Mélinda Nycholat, P.Eng.
Vice-President,
Operations—Procurement
Defence Construction Canada
Judge: 2019 WIN Awards
Finalist: 2018 WIN Awards Outstanding Leader
Mélinda Nycholat leads the $1-billion procurement program at Defence Construction Canada (DCC) in her role as Vice-President, Operations for procurement. She provides strategic oversight and accountability for the nearly 2,000 defence infrastructure and environment contracts awarded each year on behalf of Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND).
Under Mélinda’s leadership, DCC has placed significant emphasis on ethics, fairness and transparency in procurement, introduced numerous firsts in contracting innovations (e.g. e-procurement and integrated project delivery) to the federal public sector, and developed vigorous performance indicators to ensure best value for public dollars.
Joining DCC in the 1980s as a junior engineer in Gagetown, New Brunswick, she served the Corporation in various capacities of increasing responsibility and locations across the country. In her career spanning more than 30 years, she oversaw countless contracts in support of infrastructure and environmental projects for DND and the Canadian Armed Forces.
Mélinda holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Laval University. She currently sits on the board of the Canadian Public Procurement Council and the Steering Committee of the Institute for BIM in Canada, is an owner representative on the Canadian Construction Documents Committee and is a past member of the Treasury Board Advisory Committee for Construction Contracts.