Tackling the challenges in the construction industry through effective implementation of IT: an interview with Mary Lynne Perushek, CIO of Mortenson and winner of 2022 Minnesota ORBIE Awards

ABSTRACT This interview offers insight into the challenges of implementing information technologies in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry and how an award-winning chief information officer (CIO) has transformed a construction company through her innovative, transformational, and forward-thinking leadership style. In the interview, Mary Lynne Perushek, CIO of Mortenson and a winner of the 2022 Minnesota ORBIE Awards, provides a picture of how her construction company builds and implements information technologies to align with the company’s business strategies and support daily operations, both internally inside the company and externally onsite at different construction projects across the nation. In particular, Mary Lynne offers specific examples of how her company utilizes information technologies from a strategic perspective in recruiting, retaining, and engaging talents and employees who work on the construction sites, which is one of the biggest challenges in the construction industry.