Bio: Yindy was born and lived in Hong Kong there until she was 13 years old when her family immigrated to San Francisco in 1995. Upon arrival, Yindy’s father quickly established his own HVAC business serving the San Francisco Bay Area.  Inspired by her father’s work ethic and “always be learning” attitude, Yindy pursued the sciences and eventually earned a B.S. Mechanical Engineering, with a concentration in HVAC from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and has since focused her professional career on driving innovation in the HVAC in industry.
Yindy has spent her entire career with Western Allied Mechanical (WAM), a mechanical HVAC design-build firm.  While she started as a college intern, Yindy has since been has promoted through a series of engineering, project management, marketing, and business management roles at WAM and is now one of the Vice Presidents at the firm. Yindy and her team at WAM have been at the forefront of innovation, successfully executing many “first-of-a-kind” energy efficient design projects, including geo-thermal ground loops, radiant floor and plank and all-electric “no gas” ground-up buildings to name a few. Yindy believes that her industry has both the opportunity and responsibility to make positive impacts to the environment one building at a time.
Construction may be an old industry, but Yindy takes pride in WAM’s modern approach, forward thinking and commitment to a “people-first” work culture. Yindy drives the “Grounded in Care” initiative at WAM, a framework that focuses on continued employee growth and success, provides career mentoring and ongoing training opportunities for employees to develop both hard and soft skills.  The initiative extends to community level charitable activities, most notably the successful Heavy Metal Summer Camp, a free 6-week summer camp held in WAM’s sheet metal and piping shop.  This program provides introductory training and exposure to industry trades for high school age students experiencing hardship and looking for meaningful career opportunities outside of the traditional college pathway.
WAM’s vision is to Engineer Better Environments for Everyone, regardless of gender, ethnic and cultural background, or religious beliefs.  Yindy believes that a focus on diversity and inclusions has been one of the biggest assets at WAM.  A couple of years ago, Yindy partnered with the Viewpoint Project to make a short documentary to promote diversity and inclusion at the industry level.  She is an active board member at Bay Area SMACNA and serves on the leadership steering committee of the SMACNA WIC (Women in Construction) group whose mission is to both highlight the accomplishments of women leaders in construction and encourage the next generation or women leaders to join the industry.
Yindy and her husband Brandon are the proud parents of three wonderful (and energetic!) boys, Maximus (9), Apollo (7), and Evander (5).  Suffice it to say, there is never a dull moment in the house.  Yindy volunteers weekly at her children’s school and appreciates the opportunity to witness her kids enjoy their childhood moments at school with their friends and demonstrate to her children the importance of contribution and volunteering in the community. Yindy and Brandon enjoy international travel and are looking forward to exposing their sons to other countries and cultures around the world.

Breakout Topic: Panel Discussion ‘How to Prepare for Ownership’
These panelists have all obtained the dream, they are part of ownership. They’ll share their thoughts and insights on managing the climb and what you need to do to prepare yourself to reach the top. Courageous anecdotes, items to weigh and consider in navigating the pitfalls on your path to ownership.