Certification responds to public and private sectors’ growing demand for diversity.
Ballard Marine Construction, a Northwest based marine contractor, has been granted Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) certification by Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
The announcement was made by Shilo Hutton, the company’s founder and President. Ms. Hutton states that “While Ballard Marine Constructions official WBE status does not reflect a change in company management or operations, it does respond to a demand by both private and public agencies to look for an increasingly diverse workforce both in-house and among their consultants and vendors. The rigor and credibility of WBENC’s certification process relieves prospective clients of the burden of conducting their own due diligence”.
Shilo Hutton owns 95% of the company that has grown over the years from a garage start-up company to offices in Alaska, California, Illinois and Wisconsin.
From underwater construction via commercial divers on the world’s largest hydroelectric dams to specialized divers supporting international tunneling projects such as Seattle’s SR99 “Big Bertha” project, Ms. Hutton is very involved. She states “a woman in construction is still not the norm, but with added visibility and credibility I believe it improves the industry for all of us. Success with the WBE process and becoming more involved with WBENC, I hope to continue to break new ground in the construction world.
