urban and Regional Planning and Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto in 2017. Shortly after, Acacia pursued her Construction Project Management Certificate from George Brown College.

Although relatively new to the construction industry, Acacia has been active in supporting CAWIC since 2017 as the Chair of the Special Events and Programming Committee and member, assisting in organizing events and workshops for CAWIC members and participants. Acacia seeks to dissolve the gender imbalance in the construction industry and empower young women to pursue career paths in construction, trades, architecture and engineering using CAWIC as a gateway for mentorship, opportunity and inspiration.

Acacia also currently sits on the Board of Directors of the University of Toronto Woodsworth College Alumni Association, representing 30,000+ University of Toronto Alumni taking on leadership roles through Alumni events, student academic governance and operations. Additionally, Acacia is also a member/volunteer/participant of Toronto Construction Association (TCA), Canada Green Building Council Emerging Green Professional Toronto Chapter, Young Construction Leaders (YCL), Urban Land Institute (ULI), Toronto Real Estate Leaders (TREL), UofT Sustainable Engineers Association.

Acacia is an enthusiastic and passionate member of the construction community and is eager to utilize her abilities to engage women throughout the industry in joining the CAWIC Board of Directors.

Director

Lora Bourck

Director, Industry Relations

Trudy Case

Project Manager, Ground Force Environmental

Trudy is a Project Manager for Ground Force Environmental, a leading environmental remediation company in Kitchener, Ontario. Trudy manages various types of projects including emergency response, drilling, soil remediation and demolitions. She has over 15 years of experience in the construction industry including estimating, scheduling, cost control and project management. Trudy’s interest in the construction industry for many years led her to attend Conestoga College, where she completed Project Management education while starting her career in the same field. 

Trudy is very passionate about:

Leadership – being a strong and successful leader. Trudy is consistently committed to being a positive and strong leader. She has obtained the respect of many of her colleagues by showing resiliency through many challenges.

Mentorship – help women create successful careers in construction. Trudy has gained an enormous amount of experience in construction through hard work; at the same time, she also recognizes the need for work/life balance. Providing support to women to foster this healthy balance is important to her.

Community – giving back. Trudy has always taken a special interest in Habitat for Humanity. She has spent countless hours volunteering at her local Restore, acting as family liaison and recently participated in the Habitat for Humanity GTA Women’s Build. She strives to be involved in more programs that support young women entering careers in construction.

Trudy is a strong, dedicated and positive woman, she believes that her experiences in her professional life and within the construction industry make her a valuable addition to the CAWIC Board of Directors.

Director, Bursary

Natasha Zappulla

Plan Review Manager
Toronto Building Division for the City of Toronto

With over a decade of experience with the City of Toronto in the Toronto Building, City Planning and Municipal Licensing & Standards Divisions, Natasha has extensive knowledge of the overall development approval process within the construction industry.

As a Building Official, Natasha is qualified as an Inspector under the Building Code Act. She holds a degree in Business Administration from York University with a Major in Human Resources. Natasha chose to enter the construction industry to be a part of city building and contribute in a positive way to the development industry. With the support of great mentors and her passion for Public Service, it naturally became the industry that she wanted to pursue her career in.

As a woman in the industry she is a strong believer in mentorship that encourages ambition and empowers confidence in young women. In order for women to be successful in the construction and development industry and continue to break barriers and open doors for other women, Natasha believes that women in the industry must seek to develop senior mentoring relationships early in their career. They must also develop networks and share best practices with one another.

Treasurer

MJ (Munjyot Jaswal)

Director of Finance
Urbacon

Munjyot Jaswal is currently the Director of Finance at Urbacon, a commercial General Contractor in Toronto specializing in corporate interiors, data centres, industrial and institutional builds. She obtained her Bachelor of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waterloo in 2013. She has successfully completed the CPA Professional Education Program and is progressing towards completion of the CPA designation.

She has worked in the real estate development and construction industry for the past five years, where she was able to gain insightful experience in both managing the finances for large scale residential and commercial projects as well as the financial operations of these companies. This experience has allowed Munjyot to marry two of her passions: construction and finance to provide value by leading collaborative and innovative finance teams in the industry.

As a proud supporter of CAWIC and women in the construction industry, she believes strongly in the need for building relationships and networks with women to facilitate their success in the construction industry. She believes with the right attitude, hard work, and effective networking that women can be successful and enable each other’s success in construction. Munjyot has been the treasurer for CAWIC since January 2020 and was appointed to the Board of Directors to fulfill a vacancy. She hopes to continue bringing her strong financial background and construction experience to CAWIC on the 2020 Board of Directors.