Donna Grant brings a solid foundation of experience to her new role of leading one of the province’s top construction-industry groups.

She was recently named president of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association (VRCA). A longtime member of the Lower Mainland construction industry, she succeeds interim president Jason Glue and follows Fiona Famulak, who was VRCA president from September 2013 until January 2021.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” said Grant. “As an essential service that has demonstrated its resilience during the pandemic, the construction industry is vital to the Lower Mainland.”

Grant is well known in local construction circles, thanks to such activities as mental health advocacy, membership in Canadian Construction Women and participation in many industry panels.

It’s not a stretch to say that Grant, who was born in Hines Creek, a village in northern Alberta, has the industry in her blood.

“Dad owned a sawmill, a gas station and a road construction company,” she said.

When Grant was a little older, she and her family moved to Kelowna. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, where she studied marketing management.

After graduating, Grant worked in a series of occupations – among them chef and restaurant owner, liquor agent, post-secondary teacher, writer and editor and fax machine salesperson.

A natural go-getter, Grant got a marketing job with Aura Office Environments, a Vancouver commercial interior design firm.

“I helped drum up enough business to bring the company up to 20 staff,” she said. “I worked there for four years and then left when nothing more was needed from me.”

Following that was a position at Emterra Environmental, where she managed marketing, proposals and tenders for the recycling company. Next stop was Scott Construction Group, where she was proposal and marketing manager.

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