Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
All Content > Group Recognition Program > New England

Title of entry: 
Construction Dive Champions 2025 – The Industry’s Top Women Leaders

Issue or Publication date:
3/3/2025

Publication name: 
Construction Dive

View Website home page:
https://www.constructiondive.com/

Entry URLs

Entry Essay: 
The 2025 Construction Champions package highlights the important contributions of women in an industry that is 89% male and explains why young women should consider a career in the field.

In 2021, Construction Dive first asked readers for details about the women leaders who make a significant impact in construction. Since then, we have received hundreds of nominations of exceptional women from across the country in the construction industry for the champions list, now published annually during Women in Construction Week.

For the 2025 edition, we received more than 300 nominations for CEOs in the boardroom, trainers in the classroom and tradeswomen on the jobsite.

Nominators praised these women for their parts in some of the largest and most important construction projects, but also for their tenacity, leadership and ability to draw in talented women to an industry that isn’t known for its softer side.

From these submitted nominations, Construction Dive editors chose 31 women to highlight among categories of Rising Stars, Up-and-Coming Leaders, Mentors, Tradeswomen Leaders and Industry Veterans.

Their stories were enlightening and inspiring. Take Dareen Salama, an Egyptian national who left her home country during a revolution to pursue her dream of transforming construction through technology. Inspired by the work of her heroes Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Santiago Calatrava, she used the common thread of technology throughout their work to guide her own.

Since then, she co-founded Gryps, an artificial intelligence platform for capital project owners that has raised nearly $8 million in funding.

Kelly Powers Baria was another standout. A third-generation Black builder, Powers Baria strives to open doors for others. As an executive for the joint venture building the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Powers Baria has bolstered diverse business participation in the project and constructed a sustained pipeline of talent in the trades.

An intern who worked with Powers Baria on the Obama Center wrote that “being a minority and having an opportunity like [this] is something that rarely happens, but having a great leader such as Kelly who is willing to open doors of opportunity for people like me and others is what makes me proud to work with her.”

Even in an era when DEI initiatives have drawn scrutiny at the federal level, Construction Dive’s champions package received industry-wide attention and attracted entrants from some of the largest construction companies. It also serves as the centerpiece of Construction Dive’s ongoing coverage of women in the industry, including a monthly Q&A with women in the field.