Never
Left to Right : Zoran Radonjic & Danny Goboitsios
Say Never
INTERVIEW WITH ZORAN RADONJIC OF PITTSBURGH STEEL GROUP WITH COLLEEN DOUCETTE
f you are looking to get inspired for the future , look no further than a sit-down with Zoran Radonjic , President of Pittsburgh Steel Group in Mississauga , Ontario , a proud member of Steel Plus Network . I had the good fortune to speak with Zoran recently , and his story and his dedication to helping others left me inspired and wanting to do more . Zoran is passionate about his work , his employees , and his family . All of these add up to a man who is focused on how to make things better for those around him .
It is quite clear — and if you do your research , it will be telling — that there are simply not enough women in the structural steel industry . From the trades to engineering , even in the boardroom , there are not enough women . In a 2019 study by Périlleux and Szafarz 1 , they discovered that female-dominated boards achieve better financial performance when they work with female CEOs . I think Zoran hit the nail on the head . He has seen this firsthand — the lack of gender diversity in the industry — and it is a very difficult issue to overcome . Zoran ’ s wife , Ranka , is an engineer at Pittsburgh Steel , and he has personally seen the obstacles that she has had to overcome to do her work . It is upsetting because it is 2022 , and women shouldn ’ t be facing these obstacles anymore , but we do .
Ranka ’ s mother was one of the first female civil engineers in Bosnia – Herzegovina as well as the first female Ph . D . in Civil Engineering in that country . She was also a professor at the university Zoran attended in Bosnia and later in Montenegro ( where he and Ranka met ). To think that she was a civil engineer in 1952 / 53 in a non-G7 country is remarkable . She overcame obstacles that most of us would never know in our lifetimes to become a leader in her industry .
Technology , according to Zoran , is another area that is explosive . The fact that he and I were able to conduct this interview via an online video meeting platform is a great indicator of how far we have come from the days of the
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