Women in Construction

“At that time, Topcon gave me the opportunity to continue working remotely, and I am now going on more than 25 years with the company. I have worked with many wonderful colleagues and currently am in the role of Senior Manager, Product Management Operations.”

In her current role, Sumana works with product managers to centralize product management processes and governance, coordinate and drive business logic implementation with multiple teams, and track and monitor business performance with established processes. She says she’s grateful to the managers who encouraged her to pursue professional development and leadership opportunities throughout the years, including the Global Leadership Development Program.

“While I believe there are still opportunities to educate the broader workforce on gender equity and unconscious bias, I also think Topcon is supportive of all its employees. It is heartening to see Topcon women in key leadership positions and other critical roles.”

“It is always a positive thing to see more diversity in every field. Any field should reflect the demographics of the society at large and leverage the talent of the available workforce. In this context, having more women in technology and construction will ultimately benefit the industry. Seeing women in key roles will encourage more women to enter the field, and everybody wins!”

In 2010, Heidi started with Topcon as a regional sales manager.

“It has been the best decision for my career. I have been able to gain knowledge about the survey and construction market while continuing to work in sales. I love my job and I am excited about what the future holds.”

Now Heidi is part of a team that works with dealer distribution to sell Topcon machine control and surveying equipment.

“I think having women in technology and construction adds value to the industry. This has always been a male-dominated industry. When I am with my coworkers or the senior level, I am treated as an equal. This is such a change from when I began working in this industry. I have teenage daughters and I want them to see that they can be and do anything they want. I want them to feel proud that their mom is working in this industry and that it’s something they can do, also.”

What advice would Heidi offer to women thinking about joining the industry?

“If a woman is thinking about joining our industry, I would suggest that they find a female mentor or a leader that has been in the industry for several years. Network, ask questions and seek advice from people that can help guide your career. Don’t be afraid to join the industry. Women shouldn’t question what they want to do or who they want to be because it isn’t the ‘norm.’”

“I started my career with Topcon mid-2005 as Director of Project Management working on special projects. The company was in growth mode and I was once again afforded some great opportunities that facilitated my growth as a leader. In my current role as CIO and EVP of Engineering, I am responsible for ensuring our global engineering and IT teams have the leadership, direction, support and tools ultimately needed to make great products. In today’s rapidly evolving world of technology, engineering and IT are quite interconnected, so my dual roles help facilitate that synergy.”

“I have to give credit to our CEO, Ray O’Connor for the opportunities afforded me. I believe I was among the first female directors at Topcon, and within a couple of years he promoted me to VP — a first in our company. He always judged me by effort, commitment and results — nothing else. I think that helped other women at Topcon see that they too could advance their careers if they had the interest and the drive. I am quite pleased to see how many women we have in senior management roles at Topcon today, and I expect to see that accelerate when I look at the young, talented women in our organization.”

“We all hear about talent shortages everywhere, particularly in technology and construction, so opening the doors for women to take on leadership roles and fill talent gaps where it may have been more challenging in the past, just makes good business sense — it significantly expands the resource pool and strengthens the overall business and industry.”

“I started with Topcon in 2019, selling Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and associated software for the European region, both directly and through Topcon’s subsidiaries and dealers. In my current role as Business Development Manager, I am now responsible for OEM Global Navigation Satellite (GNSS) boards, and am also getting more and more involved with selling Topnet Live subscriptions, with direct sales and supporting subsidiaries work.”

“I have the feeling that Topcon provides opportunities to people as long as you have the motivation, the willingness to learn and put in the work. Topcon will help you grow your qualities and develop new ones, offering opportunities to expand your knowledge, even outside of your areas of expertise — which I attribute to great management and company culture.”

“My history with Topcon goes back to 1999. I was working externally for Topcon — who was a customer of ours at the time — and in the beginning I supported sales assistance and marketing-related activities. Later on, when the Topcon marketing department developed in Europe, I was responsible for all of the Marketing activities for Germany, and in 2015 I was hired as a Marketing Manager for the DACH area.”

“My responsibilities include everything marketing-related in the German-speaking countries for our organization, and also for all of our local dealers and OEM partners; from marketing planning, communications, sales promotions, campaign conception and implementation, dealer and partner marketing, event planning and execution and of course managing our local communications agencies. All of this is done in close cooperation with EMEA Marketing and Corporate Marketing as one global team. I see Marketing in general as a supporting service for all departments.”

“Being a part of the local management team clearly underlines the fact that Topcon is very open for women in leading positions. From country-level up to senior-level. There is continuous leadership training available, and a very open atmosphere to discuss personal growth.”

“The construction industry is still often perceived as a “man’s world,” but I definitely feel there is a new culture we’re growing into — a more diverse one. Especially nowadays with the use of technology, cross departmental projects and a global way of working, we defy this old mindset. Just looking at our own company, when I think back ten to fifteen years, there were only a couple of women throughout Europe in Topcon — and not even on the front end visible to the markets. Now there are plenty of women in different departments, involved in many different projects and indeed visible as representatives of Topcon.”

“In my opinion, the impact of a company on its industry is always shaped by its culture — it starts with the understanding of the benefits of diversity. Different perspectives, backgrounds, skill sets, experiences and knowledge — regardless of gender or industry — I truly believe that the more diverse a team is, the stronger it is.”

She joined Topcon in 2017 as a Software Embedded Manager with the goal of developing a new embedded team in Turin. Within about 2 years, she was named Topcon’s Senior Manager of Software Development.

“Today I am responsible for not only the development of our connectivity devices, but also to manage the development activities of our Topcon Agriculture Platform (TAP). In my current role I manage and coordinate all the resources needed for the development of the TAP platform and Cloudlink Devices, coordinating internal activities and managing all the internal and external stakeholders from project origination to customers passing through suppliers and monitoring the budget.”

“At Topcon, there is no gender difference, and this brings with it an openness for everyone to all company opportunities, thus providing the chance to achieve their professional goals. Topcon believes in people and their professionalism, regardless of anything else.”

“I think it’s the all different professionalism, personalities and attitudes that create a real impact. In general, I believe that diversity of any kind always brings added value to an industry because seeing the same product, activity, problem or opportunity from different points of view helps to create more complete and accessible solutions.”