Ottawa’s Shirley Westeinde a pioneering woman in construction

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It can be a unique path for women in Canada’s enterprising families. We profile some of their stories in our Women and Canadian Business Families series.

At a time when construction and development were a male-dominated sector, Shirley Westeinde was a trailblazer and the first woman in many positions in the industry.

The chair of the Ottawa-based Westeinde Group of Companies, which specializes in development, property management, and leasing, Westeinde is a graduate of what was the Victoria Hospital School of Nursing in London, Ont., and the University of Western Ontario (UWO).

Westeinde was the first female board chair of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Ottawa, the Canadian Construction Association and what was the Ottawa Economic Development Corp. She chaired the city’s Mayor’s Task Force on Affordable Housing and led the boards of several health facilities.

When she was in her late 30s, Westeinde and her engineer husband, John Westeinde, built Westeinde Group of Companies, a collection of business lines including construction, asbestos removal, real estate development, and property management.

Shirley Westeinde served for 11 years as an Honorary Colonel with the Canadian Armed Forces, and in 2008 was named to the Order of Canada.

“My mother participated on many volunteer boards in the community and achieved many ‘firsts,’ including the first woman chair of the Canadian Construction Association,” says Jonathan Westeinde, founder and chief executive officer of Toronto-based Windmill Development Group, a sustainable real estate development firm.

“My mother particularly broke through many ceilings as a woman succeeding in the construction industry.”

Here, Shirley Westeinde talks about her pivotal role in the family business and the industry.

How did you go from being a nurse to building a construction business with your husband?

“I can assure you that when I graduated as a nurse in 1963 and then married in 1964, the last question I thought I would ever be asked was how we became a family construction and development business, but here is a little background.

My husband, John, graduated as a civil engineer from UWO and immediately started working in the construction industry. I graduated from UWO as a public health nurse and immediately became the nurse in charge of a branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses, as it was a one-nurse branch. I actually started out running a little business, as I did the banking, appointments, planning, paperwork and, of course, the home nursing care.

A year after starting our careers, we married, but John’s position entailed travel, so we moved four times in seven years, and had three children.

In 1978, after working for other companies for 15 years, my husband informed me he did not want to work for anyone anymore, so we decided that we would start our own business out of our family home, since we had no money or space or any help.

Although I’m not sure this would have been my chosen career, I decided to grow where I was planted.

So, we launched Westeinde Construction Ltd. in 1978, with us as two employees.

Our children were all under 11, and so for the first four years they lived, learned and were often frustrated by the constant business discussions around the table. However, by osmosis they now recognize they learned a lot that assisted them in their future businesses.”

Over the years, what was your role within your family business as it grew?

“My husband was very knowledgeable about construction, but had only worked for large companies, so he had no knowledge of the other aspects. My initial role was to set up an office, including learning how to type and do the accounting and learn the other aspects of running a business.

So, I worked at home in the daytime, and went to night school to learn how to do my day job.

There were no computers, or fax machines, just a typewriter and a telephone to contact subcontractors, architects, suppliers, etc., and to learn the unique banking, bonding and other financial and tax planning aspects of the business.

In 1985 we added Westeinde Properties to our portfolio and started developing and building our own office buildings. So, I joined the Building Owners and Managers Association and attained my RPA [Real Property Administrator] designation to be knowledgeable about building ownership, leasing, tenants, etc.

We also incorporated an asbestos removal company that was one of the first companies in Canada to start removing asbestos from buildings across Canada. It also had its own unique financial requirements, which I supervised.

Initially our children worked for us in the summer while going to school, but eventually they all worked elsewhere and were not interested in the family business. However, they all came back eventually.”

How did you witness the evolution of roles for women within family enterprise throughout those decades?

“To be honest, I have still not seen many women involved in family businesses in the construction industry, but I have witnessed many more women entrepreneurs who are involving their children in the business. And a good number of mother-daughter businesses.

I’m actually disappointed that there appears to be more and more of a need to create separate women’s associations to provide strength and support. I was hoping that we had evolved further with [the issue of] women feeling they are not treated equally.”

How did you involve your children in the business, and how did you come to conceive of it as a family enterprise?

“Only as the children worked with us in the summer and as they got older did I think of us as a family business.

I went to a construction meeting in Toronto in the mid eighties and became aware of an organization called the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise (CAFE). They only had a branch in Toronto but I was put in touch with a man who was interested in getting a chapter started in Ottawa. So, there were four or five of us who got it started and hired staff, and I was actually the first chair after we had legally constituted the chapter. I sat on the national board for several years, and, bit by bit, started chapters across the country.

I joined a Founders PAG [personal advisory group for family business peers] from inception, and our children participated in some of the social activities and [son] Jonathan joined a PAG group. Our daughter Julie [Westeinde] was, and still is, involved as a facilitator for families and PAGs.

Although our family, in the end, became a family of businesses, I believe our whole family gained from participating in CAFE and understanding the unique position that members of a family business are part of and want to share together.

In 2004, we made a family decision to sell our construction business to Aecon and our sons chose to enter the world of green development and only develop LEAD certified buildings, soil remediation and many new environmentally friendly technologies, with our full support.

Our daughter Julie has run her own facilitation and change management business for over 25 years.”

What was it like being the first woman to head bodies like industry organizations and non-profit boards?

“Eventually as we were able to hire capable staff, I decided to join the Board of Trade, and other organizations so that people would become aware of us, and what we did.

Back in the nineties, when I finished my RPA [Real Property Administrator designation] at BOMA, I joined the board and eventually became the first female president. A year later I was the first female president of the Ottawa Economic Development Corporation [now Invest Ottawa], and then the chair of Ottawa 2000 to create community millennium projects in Ottawa, and the Mayor’s Taskforce on Affordable Housing. I was also the first female chair of the Canadian Construction Association in 2004.

I have chaired hospital and college boards and many non-profit organizations over the last 40 years, and I have loved every minute of it.

I’ve never felt with any of them that I had to do anything differently because I was a woman, nor (except for a very few occasions) did I feel that I was treated any differently because I was a woman.

I believe that one of the reasons for this was the fact that if I chose to get involved with an initiative, I did not take it lightly and did everything I could to help to improve the association or organization.

Needless to say, I was very thrilled when I received the Order of Canada in 2008 for my work.”

Can you tell us what you feel most proud of, looking back at your career and looking at where your children are today?

“[Aside from] my volunteer career, I can also say that I am very proud to look out at the many buildings in the Ottawa skyline, that we built. Over the years we continued to build hundreds of projects, including schools, hospitals and embassies, both in Ottawa and across Canada. We also incorporated Westeinde International, and one of our projects was building the Canadian Embassy in Jamaica.

We had a solid, loyal group of 50-75 employees whom we considered to be part of our family, and that was how we ran our business. Several of our employees, now work for our sons.

Our three children are all successful entrepreneurs, but I am more proud of the fact that they are very nice people and are all leaders who are making a difference in the world.

They have also raised 10 remarkable children who continue the legacy of family participation and giving back to the community. As of [recently], there is now a great-grandchild who I am very confident will carry on with this legacy.”

Can you offer advice to business families about balancing business and family?

“I think this aspect has been one of my biggest challenges – to have family members working, playing and loving each other at the same time.

I have continually encouraged my children to try to distinguish what is a business decision, and what is a family decision. My personal feeling is that family should come first, but there are many times when this is difficult, and in fact cannot work.

Therefore, it is important to continually encourage family gatherings for all generations and to continually remind them to be kind and supportive of each other. This has always been my No. 1 priority.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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