Los Angeles Business Journal named chief estimator for the West region Michelle Rabinovich to its  Women of Influence: Construction, Engineering & Architecture feature. Recognized for her impact on the AEC industry and LA community, read more about Michelle below and in her Los Angeles Business Journal profile here.

What makes Michelle so impressive—in addition to her project portfolio and business achievements—is her leadership, especially in an industry that’s only 10% women. As chief estimator for the West region, Michelle leads the team of 10 estimators to provide clients with the most complete picture of the resources required to execute a construction effort as smoothly and efficiently as possible. And in a volatile market, Michelle draws on her preconstruction experience and the expert resources within Shawmut to provide solutions and safeguards to ensure as much predictability of outcome as possible.

Michelle is a mentor and resource to Shawmut’s estimating team, dedicating any free time to help accelerate their growth. Leading with a focus on people, Michelle understands that everyone can learn from each other, and is always looking to not only share her knowledge, but learn from her team, as well. She proactively asks for her team members to train her on areas where they are skilled or passionate so she can see their perspectives and understand the tools they find important. This gives her team members agency and confidence to continue to grow and learn.

Throughout her career, Michelle has created processes and systems to make her team and department run smoother and enable members to excel. She streamlined the process for how estimators develop skills to grow in their career, beginning on their first day. Michelle also put programs in place to track and leverage historical data to inform the bid process. A recent major accomplishment—Michelle led the preconstruction effort on the largest project in Shawmut’s 40-year history—a ground-up, multi-building endeavor featuring sustainable materials.

While Michelle has worked on thousands of technically complex and challenging builds throughout her career, she’s most proud of the beautiful spaces that enhance the community, including UCLA Nimoy Theater. The first education project for the West region, the renovation of the historic Crest Theatre is transforming the iconic space into The Nimoy—restoring the theater to its original role as a venue for live performance and cinematic arts.

Believing in the power of community and supporting each other, Michelle met with an LGBTQIA STEM student group at Cal Poly Pomona, talking about her profession and sharing how to carve out a career in the construction industry. She also discussed the need of diversity in the industry and shared her experience as a queer woman, providing her perspective to the students on how to navigate challenges.

Michelle is a supporter of the Chabad Jewish Center in Newport Beach, including its Friendship Circle, which brings friendship and inclusion to children and young adults with special needs through a variety of social, recreational, and educational programs and offers support and respite to their families.