Professional Women in Construction's Janis encourages women at Louis Berger Group luncheon

"Thirty-five years ago, it would have been difficult to find so many accomplished women in your areas of expertise as we see here today," said PWC president Lenore Janis addressing a group of women employees of The Louis Berger Group, Inc. who work in cost analysis, document control and claims. "Go a bit further back, and the sort of expertise you'd be most apt to find in women (known as "office girls") would be a typing speed that exceeds 35 WPM." Janis spoke at a special luncheon arranged and hosted by Nicole Hunter, senior cost engineer and co-chair of the company's PWC group, Alicia Roberts, assistant program manager and co-chair, and Stephen Hill, senior program manager all with Louis Berger, an international consulting firm. The event was held at The View of the World Terrace Club, overlooking the WTC reconstruction site. Through a multi-million dollar contract with The Port Authority of NY & NJ, Louis Berger Corp. is playing a major role in the downtown rebuild. Said Hunter, "This is an ideal opportunity for our staff to learn more about PWC and the history of women in construction. We hope to encourage all to get more involved." Focusing on the common goals of PWC and Louis Berger, Hill said, "We want to be on your team and we want you on ours. Our big ideas will match up with your big ideas." Janis told the women how her career and PWC's growth followed parallel paths. After working in the family's steel fabricating business for a number of years (even though her father had told her that "construction is not for girls"), Janis launched her own steel erection business, ERA Steel in 1979, a time when President Jimmy Carter was inaugurating programs mandating participation by women-owned businesses. In 1980, seeing the obstacles women were still facing, she and a dozen women founded PWC, an organization formed to advance opportunities for women in construction as owners, professionals and executives By 1986, NYC Government was finally outreaching to qualified women to fill high positions and Janis was hired as director of the Bureau of Building Management of the NYC Dept. of Sanitation and later served as director in the Mayor's Office of Construction. Janis has devoted herself full-time to the growth of PWC since the mid-1990s. The nonprofit organization now has six chapters along the east coast from New England to Florida and more in the works. "Women at all levels in construction occupations are here to stay. The men realize that they need us now and it's just as much an opportunity for them as for us," she told the rapt crowd. Sandy Chambers, document control coordinator/librarian with The Louis Berger Group said, "Lenore is a mentor for young women - I know that we have to fight ten times harder. " Ethel Harris, in document control, said, "This made me feel that as a woman I can advance in construction." Jacqueline Alleyne, document control records manager, called Janis, "an amazing inspiration." Bethany Libenson, claims specialist, said, "I hope that her legacy continues and that more and more women join the field."