Ms. BJ Whennen never dreamed of being Bob The Builder, but now is the Project Executive for Construction Management & Builders, Inc. (CM&B), which is the construction company that is currently working on the new Upper School Classroom Building.

Ms. Whennen chose Dana Hall because when she met the construction team, she “saw the special place here. She saw how caring, intelligent, and kind the construction team was.” She also loves the challenge of “getting the classroom building done on time”, but she has full confidence and loves the challenge. 

Katherine Bradley, The Head of School of Dana Hall, says that when CM&B made their presentation, “Ms. Whennen was very organized and ready to hit the ground running and she had everything ready to start working.” Ms. Bradley describes Ms. Whennen as a “very hard worker, calm, professional, and she clearly has very high standards for herself and others.” Ms. Bradley also loves the aspect of “women supporting women” and thinks it is really great to see women in construction at that high of a level.” 

Ms. Whennen never sees herself as a “woman in construction, rather somebody who is good at construction.” She didn’t think about gender a lot when she chose this project, although she finds it “cool to build something to educate young ladies for the future.”

She didn’t start working in the construction industry until her 30s. She first thought about construction when she took an aptitude test in high school and it said that she should go into construction. She worked in the hotel and hospitality industry, but wasn’t finding any joy and went back to school for civil engineering. From then, she started at an entry-level position at a construction company and got promoted and fell in love with construction.

When she is not working, Ms. Whennen loves to cook as she sees it as her creative outlook. She even has a culinary degree. She also loves spending time with her 16-year-old son.