Arlene Dedier

Principal & Executive Vice President, Canadian Practice Leader, Project Management Services at Avison Young

Speaker

With over 25 years of experience Arlene Dedier has an extensive background in architecture and construction in the commercial, industrial, retail, and hospitality industry she has a proven ability to direct ground up construction, tenant-fit out and renovation projects, overseeing several multi-million-dollar projects simultaneously. With a lifelong interest in design, Arlene began a career in architecture and real estate development following the completion of her architecture degree at Carleton University's School of Architecture.

From the start she was focused on managing the development and construction of numerous tenant fit outs and base buildings, which allowed her to establish herself as a designer and project manager for a large US development firm. Arlene's entire career has centred around working with commercial clients to deliver them the real estate space they need. The past 11 1/2 years with Colliers, she grew their private sector business in Canada substantially.

Known as a firefighter, she is frequently brought into rescue projects by other firms, that have gone awry. Her ability to work seamlessly, with diverse teams from brokers to C-Suite stakeholders allows her to quickly determine a projects issue and find ways to solve them. 

For Arlene, every project is a puzzle, and the challenge is putting together a result that aligns with the client’s operations, business, and real estate strategy. Her charisma paired with her deep industry knowledge makes her a natural leader for the Canadian Project Management Practice at Avison Young with an innate ability to motivate her project teams and provide meaningful insight into technical issues for their clients.  This skill set has allowed her to thrive in her new role.  She is also the recipient of the Catalyst Canada Honours 2020 Business Leader award, which recognizes exceptional role models who are accelerating progress for women in the workplace.