Lexie Mayewski, 30

The concepts of empowerment and community are key for MGAC’s Lexie Mayewski. 

Mayewski was inspired to enter a STEM field from an early age. When she was 10 years old, at a Girl Scouts event, Mayewski was told that the world needed more women in engineering. It really was that simple — she believed she could, so she did.

“I was like, ‘That sounds great. I’m going to do that,’ ” the Catholic University alum said. 

Following a roughly two-year stint as a project engineer for the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and about three years managing projects for CBRE, Mayewski transitioned to a project manager role at MGAC, a boutique construction and development consultant based in Washington, D.C. Mayewski focuses on historic preservation and restoration projects within the education space, which she simultaneously finds challenging and rewarding due to each property’s unique quirks and the impact those restorations have on the local community.

“What really drives me is the community factor and helping others connect easily with one another,” Mayewski said of the immediate impacts of modernizing old academic properties. “We’re renovating a building from the 1920s, bringing it up to speed with today’s technology, today’s best learning environments, but with a historic building. I really love the notion that we don’t have to knock down old buildings. We can really restore them to their full glory.”

Mayewski recently led the $97 million restoration of D.C. Public Schools’ John Francis Education Campus, a 110,000-square-foot academic property built in 1927. She also led the $63 million renovation of the 1920s-built Raymond Elementary School in D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood as well as the development of a new, roughly 371,000-square-foot residential and dining building at the University of Maryland.

Mayewski is passionate about lifting up others in her field as well. Along with establishing MGAC’s Women’s Initiative Network, she’s also on the board of the Catholic University Alumni Association and the school’s Construction Advisory Council, as well as on the board of directors for Women in Construction.