91视频

Kate MacKinnon Kiser

manager of TriMet鈥檚 Buildings Team

With a dad who was a contractor, Kate MacKinnon Kiser had ample opportunities to visit jobsites and explore floor plans. 鈥淚 loved to think about spaces and draw my dream house,鈥� she said.

Her many accomplishments include the Powell Bus Garage Project, the first TriMet project to win the 91视频鈥檚 Project of the Year. She said the best part of her work is 鈥済etting people to flex their muscles.鈥�

鈥淚 really love putting a team together and watching the chemistry happen, and to see everybody getting to play to their strengths,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of us like to think about our teams being our legacy and the capacity we built into our teams.鈥�

MacKinnon Kiser leads and mentors a team of about 10 staff and provides technical, project management and career mentorship to staff outside her own workgroup, particularly those with architectural training.

鈥淜ate is an exceptional architect, project manager and personnel manager who leads her team with exceptional skill and heart. I am fortunate that she is a manager of one of the workgroups within my department,鈥� said Sean Batty, TriMet鈥檚 director of design and construction.

Recognized nationally as a 2021 ACE Outstanding Mentor, MacKinnon Kiser leads the local chapter and emphasized the need for different perspectives on what makes a safe space and introducing young people to industry leaders who look like them. Mentorship not only gets young people interested in career possibilities, it also energizes the seasoned professionals who work with them, she noted.

鈥淚t goes back to getting people interested in the industry and giving them the sense of not only belonging, but also adding value to the built environment,鈥� MacKinnon Kiser said. 鈥淚nevitably we鈥檙e going to be working with this incoming generation, so we need to mentor them to take over our roles.鈥�