Program Description

Join us to hear from some of the top female A/E/C leaders in Orange County as they discuss their careers and what led them to their current leadership roles. At this roundtable event, each of our client and industry panelists will spend time with groups of our attendees, answering the questions you want to ask. After our roundtable time is through, we will open the floor so you can network and continue your conversations with our panelists.

Registration closes 11/3 at 5:00pm.

Walk-ins not accepted.

Registration is non-refundable.

This event will not be recorded.

Panelists

Christina Byrne
Public Outreach Department Manager
Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA)

Christina Byrne is the Public Outreach Department Manager at OCTA and has more than 20 years of experience conceptualizing, designing, and implementing award-winning proactive public participation and community outreach programs for transportation projects in all phases of project development.

Career highlights include fast-paced, complicated highway construction projects such as the I-405 Improvement Project Design-Build Project currently wrapping up construction and the Garden Grove Freeway Design-Build Project, as well as the West County Connectors Project. Christina also currently serves as the Outreach Program Manager for the OC Streetcar, OC's first modern streetcar.

Christina and her OCTA Public Outreach team of nine communication professionals excel at partnering with PR firms to implement creative and cost-effective outreach plans customized to build relationships with multiple stakeholders simultaneously in an inclusive manner.

The most important resource of any organization is its people, especially when they are outstanding at what they do. Christina uncovered during her career a continual passion for professional development and inspiring and mentoring others.

She has been honored to speak on her public communications and professional development and management experience at numerous conferences, and webinars and was honored in 2020 with the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) Paul B. Clark Award presented to an individual that demonstrates exceptional leadership and lifetime achievement in the communications field through professional commitment, including the mentoring of others.

Christina has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Chapman University and a master’s in public administration from California State University, Long Beach.  She resides in Anaheim Hills, California with her husband and two sons.

Karen Chapman
Project Manager
TYLin

Karen Chapman has 30 years of experience, including two years with Caltrans, designing and leading a variety of transportation projects. Her technical experience involves a variety of facilities, including local streets, highways, freeways, and local street interchanges. Her projects have covered the entire range of project development phases, ranging from the initial identification of needed improvements, feasibility studies, and the preparation of Project Study Reports (PSRs) and Project Reports (PRs), to the preparation of Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS&Es), and construction inspection. Her projects total nearly $3 billion in construction costs. She serves on the Board of Directors for WTS-Orange County and ACEC-Orange County.

Karen Compton
Principal
A3K Consulting, LLC

Karen Compton is Principal of A3K Consulting, LLC, a consortium of business management consultants specializing in the AEC environment. In this capacity, Karen oversees a team of professionals focused on the development of transformative business strategies and solutions that reflect the organization’s long- and short-term goals.  Additionally, she is the Executive Producer and co-host of Breaking the Silence of Design with her lauded friend, Gabrielle Bullock, FAIA—a vodcast you can check out on YouTube that focuses on the issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the design and construction profession.

Karen has more than 20 years of experience in business management including business development, marketing, and strategic planning; and more than five years in the public sector, where she served as the director of the small business program for a major water utility.  A nationally featured speaker for several organizations including the AIA Knowledge Practice Community, American Institute of Architects, the Society of Design Administration, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and PSMJ Resources, Karen is regularly featured on the subjects of business development and business planning.  In 2014, Wiley Publications released the 15th Edition of the Architects Handbook in which she was a contributing author on the subject of networking and business development. Though not recently published, Karen’s work has been published in a variety of industry publications.

Karen holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Mount St. Mary’s University in Chemistry where she formerly served as a member of the Board of Regents and serves on the Board of Directors for DKS Associates in Oregon. She also holds an Advanced Management Certificate from the University of Southern California and a certificate in Diversity & Inclusion from Cornell University.

Lynn Gilbert, CPSM
Regional Pursuit Manager
Psomas

Lynn Gilbert, CPSM, serves as Regional Pursuit Manager for Psomas’ Orange County and Riverside offices. With 30 years of experience in the AEC industry, she is responsible for cultivating relationships with clients and fellow marketing professionals, researching project leads, coordinating internal office marketing efforts, and providing QA/QC on all marketing materials produced by the Orange County Marketing Team.  Ms. Gilbert has been active in a number of professional organizations, having served as Newsletter Editor for the Orange County Chapter of ACEC and as scholarship chair for the Orange County Chapter of WTS.  In addition, she served previously as Public Relations Chair for the Business Development Association of Orange County.

Domains covered

• Domain 3: Client and Business Development
• Domain 6: Information, Resource, and Organizational Management