WHAT GLASS CEILING? EMBRACING CHALLENGES HELPED PROPEL HEATHER DENNY'S 22-YEAR CAREER IN A MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRY.

• Author: Saylor, Teri
• Position: NC TREND: Game changers: Profile of a female leader

Heather Denny didn't land in the corner office at McDonald York Building Co. by accident. She started working at the Raleigh-based general contractor in 1996 after graduating from N.C. State University with a degree in civil engineering. She was named chief operating officer in 2004, charged with growing the business after a client, drugmaker Synthon, scrapped plans to build a $60 million plant in Alamance County. Denny was named president in 2010 and CEO in 2013.

For more than a century, presidents of McDonald York had been male and a member of the McDonald or York families. Founded in 1908 as Greenville-based York and Cobb Construction Co., the company relocated to Raleigh in 1910. In 1992, a contract with drugmaker Glaxo (now GlaxoSmithKline) provided the company entry into life-sciences construction. In 2003, partners Smedes York and Jack McDonald bought 100% of the company shares to form McDonald York Building.

The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR WAY TO A CAREER IN CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING?

I grew up thinking I was going to be a teacher. Then in the 11th grade, I took a math test and the teacher told me if I did well, I should be an engineer. I did well, but I had no idea what an engineer was. My teacher had a pamphlet for a nuclear-engineering camp at N.C. State that summer, so I went and realized I didn't want to do nuclear engineering. But right across the street was the civil engineering department--I walked in and saw pictures of buildings, equipment and dirt, and I thought, "This is it." And I never looked back.

WHAT WAS THE TURNING POINT WHEN YOU REALIZED YOU COULD BE SUCCESSFUL?

I started as an estimator, and about six months in, Glaxo was going through the Wellcome merger. We needed an estimator on site. I got up the gumption to walk into [co-owner] Jack McDonald's office and say, "Let me go. I've met the client; I know the client." I got the great opportunity to go inside and learn what was important for that client. After about six months, I went into my boss' office and asked to be a project manager. He let me run a project, and I got to do the next one and just continued to grow that way.

WE HAVE TO ASK YOU THE "WOMAN" QUESTION. IN A PREDOMINANTLY MALE PROFESSION, HOW DID YOU NAVIGATE YOUR WAY TO CEO?

I didn't even think of myself as a girl. Those first eight years, I was just doing work, evidently in a bubble. As a project manager, I asked a lot of questions. I watched my...