Advice for others in the field: I am always trying to find ways to encourage people to join the electrical industry — especially women. The positions available are vast, from inside sales to finance or operations and, my personal favorite, project management! 

What do you do for fun? I enjoy camping with my family in the summer — anywhere close to a lake for paddleboarding — and hot yoga, as well as hoarding plants.  

A chance placement through an agency working for a company that “sold lightbulbs” put Gabby Schroeder on a path that today sees her working with Gescan’s internal groups creating solutions-oriented proposals for industrial customers.  

After graduating from college in Montreal, Gabby took a position with an electrical product distributor, starting in customer service and working her way up to a senior customer service rep before moving to a new organization. She headed to Calgary in 2014 for a new position before eventually joining Gescan in 2022. Today, building on over a decade of quoting and project management, she works with the company’s internal groups to package proposals for industrial customer solutions. 

Taking an approach that successful project execution depends on ensuring everything is addressed in the quote request stage, Gabby uses lessons learned throughout her career to watch for key things during the bidding process — leading to greater success for both client and Gescan.  

After discovering a passion for project management, Gabby returned to school, completing her applied project management certificate program at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2021.  

It’s the ever-changing nature of project management that keeps her passionate about this line of work.  

“Projects are always different!” she says. “You are always dealing with different customers, issues and scenarios. Building those customer relations and helping the customer to find a solution to their problems has always been rewarding for me.” 

Along with serving as a provincial board member for the Alberta Electrical Alliance, she was awarded their Emerging Leader Industry Award in 2022.