Parker: SNA Construction CEO built rewarding career along with successful business

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“When the going gets tough, the tough get going” — and that saying surely sums up the dedication it took for Shiloh Forrest to become CEO of SNA Construction.

A Nova Scotian, after earning her bachelor of arts in psychology and criminology at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, she joined her husband in a long drive across the country in 2013 to Fort McMurray, where he had signed up for a well-paying job.

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But the first hiccup came when, after finally arriving, it was found certain criteria were not met and he was told he couldn’t be hired.

So, they headed south — didn’t fancy Edmonton and took the bypass around Red Deer.

Calgary was a welcome sight and, after finding a place to live, the couple looked for work. It was easy for her electrician husband but Forrest began to get a little frustrated. She says she had actually agreed to serve waffles but the same day received an offer to join a construction company during a receptionist’s maternity leave.

It was a great relief and a perfect fit, as during her university studies she had worked at Rona for five years in contractor and commercial sales. She knew the jargon, and that helped her gain permanent employment. Self-taught in accounting, she was soon office manager and effectively COO of the company.

Another blow came when the owners decided to close shop, and Forrest was scrambling again. But not for long.

Sean Joyce and Alex Orlov, construction managers with 30 years of cumulative experience between them, launched SNA Construction in 2020. Forrest was asked to join as the third employee.

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Joyce and Orlov are hands-on construction guys, always happy to be working on site. That meant the rest of what it takes to get a company up and running fell to Forrest. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, she worked hard to run the administration/accounting, hired new staff (up to 11 in three years) and sought out and signed up jobs.

She says she was fortunate in being introduced to Jan Eden, who has been training CEOs and CFOs for many years. Eden became her coach and friend, and her mentoring and encouragement helped Forrest accept her appointment as CEO of SNA Construction with confidence.

There are long days but Forrest is in her element talking construction, and has been able to help SNA secure some fine projects. The company has been successful in winning and building a variety of jobs, including large-scale multi-family residential, commercial builds, churches and restaurants, a medical clinic and retail interiors, including four veterinary clinics.

SNA is acting as construction manager on the Al-Madinah Green Dome Islamic School and gymnasium, and another veterinary clinic in the northeast of the city. Last week, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at Prairie College in Three Hills, for the construction of an addition to its Prairie Aviation Training Centre, where the majority of Missionary Aviation Fellowship’s aviators are trained.

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The fellowship is involved in disaster relief and emergency flights, pastoral care and missionary work, and in supporting medevac and flying doctor services around the world. Its pilots have to be highly trained and skilled to land on any kind of airstrip, and the training centre graduates are well suited after a two-year accredited aviation program.

The organization continues to grow in response for its services, and the facility at Three Hills needs to double its intake in pilots and mechanics.

SNA Construction is working with Alvin Reinhard Fritz Architect of Lethbridge to build a second hangar to accommodate another half-dozen planes, and a training facility to provide more spaces for classrooms, simulators, maintenance facilities and study areas.

Forrest has found a career in construction that has provided her with big challenges, but also rich rewards in the satisfaction of seeing jobs well done.

Notes:

Back in 1978, the first Beaver Tails were sold out of a location at Killaloe Fair west of Ottawa. Today the hand-stretched fried dough pastries and other menu offerings are sold out of 195 establishments in Canada and the U.S. The company recently added three more to its Alberta footprint, with two in Edmonton and one in Calgary — at 738A 17^th Avenue S.W.

David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622.

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