Leadership interview – Wissam Ayoub

Wissam Ayoub, MBA, P.Eng. Senior Vice President, Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

1. Can you tell us about your career with EllisDon and how your role has evolved?

I started with EllisDon in Toronto in December 2005. I was studying for my MBA at the Schulich School of Business and I took a course about Project Management. The CIO of EllisDon back then was giving a presentation about EdgeBuilder (currently called Gate 3) which is EllisDon’s in-house Project Management software. I chatted with him and asked him to help me schedule an interview with EllisDon’s VP of Operations in Toronto, Suheil Khouri, to answer a few questions about my end-of-program project around condo development in the GTA, and construction challenges. I met Suheil few days later and it turned out that he was interviewing me and not the other way around. He offered me a job at EllisDon knowing that I still had few months to go with my MBA and this is how my career started at EllisDon. I had to start on December 19, 2005 and it couldn’t wait till the new year.

My first position with EllisDon was an Assistant Project Manager at the Brampton Civic Hospital which was the first P3 hospital in Ontario. I then moved as a PM to the Bay Adelaide Tower project in downtown Toronto. I later got the opportunity to join the P3 Development department at EllisDon as a Bid Manager working on the Woodstock General Hospital P3 project as well as the Toronto South Detention Center. I continued progressing in my career to become a Bid Director then a Project Director winning flagship P3 projects such as the New Oakville Hospital and the Ottawa LRT project.

In 2013 I was approached by EllisDon’s Senior VP International, Michael Smith, asking if I wanted to move to Dubai to co-manage EllisDon’s operations in the region. That was another key decision in my career and it was a hard one for me. I was well established in Toronto working on mega-projects and had bought a minivan to have enough space for our third kid. who was due in few months, but I always enjoyed challenges and my wife Rima was fully supportive. We moved to Dubai mid-2013 and I initially co-managed the Middle East region for EllisDon as Vice President and Area Manager and was recently promoted to Senior VP for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in charge of the whole region.

2. What is the scope of your responsibilities and what excites you most about your current role?

I lead EllisDon’s business in the MENA region accountable for the P&L. EllisDon currently operates in four different countries in the MENA area with more than 16 projects in UAE, KSA, Qatar, and Egypt. Our focus is on Project Management Consultancy, Virtual Design and Construction, FM Consultancy, and Energy and Digital Services. My role is to manage all these countries and services with key leaders supporting me in different sectoral and geographic areas.

The most exciting part of my job is the thrill of opening new doors and meeting new people. The thrill of having to constantly push to win new work and deliver on our current commitments keeps that spark alive in me and gives me that adrenaline rush that I enjoy.

3. What is the most memorable construction project that you have worked on?

I think the project that I enjoyed working on most was the Bay Adelaide tower in downtown Toronto. It was the first high rise project that I had worked on with interesting components such as a hybrid structure with steel columns and beams and a concrete core, a heritage façade that needed to be repurposed and reinstalled on one area, and some high-end finishes. My background as a structural engineer also made me more interested in this project as I learned more about differential axial shortening in high rise buildings with hybrid structure and how to overcome that in construction.

4. What do you foresee as emerging opportunities in MENA over the next few years?

The opportunities in the MENA region are huge. The scale and complexity of the projects are second to none and they keep getting more exciting. In the UAE there is a big push for cultural and entertainment projects especially in Abu Dhabi. In Saudi Arabia, the Vision 2030 is extremely ambitious and the projects are massive in all sectors including leisure, cultural, hospitality, and residential. In Qatar, the final push for FIFA 2022 World Cup still keeps the market busy, while the Egypt

Change is the only constant, and with that come opportunities – especially in construction.

economy is growing exponentially, and with that comes a massive increase in development projects.

5. What are some of the main differences of working in construction in the Canada vs MENA?

The main differences between Canada and the MENA region for working in construction are mostly around the labour force, productivity, material used, and weather considerations.

While projects in MENA are in general much larger in scale, the labour force used is less skilled which creates less productivity than in Canada where labour is more skilled and trained, especially on unionized projects. In the MENA region you see a heavy reliance on concrete as well as block-work for partitions, while in Canada, steel, timber, and drywall are commonly used. The use of different material and the means and methods also must take into consideration the weather. For example, in Canada projects must allow for heating during the fall and winter during construction, whereas in the MENA region there are considerations for wild air upon the start of finishes in the spring and summer seasons.

6. What do you see as the main challenges in project management and what are your thoughts on mitigating these?

Few of the key areas in project management that are often not given enough thought and consideration are leadership, communication, and stakeholder engagement. I often see very technically strong people who are challenged with successfully delivering projects; many times it boils down to the project managers not developing a level of engagement and relationship with the client and the different stakeholders, including their own teams. For me, it is very important to have the right positive attitude for project leaders – equally if not more important than the right technical skills.

7. What is your advice to aspiring professionals who would like to achieve a leadership position?

I think there are two very important criteria to grow professionally. The first advice is to be empathetic, listen, learn, and develop yourself accordingly. The second advice is to embrace change, be flexible, and challenge yourself. Change is the only constant, and with that come opportunities – especially in construction.

8. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time and how often do you get to return to Canada?

I enjoy spending time with my wife and three kids, especially on the weekends, which gives me the energy to deal with all the day-to-day challenges. I also enjoy running which is my stress reliever and my time for zoning out while listening to a podcast that has nothing to do with construction. I usually go back to Canada two or three times a year, but it has now been almost two years due to COVID-19.

Interview conducted by Arif Ghaffur, PQS(F), Managing Editor of Construction Economist.