The BC Building Trades (BCBT) has named Brynn Bourke to the position of executive director of the 40,000-member organization. Bourke is the first woman to lead the council in its more than 50-year history.
Bourke was named interim executive director in the fall of 2020, replacing Andrew Mercier, who was elected NDP MLA for Langley in the 2020 provincial election.
“After an exhaustive executive search, it became more than apparent that the best person for the job, the person who will do the highest level of work and the person who has earned respect from every corner of our industry is Brynn Bourke,” said Al Phillips, BCBT president. “She is the right person for the job by every account.”
She served as interim executive director during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the industry was changing rapidly in order to meet the dueling demands of the economy and workers’ health and safety.
“Brynn took on the role in an interim capacity in the middle of a global pandemic,” said Phillips. “As challenging as that was, she nonetheless affirmed herself to be an instinctive, assertive and accountable leader.”
For her part, Bourke is ecstatic to continue advancing the interests of construction workers.
“Our members are some of the hardest working people in B.C. Every day, our members are out there, working in all sorts of weather, in all sorts of locations and conditions, building the monuments and skylines that make up our province,” said Bourke. “I’m proud that I get to represent these workers and do everything I can to make their lives better and safer.”
Under Bourke’s leadership, BCBT has fought for improved safety for construction workers amid COVID-19 and a thoughtful economic recovery plan that leaves no worker behind.
Bourke is also passionate about equity and diversity in the trades and skilled trades certification, the latter informed by the 10 years she spent as the BCBT’s in-house apprenticeship specialist.
Before joining BCBT in 2012, Bourke held outreach, engagement and communications portfolios for progressive leaders in the provincial and federal governments.
