Women in Construction: Virginia P. Carter

Virginia P. Carter    
Ozanne    
Senior Project Engineer    
26 years in the industry

Virginia earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Cleveland State University 2001. Since entering the construction industry, Virginia has been excelling in a field saturated by men. For over 20 years, she has thrived in the construction industry as a highly respected individual with a strong academic background who continuously seeks to educate herself on new methodologies and critical industry-based certifications. Virginia started working at Ozanne Construction Company, Inc. in 2004 where she is a senior project engineer. She is a LEED accredited professional with a LEED AP, BD+C certification. She has worked on commercial, government and K-12 education projects most notably Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Her progressive engineering experience has provided her with the opportunity to develop strong client relationship building skills. Her experience applying the principles of civil engineering during the planning, designing and construction phases gives her a unique understanding when overseeing a project. As a result, she can deliver real solutions and successfully manage time to meet project deadlines. She is commercially conscious, environmentally aware and works hard to ensure the safety of all team members. Her community involvement includes participation in the ACE Mentoring Program Cleveland at Max Hayes High School, a pilot program started in 2013 which is headed by Virginia. Virginia has been instrumental in the success of the participants’ continued education. The 2018 ACE Mentoring Scholars awarded 30 scholarships totaling $125,000 to graduating seniors from across Northeast Ohio and $25,000 went to six Max Hayes students.

What brought or attracted you to the construction industry?    

I always loved buildings. I remember receiving a log cabin building set for Christmas and I would build what was on the box and started designing my own cabins.     

What do you like most about your work?    

The daily challenges of coordinating work between the trades and working with owners towards a final product that meets the designers intent.     

What would you like to see change within the construction industry?    

More programs in schools to expose high school students to the trades.                  

What can be done to attract more women to construction?

Earlier the exposure to the opportunity the better. We need to start when girls are young to introduce the possibility of working in the trade.