Members Spotlight

Sara Gutierrez Bio

Sara Gutierrez’s journey to the Construction industry is a little different than most. Sara has a Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies with a focus in History & English. After graduating from Western CT State University, her first career opportunity led her to the Banking industry. She started as an Electronic Banking Call Center Representative. After a few years, she discovered she had an interest in Accounting and Finance and moved to the Accounting department of the bank as an Accounts Payable Specialist. After working in the Banking industry for 5 years, she was looking for a change and when she saw one of her bank customers was hiring down the street, she went for the interview and the rest is history. Sara joined Schimenti Construction company in July of 2016 as an Accounts Payable Specialist, and her 9-year anniversary is coming up this July. She has since grown in her construction career and now holds an Accounts Payable Manager and Project Accountant position. 

Schimenti Construction Company holds a strong focus on Retail Construction, but is also involved in the Hospitality, Industrial, and Commercial Real Estate/Landlord sectors.  Schimenti has offices located in Rye Brook, NY, New York City, and Irvine, California.

Sara became a member of PWC (Professional Women in Construction) NYC during COVID to network with other women in the construction industry. As COVID ended, the events moved to in-person and the commute was just too long to still partake in the group. Looking for a new CT-based group to join, her co-worker Angela Phillips, current NAWIC Hartford Chapter President, presented NAWIC's Hartford chapter to her as an option. Sara joined the NAWIC Hartford chapter in May of 2022, and after attending a few toolbox talks and a Coffee and Conversation job site visit, Sara knew she wanted to be a more active member and joined the Board of Directors as a Director in October 2024.

With the support from Schimenti Construction, Sara joined the NAWIC Leadership Academy October 2024 Cohort session and earned her graduation certificate in December 2024. NAWIC Leadership Academy sponsored by Ambition Theory provided so many useful tools to help Sara emerge as the strong leader that she always had the potential to be but just needed the tools and confidence to get there. NAWIC has become a great networking tool, and Sara enjoyed attending the 2024 fall forum in Vermont and the Chapter's 2025 kick-off event at Back 9 Social in Wallingford. Sara is currently planning a Coffee and Conversation job site visit sponsored by Schimenti and is looking forward to all the future opportunities that NAWIC has in store for her. Even though Schimenti closed their CT office in September of 2023, Sara still resides in CT and is happy to still be a part of NAWIC’s Hartford Chapter where she is hoping to serve on the Board for many years to come.