Construcciones Yamaro: Bojana Zivec: A leader lifting people and outcomes
From Slovenia to Melbourne, Brisbane, Austria and back again, Bojana Zivec has carried the same set of values centred on uplifting others and contributing positively to society. Those values have shaped her career from the beginning and still guide her as a senior project manager at RP Infrastructure. They are also unmistakable in the way she talks about her path through the industry.
It started with a decision she made during her high school years in Slovenia. She wanted a career that matched her drive to “achieve great things”, and that ambition drew her towards an industrial engineering degree combining civil engineering and economics. The course was rigorous, the expectations uncompromising. An even split of women and men thinned as the semesters went on.
“There was a lot of interest at the beginning, but because it was complex, tedious and difficult, many women dropped out along the way. The percentage was not balanced by the end, and I think retention was something we struggled with even then,” says Zivec.
“Retention is still one of the hardest aspects of construction. Because the work is complex and challenging, some women choose to opt out and do different things in life. I persevered.”
After graduating, she entered the profession as an assistant consultant, effectively a client-side project manager, and quickly found a mentor who set the tone for the type of leader she would one day become.
Her first boss was patient, empathetic and willing to guide a young professional through the technical detail that can overwhelm early careers.
Then came the big move. In 2009, she and her husband relocated to Australia, landing in Melbourne with no local experience and few opportunities to break into the employment market. When friends suggested Brisbane, the family packed up and headed north.
“In the first two weeks we went to King George Square, which was being redeveloped by Kane Constructions at the time. I looked at the construction work and said, ‘I could work here’,” she says.
“It was funny, because out of about 100 applications I sent through, most of them cold and to companies that were not even recruiting, Kane Constructions came back to me. I ended up getting a job with them on the King George Square redevelopment as a contract administrator.”
Related stories:
- STEM pathways building diversity in engineering
- To the EWIT village
- Uniting for equity in construction
The decade that followed with Kane Constructions saw her move through a variety of projects and deepened her technical and commercial grounding. But eventually she felt a pull towards further growth. With her six-year-old in tow, she decided to study again.
Enrolling in a Master of Business Administration (MBA), she juggled lectures, exams, full-time work and motherhood. The late nights were constant, and so were the doubts. But each subject completed built her confidence, her voice, her sense of authority.
“My confidence grew because when I came across difficulties or people with strong opinions, I used to assume they knew better. The MBA helped me understand that is not always the case,” she says.
“Sometimes the answer lies in diving deeper into a problem, understanding it properly and recognising that there can be different truths and different perspectives. It is not one size fits all.
“I also learned there are different leadership styles. I realised I was more of a transformational leader. I tried to inspire people, encourage them to go back to study, to do more for themselves.”
In 2019, the desire to stretch herself resurfaced, and Zivec joined Mater Hospital as a major projects manager. Here, she oversaw central sterile services department refurbishments where every decision relied on meticulous services coordination, foresight and a firm grasp of risk. The stakes were high and the margin for error slim.
The role required constant engagement with clinicians, project teams and specialists. Earlier in her career she may not have valued stakeholder involvement to the same degree, but the MBA shifted her perspective and removed the hesitation.
“I started to see stakeholder consultation as a capacity, almost a superpower,” she says. “If you can communicate well and get things moving, that is a real capability.”
When COVID-19 hit and family pressures increased, Zivec and her family relocated to Austria to be closer to her husband’s ageing parents. They found work despite the competitive market and challenge of arriving without local references, a reminder of her early days in Australia. After a year, they returned to Brisbane, settling back into a rhythm that suited their family.
Zivec joined Ranbury Management Group, which has since merged into RP Infrastructure. She is now a senior project manager with the firm, leading medium-scale health projects in the $30 million to $50 million range. The work is intricate, with multiple stakeholders and delivery in live environments where coordination and timing are critical.
As a senior project manager on the client side, much of Zivec’s role centres on clarity, gathering information, interpreting it and ensuring a project’s risks, costs and program are understood by everyone involved. Reporting cycles, registers and communication plans all sit within her remit, fed by updates from contractors on site and consultants across disciplines.
During design, her focus is on guiding the process and resolving issues with the consultant team. During construction, it shifts to supporting delivery and keeping decisions moving.
“Day to day, that translates into a lot of spreadsheets, a lot of reporting and a lot of emails,” she says. “I can send anywhere between 30 and 100 emails a day to keep people properly informed.”
The volume of information makes communication one of her most important skills.
“One of the most critical things I learned early in my career is the importance of communication,” she says. “The way the message is delivered matters. Disruptions or misunderstandings in communication can be costly.”
Over the years, several projects have played a defining role in her development as a project manager.
King George Square was the first project that made a lasting impression, followed by the initial stage of the Brisbane City Hall Restoration, a heritage refurbishment that drew her deeper into work she still enjoys.
That interest continued with the Queensland Rail Roma Street Station Structural Stabilisation, a 140-year-old structure with materials and detailing rarely seen today. For Zivec, it was a reminder of the craftsmanship embedded in older buildings and the care invested in them.
She later worked on the Uniting Church near King George Square, a project with steep slate roofs and intricate access requirements. Safety and protection were the priority.
“I had to work closely with my site manager to achieve the right protection and scaffolding so that workers could replace the slates safely,” she says. “Every time I walk past, I feel proud. I did not personally install the slates, but I know I was a key contributor on that project.”
That pride extends across Brisbane. Many of the buildings she has worked on, from heritage refurbishments to fit-outs and public assets, have become part of the city’s fabric.
More recently, her hospital projects have aligned closely with her values. She believes strongly in the social impact of health infrastructure.
“People need hospitals when they are sick and at their weakest,” she says. “Keeping that in mind helps me stay focused.”
Her work across Metro South Health, including Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Hospital, Logan Hospital and Princess Alexandra Hospital, has reinforced that no two facilities operate the same way.
“You think you have all this knowledge from more than 20 years in construction,” she says. “Then you realise that some projects need everything you have learned and a bit more.”
Zivec is currently working on the Princess Alexandra Hospital Spinal Cord Injuries Unit, alongside a program of works for UnitingCare Queensland. She has also begun planning works for a heritage-listed building in Brisbane.
Looking at her career, several milestones stand out – completing King George Square, her first project in Australia; working full time until the final month of pregnancy; and completing her MBA, which broadened her understanding of organisational dynamics.
Another recent milestone was being named Mentee/Mentor of the Year at the 2025 National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Queensland Awards for Excellence. For Bojana Zivec, the recognition reflected something she had been doing instinctively for years: continually learning while supporting the people around her.
“I have always felt the need to learn more. While I was doing that, I was unofficially mentoring people around me all the time. I shared knowledge, I encouraged people, I motivated them to go back to study. Maybe I was an unofficial mentor to many, but I had never formally taken on that role. This year, I decided to stop just looking for my own mentors and learning only that way. I decided to become a mentor myself,” she says.
“I would encourage anyone with five years of experience or more to take on a mentoring role and bring younger people on the journey. They deserve that support and they are amazing.”
Mentoring fits closely with what she enjoys most about her work. She likes seeing good outcomes take shape, whether that is a constructive meeting, a well-managed project or a client who feels supported. The same applies to the smaller moments: a brief conversation that steadies someone on a difficult day or guidance that helps a colleague take the next step in their career.
She believes that “it is not always about the big construction milestones”. Some projects run for years, and waiting only for completion means missing the flow of smaller achievements that keep a team on track. Those can be as straightforward as resolving a contract issue, backing a smaller subcontractor or finding a solution where everyone benefits.
“I see my role as a project manager as advocating firmly for the project and the client, without creating outcomes where someone else is unfairly disadvantaged,” she says. “The results that matter most to me are those where we reach a commercially sound, operationally robust and genuinely fair solution for everyone involved. When we achieve that kind of true win-win outcome, that is a reason for celebration.”
When a project reaches that equilibrium, with the team aligned, value shared across stakeholders and success measured beyond a single balance sheet, that is the type of outcome she is most committed to delivering.
The post Bojana Zivec: A leader lifting people and outcomes appeared first on Inside Construction.
View Source
Comments
Post a Comment