Construction Women of the Year: Alaska NAWIC awards three in 2011.

• Author: Jaeger, Stephanie
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: BUILDING ALASKA

Each year the Alaska Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) presents the Construction Woman of the Year Award to women who have demonstrated outstanding capabilities as construction professionals. This year, three women were recipients of this award: Marya Pillifant, project manager at Benchmark Construction; J. Ellen McKay, professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage Architecture and Engineering Technology Program; and Mary Kay Bunker, project engineer at PCL Construction Enterprises. NAWIC is an organization that offers education, networking, mentoring, leadership and advocacy of women who work in the construction industry.

MARYA PILLIFANT

Marya Pillifant came to construction by way of Wyoming and France. She was born in Massachusetts, raised in Wyoming and began her college studies there. She then traveled to France where she worked as a nanny while earning a degree in International Studies and French. After working for the Forest Service on a summer job, she joined the "construction crew" and helped pour concrete for fishing areas for the disabled and built campground facilities. Heredity played a big role in Pillifant's attraction to construction. Her great uncle was Harry Morrison who founded Morrison Knudson Construction that built the Hoover Dam and the Alyeska Pipeline. Her family supported her in her ambition to work in construction, a nontraditional profession for a woman.

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"Concrete is my favorite building material," Pillifant says. "I also enjoy helping clients realize their vision." Not only did Pillifant inherit love of construction, her family came from Alaska. Her mother grew up on Kodiak Island and her grandfather had worked as a Bush pilot flying a Grumman Goose. In 1989, Pillifant was working for MK Construction in New York when she and her mother decided to come to Alaska to look for jobs after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. They began working as bus drivers and became members of the Teamsters Union. After the oil spill cleanup ended, Pillifant completed the carpenter's apprenticeship through Local 1281 and became a journeyman carpenter. From there she was hired as project manager at Benchmark Construction.

In the past year, Pillifant has worked as project manager on two diverse building sites for Benchmark. The first was a state-of-the-art hangar and office facility for Northern Holdings Inc. at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport...