With over 30 years of experience, Arlene Dedier has an extensive background in architecture and construction in the residential, commercial, industrial, retail, and hospitality industry. She has a proven ability to oversee numerous multi-million-dollar projects simultaneously, directing ground-up construction, tenant fit-out and renovation projects. With a lifelong interest in design, Arlene began a career in architecture and real estate development following the completion of her architecture degree at Carleton University's School of Architecture.

From the start, Arlene focused on managing the development and construction of tenant fit outs and base buildings, establishing herself as a designer and project manager for a large U.S. development firm. Her entire career has centred around working with commercial clients to deliver them the real estate spaces they need. Known as a firefighter, she is frequently brought in by other firms to rescue projects that have gone awry. Her ability to work seamlessly, with diverse teams from brokers to C-Suite stakeholders, to internal resourcing allows her to quickly determine a project’s issue and identify solutions.

Arlene has a long history of service within her community and CRE industry as a past president of the Washington Real Estate Group, Board member of the DC based Spanish Education Development Center, and former member of the Sponsorship Committee of the African American Real Estate Professionals and Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW). Today she continues collaborating with the community through her speaking engagements, Trustee for the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Foundation and Toronto CREW’s Inclusive, Equity, Diversity, and Allyship (IDEA) Committee.

Her charisma paired with her deep industry knowledge makes her a natural leader for the Canadian Project Management Practice at Avison Young, bringing an innate ability to motivate her project teams and provide meaningful insight into technical issues for clients. Arlene is also the recipient of the Catalyst Canada Honours 2020 Business Leader award, which recognizes exceptional role models who are accelerating progress for women in the workplace. 2023 Connect CRE Recipient of Canadian Women’s Real Estate Award.