Meet Margaret Caspers Booth of Concrete Collective
Growing up, Margaret Caspers Booth recalls her mother wearing tights and suits to work everyday in downtown Chicago. Convinced that she did not want a career that required her to dress up everyday, Caspers Booth began looking into a career in engineering despite a lack of information and support for women interested in STEM at the time. After earning a degree in engineering from the University of Illinois, Caspers Booth began building her career in construction and working on infrastructure projects across the U.S. and Canada.
She joined W.E. O’Neil in January 2020 as the general contractor was submitting bids for the concrete scope of work for the Obama Presidential Center (“the Center”). O’Neil is part of Concrete Collective, the MBE-led joint venture formed for the Center that has employed some 180 skilled tradespersons on the site.
For Women’s History Month, Lakeside Alliance spoke with Margaret about her role on this historic project, the advice she’d give to other women considering a career in construction, and more:
Tell us about your role at the company. What are some of your primary responsibilities?
A couple months after I joined the team at W.E. O’Neil, we had to do another bid for the Center and they told me it was my baby — so I’ve been involved through preconstruction, early bidding, final pricing and then, in March of 2022, I moved out to the job site as project manager. At our peak, we had about 180 skilled people on the job site, so we have several project managers within the concrete scope. I handle payments between Lakeside Alliance and Concrete Collective, change orders, productivity, budget, subcontracts and all of those related elements.
What does it mean to you personally to participate in this project?
Personally, it’s really cool. When I talk with past coworkers about what I’m working on, this is a project that everyone knows about. We’re working on THE Obama Presidential Center! People hear about it in the news, know where it is and drive by and see a lot of progress. Beyond that, it’s not only something people will use…the Center is something that people will know about for a long, long time. Some day, my nieces will come here and, hopefully, they’ll also think it’s cool that I was part of it.
What is your greatest hope for the outcome of the Center?
I hope it brings jobs to the people in the neighborhood. I hope businesses benefit from more traffic in the area. Anything that will draw people from outside downtown is good for Chicago. We want people to come here and spend money here.
Were you concerned it would be challenging to be a woman in a male-dominated industry?
I wasn’t because I was naive and 21 when I started. A positive thing I’ve noticed now, at 41, is that there are several young women working for Lakeside Alliance, whereas I was often the only one early in my career. Percentage wise there are more females entering the workforce and industry overall than 20 years ago, and there are more women tradespeople, which is really exciting. College wasn’t for them, and this is a path that they were encouraged to go into when we weren’t in the past. I think things will get better for women in the industry now that there’s more of us. I hope that young females see me and know that they can come talk to me.
What would you say to women who are considering a career in the construction industry?
Soak up every bit of knowledge. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and ask questions. Seek out mentoring or advice from someone that you trust. There’s someone else out there who has been through what you have. There’s a lot of different routes you can take. If you think to yourself, ‘I can’t sit in front of my computer all day,’ then get out in the field!
“I think things will get better for women in the industry now that there’s more of us. I hope that young females see me and know that they can come talk to me.”