Engineering change

Jennifer Price went into engineering because she thought it would help make the world a better place and in her new role as President and CEO of McElhanney, she is doing just that.

She took the helm of the company in June of 2024, replacing Allan Russell, who held the role since 2013. An engineer by trade, with a degree in chemical engineering and an MBA, Price has a long track record of executive and senior leadership, including being United States Managing Director of Buro Happold, as well as executive roles at CH2M and GHD.

“If you look at a lot of the most critical problems the world is facing, engineers have the opportunity to have some impact on some of the societal challenges that we face,” she says, pointing to issues like climate change and resilience, overpopulation and aging infrastructure.

Certified drone operators prepare for takeoff, ensuring safety and precision for an upcoming bridge inspection

McElhanney is celebrating its 115th anniversary in 2025, and over the years the firm has worked on projects like the Golden Ears Bridge and Sea to Sky Highway, as well as many other projects, including a variety of highways and pipelines.

Today, the firm has grown to around 1,500 employees, with more than 30 locations in western Canada. McElhanney provides an array of services in engineering, geomatics, geospatial, environmental, community and transportation planning and landscape architecture, among others.

The firm has received more than 120 project and professional awards, including the distinction of being recognized as a Canada’s ‘Best Managed’ company for nine years running.

Leadership goals

In her role as President and CEO of McElhanney, Price is focusing on innovation and sustainability, as well as inclusive leadership. Her motivations to stay in the industry include these aims as well as her desire to ease the hurdles for other women after seeing the difficulties her mother and other women faced as professionals.

She says she wants to break that barrier and then also make it a better pathway for the women coming behind her.

Price describes her leadership philosophy as authentic, transparent and collaborative. She praises McElhanney’s organizational structure, which she says is fairly flat, with lots of collaboration across geographic and disciplinary boundaries.

“One of the most important things for me is to really develop and empower my team,” she adds.

Elaborating on today’s and tomorrow’s challenges, Price says aging infrastructure is a challenge throughout Canada and North America. McElhanney is working to face this problem by utilizing advanced modeling simulation tools to gather and monitor data in real-time to aid strategic planning and make sure infrastructure keeps up with population growth.

Price says sustainability and climate resilience are other issues they are working to address, noting that resilient, sustainable and healthy communities are a big focus for the company. McElhanney provides flood mapping services for climate resiliency, leading the process with hydrotechnical engineers reviewing models, collecting data from drones and using autonomous vessels for hydrographic surveys.

McElhanney is also focusing on opportunities to integrate smart technology, and Price points to a recent parking management plan as an example of this work.

In a downtown area, they are utilizing drone technology to safely and efficiently collect real-time parking data. Machine learning algorithms can then summarize and present the data in a geographical format without the need for manual data logging.

She says this results in higher-quality data and is much faster than traditional surveying methods. An added bonus is that the client can receive a dashboard to manage and perform queries on their own.

The firm is also focusing on innovating with AI, robotics automation, remote-operated vehicles and other advanced technology.

“We’ve made progress toward automating detection, extraction and classification features from comprehensive point cloud data sets, orthophotos and other imaging systems such as traffic cameras, creating models and testing them against conventional products,” Price adds.

Shaping the future

Looking to the future, Price sees several major trends shaping the industry, including energy transition and electrification with a shift away from fossil fuels and a focus on climate and environmental resilience, as well as dealing with aging infrastructure, including repairs and hardening resilience.

The other major shift she sees is a digital transformation, and she sees McElhanney shifting to being default digital in the near future. Additionally, she says the company is continuing to develop its data insights program and looking to expand beyond western Canada.

Marking completion: McElhanney staff pictured at the Bridgeland Active Modes Improvements Project, designed to enhance walking, cycling and accessibility in the area

Price says sustainability and creating future resilience are key in what McElhanney does while looking ahead and meeting the needs of the future.

“We recognize the profound impact our projects have on infrastructure, climate, communities served and the world we live in,” she says.

“So we’re deeply committed to ensuring our work not only meets the needs of the clients and communities today, but fosters that sustainability and resilience for future generations.”