During her college years, construction manager Christine Keville went to Harvard—but not the way most people do. To help pay tuition at North Adams State University, she joined Laborers Union Local 151, and an early job was on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Red Line extension to Harvard Square.

Her father, Francis Keville, director of construction for MBTA at the time, had taken her to visit construction sites with her sisters when she was growing up, and he knew how much she loved the field. When she didn’t like the cooking part of her job at a local golf club, he mentioned that the union was looking for women. “All he had to do was tell me what the rate of pay was!” Keville says.

快进到2020年，现任她自己的建筑管理公司Keville Enterprises的首席执行官Keville在近2,000名建筑行业专业人士面前，是Moles的第一位女主席，这是一个重型建筑协会，甚至没有接纳女性成员，直到1992年。凯维尔（Keville）说，她在2006年跟随其他妇女加入该小组的队伍，但认为她是“怀孕期间第一个痣”。女儿Thérèse现在13岁。Keville的公司拥有165名员工，是该国最大的妇女拥有的建筑经理之一。

Like working in a union, rising to leadership in a traditionally male organization takes a skill set that comes naturally to Keville. Jeffrey M. Levy, longtime industry executive and Moles trustee, observes that “Christine deals with the issues, not the rhetoric or the prejudices. She is always professional and never backs down. She likes the business.” In the union, Keville points out, “I learned not to overthink it.”

This wasn’t the first time that Keville headed a major construction industry group as its first woman leader. In 2003, after years of service in the New England chapter of the Construction Management Association of America as well as on its national board, she became the first woman to chair the national group. “Christine really cares about CM as a professionally delivered service,” says Andrea Rutledge, CMAA president and CEO, pointing to her continuing leadership on the group’s foundation board and in its College of Fellows.

Also active in the National Academy of Construction, the Women’s Transportation Seminar and the International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association, Keville believes association service is critical to making the industry stronger and more resilient. “There’s no better feeling,” Keville says, than mentoring the next generation, “and these associations award scholarships, provide internships, sponsor career connection programs and offer service projects.”

建筑社区

马萨诸塞州港口局局局局长萨姆·斯莱曼（Sam Sleiman）是客户兼协会同事，称凯维尔（Keville）为“令人难以置信的人类”。他说，任何认识她的人都知道她对帮助他人的热情。“克里斯汀在帮助小小的和少数族裔拥有的企业成功的慷慨大方，即使他们是她的竞争，我总是感到惊讶。如果您是克里斯汀（Christine）的朋友，那么您就会有一个整个社区作为您的朋友。”

Keville’s 86-year-old mother, Bernadette, suspected early on that Christine would follow in her father’s footsteps. But she says Christine got “the gift of gab” from her and “has made it work for her. Having an outgoing personality helps in any situation.” Rutledge adds, “Christine understands that CM is a people business, a relationship business. She lives and breathes that. She understands that networking is not linear, it’s three-dimensional.”

Growing up in Marshfield along the coast south of Boston, Keville competed in gymnastics, working out five days a week, three hours a day, and picked up skills beyond excellence in floor exercises and uneven parallel bars. “It gave me stamina, perseverance and lessons in teamwork,” Keville says. Gymnastics led to her being recruited and accepted to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy, but she decided on a closer school, already feeling the lure of a construction career. Her degree in math from North Adams State was followed by one in construction management from Northeastern University.

Keville第一个毕业后的工作是作为一个办公室ce manager for general contractor J.F. White, where CEO Tom White became a mentor and role model in philanthropy. She had dreams of starting a business with her father, but he died from cancer in 1988. Still, Keville pursued that goal. A chance remark from a contractor gave her an idea: “If only the project photographer knew something about construction!” She bought a great camera, took a photography class and talked to contractors about taking project photos. She remembers Jay Cashman, now board chair of the contractor-developer of the same name, saying, “I’ll give you the first job, but you have to earn your second.”

Keville began to build clients, add services and dated now-husband Martin McCormack, a district chief in the Boston Fire Dept. A client called one day to ask, “Do you do aerial photography?” She answered, “Yes we do,” but hung up the phone thinking, “What have I done ... I’ve never even been in a helicopter!” But at the beginning of Boston’s Central Artery and Tunnel project, it was a job that could lead to a lot of business, and she was determined to figure it out.

凯维尔（Keville）邀请她的母亲在试飞中获得道德支持。凯维尔说：“我的母亲喜欢出去吃午餐，我邀请她和我一起坐在直升机上，然后出去吃午餐，但我认为她听不到直升机的一部分。”在那些日子里，空中射击意味着将门从直升机上拔下，然后闲逛拍照，并用胶带和安全带放置。凯维尔（Keville）掌握了它，但她的妈妈在飞行后说：“我永远不想知道你在做什么，我再也不想坐直升机！”

Aerial photography led to building condition assessment, and after hiring a professional engineer she added welding and metals inspection. It became a family firm, with Keville’s sister Bernadette Carroll becoming CFO and sister Mary Doherty working in contract administration in the Marshfield, Mass., office that is Christine’s base. It was the height of work on the Central Artery, also known as the Big Dig, and with her experience and her firm a certified women-owned business enterprise, one service sold the next.

到1998年，Keville担任该项目的30多名员工担任检查员，索赔分析师，成本估算员和调度程序。她带来了D.J.梅森说，梅森说，海军土木工程师军的梅森“帮助她从大型挖掘中种植公司”。他补充说，这不是克里斯汀的个性：“她是我认识的最吸引人，最乐观和高能量的人。”梅森称她的领导风格“赋予力量：她给出明确的行进命令，并让您完成工作而无需微观管理。”

After the broad experience the firm gained on the Big Dig, the client base began to diversify. Mason points to some of the largest jobs: project controls for the Massachusetts Dept. of Transportation’s 250-bridge, $3-billion statewide accelerated bridge construction program; construction support and CM services for the Massachusetts Port Authority’s agency-wide program; and program management services on $2.5 billion of work for the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The firm has grown to eight offices.

Making a Difference in Lives

在父亲去世后努力为预防癌症筹集资金时，凯维尔（Keville）为附近普利茅斯（Plymouth）的辐射中心提供了资金，因此其他人不必像他这样做的那样开车去波士顿接受治疗。她和她的家人成立了弗朗西斯·凯维尔信托基金（Francis Keville Trust Fund），该基金在马什菲尔德高中（Marshfield High School），东北部和温特沃斯技术学院（Wentworth Technoluict of Technology）以及其他举措，例如帮助癌症患者提供保险未支付的费用。凯维尔（Keville）在协会服务和慈善事业之间有很多共同点：“这是关于集体工作以改变他人的生活。”