This is part of a special report produced in partnership with Gleeds
Katherine Stephens did not set out to forge a career in the built environment. Today, as chief operating officer for Aecom’s Canada region, she leads operations across an organisation of 3,500 employees, helping shape the delivery of infrastructure across the country.
Aecom celebrates 115 years in Canada this year, and Stephens sits at the operational centre of that legacy.
For the past two years she has led the company’s water, transportation, buildings and places, environment, programme management and advisory operations in Canada – ensuring the business scales sustainably while meeting revenue, profit and cash commitments: “In my current role, I live at the intersection of strategy, execution and culture – where great outcomes happen.”
With more than 23 years of experience, Stephens has built a career defined by constant “gear-shifting” between short-term execution and longer-term strategy.
Her days range from de‑risking projects and forecasting quarterly performance to pricing major pursuits, integrating acquisitions and strengthening project-management discipline while “trying to take grit out of systems”.
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Practically, that means spending time where value is created: resource planning and commercial strategy for major pursuits, portfolio reviews with project managers, and close partnership with HR and safety leaders.
As the business grows, she is focused on embedding a culture that puts safety, quality and ethics first, while positioning Aecom as an employer of choice in a resource-strained market.
Stephens’ pathway into the sector was non-linear. With a business degree and early experience in finance and organisational change, she followed opportunities that stretched her.
The more time she spent alongside designers, engineers and scientists, the more she wanted to ensure the right systems and tools were in place to enable them to perform at their best.
“My pathway was a series of pivots,” she explains. “At each step I was honest about what I didn’t know, ready to work hard and curious enough to learn fast.” That curiosity, combined with a reputation for execution, built trust across the organisation.
A defining accelerant came when two senior women leaders sponsored her for a director of operations role – a stretch appointment that proved transformative. Stephens credits that sponsorship, alongside candid mentoring, as pivotal in expanding her leadership trajectory.
One of her earliest challenges was credibility. Without a technical certification in a sector where professional lineage often defines status, she encountered scepticism, particularly in a male-dominated environment.
Her response was consistency. She explains: “Credibility is built the same way projects are – scope it, do the work, deliver the outcome, repeat.”
Among the initiatives she values most is a multi-year effort to strengthen project-management discipline, tools and culture across the business – the “project” that improved thousands of others.
Though less visible than physical infrastructure, the work increased client satisfaction, improved profitability performance and provided faster visibility into risk. It also reinforced the importance of co-designing systems with the people who use them, ensuring change feels enabling rather than disruptive.
Stephens believes that in order to attract more women, the industry must broaden its narrative – highlighting commercial, operational, digital and sustainability pathways alongside traditional technical routes. Sponsorship is critical: “If you can see it, you can be it.” Flexible, life-aware policies and investment in safety and wellbeing are equally essential.
Asked whether she sees herself as a role model, she answers with humility. “I’m a work-in-progress leader,” she says, though she recognises that her journey helps others imagine their own. She takes seriously the responsibility to open doors and sponsor talent.
Outside work, Stephens is a wife and a mother of two boys in the Greater Toronto Area. From spring to fall, her family can be found hiking conservation areas and the Niagara escarpment – a reminder that resilience and perspective matter in leadership.
Her advice to women entering the industry is straightforward: say yes to stretch opportunities, get out on site to understand the work firsthand, be candid about what you don’t know – and seek a sponsor who will advocate for you when you’re not in the room.
