Lue Iwasiuk (she/them) is a Senior Proposal Coordinator at Binnie who brought more than five years of experience to the Proposal Team. Lue is responsible for handling complex proposals that involve multiple sub-consultants, as well as providing advice and support to junior colleagues during the proposal writing process.
(As a frame of reference, the current Proposals team at Binnie consists of five staff members with superhuman writing skills!)
Lue’s primary role as a Senior Proposal Coordinator is to help proposal and project managers produce high-quality, competitive proposal submissions. This involves confirming compliance with RFP requirements, providing non-technical content, and copy-editing submissions for grammar and clarity. By taking care of these tasks, Lue’s work allows the Proposal Manager to focus on the technical portion of the proposal and minimize other important aspects of their work.
Lue’s journey to becoming a Senior Proposal Coordinator at Binnie was an unconventional one. After studying English Literature and Anthropology in university, Lue spent almost 20 years as a bookseller before seeking out a new career path. With help from a career counselor, engineering was identified as a possible fit for Lue’s skills, and they eventually found their way into the consulting engineering field as an administrative assistant with Levelton (now WSP). From there, Lue transitioned into a junior coordinator position with WSP’s Transportation Group before eventually landing at Binnie.
While here at Binnie, she can proudly recall her proudest accomplishment at Binnie as helping to win a high-value BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure contract for Cariboo Road Recovery. Growing up in the Interior of BC, Lue knows first-hand how important these roadways are for connecting small communities to the rest of the province.
When it comes to success, Lue attributes their achievements to two people: Christine Johnson, who suggested they become a proposal writing professional, and Sandy Rempel, who provided guidance and encouragement during their first year on the job. According to Lue, the most rewarding aspect of their work is knowing that they are helping engineers design infrastructure projects that will benefit future generations.
Outside of work, Lue enjoys building jigsaw puzzles and playing with Legos. Their motto is a quote from William Shakespeare: “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt,” as well as a line from e.e. cummings: “birds sing sweeter than books tell how.”
For others in similar roles, Lue advises never to be afraid to ask for help, as more people would rather see you succeed than fail. At Binnie, Lue is a member of RISE and the company’s Book Club, and they believe that “working with people who think like you is more important than working with people who like the same things you do.”
Lue’s dedication to their work and passion for helping others make them an invaluable member of the Binnie team – by incorporating input from multiple sub-consultants with the writing of Binnie’s technical team, Lue was the proposal coordinator behind the proposal that garnered Binnie’s highest value contract.
(Fun fact: Lue also recently won a getaway package at the Binnie 2022 Christmas party valued at $1,000 for Fairmont Hotels!)