Arlene Dedier

Principal & Executive Vice President, Canadian Practice Leader, Project Management Services at Avison Young

Speaker

With over 30 years of experience Arlene Dedier has an extensive background in architecture and construction in the commercial, industrial, retail, and hospitality industry she has a proven ability to direct ground up construction, tenant-fit out and renovation projects, leads Avison Young’s Canadian Practice for workplace, and project management. Arlene began a career in architecture and real estate development following the completion of her architecture degree at Carleton University's School of Architecture.

From the start she has focused on managing the development, construction of tenant fit outs and base buildings, which allowed her to establish herself as a designer and project manager for a large US development firm. Prior to joining Avison Young she worked with Colliers, growing their private sector business in Canada substantially and JLL, leading their Hospitality business in the Mid-Atlantic, US.

Known as a firefighter, she is frequently brought into rescue projects by other firms, which have gone awry. Her ability to work seamlessly, with diverse teams from brokers to C-Suite stakeholders allows her to quickly determine a projects issue and find ways to solve them.

For Arlene, every project is a puzzle, and the challenge is putting together a result that aligns with the client’s operations, business, and real estate strategy. She is also the recipient of the Catalyst Canada Honours 2020 Business Leader award, which recognizes exceptional role models who are accelerating progress for women and diverse teams in the workplace. She currently sits as a Board Trustee for the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and a committee member of the Toronto CREW IDEA (Inclusion Diversity Equity & Allyship Committee) and Chair of Avison Young’s ROOTS Employee Resource Group (ERG).