Our Stories

International Women’s Day is a day to recognize women around the world and celebrate their achievements on a global scale. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress, which resonates with all of us at Irving Shipbuilding.

We are proud of our initiatives like Women Making Waves, Techsploration, and our partnership with Women Unlimited to involve more women in shipbuilding. Women from these programs are accomplishing great things at ISI. A graduate of the Women Unlimited program, Ashley Angevine, laid the keel for AOPS #6, the future HMCS Robert Hampton Gray, in 2023.

This past year, ISI and Techsploration offered four scholarships to young women entering skilled trades, business, and technology programs at Nova Scotia Community College. The continued investment into the education of women and the promotion of equality benefits everyone by creating endless opportunities to be seized, regardless of gender. Progress for women is progress for all.

This International Women’s Day, we are highlighting one of the many hard-working women at ISI, Doris Zhang. Doris has been with ISI since February of 2023 and is a graduate of the Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) program at McGill University. 

She began her career in Alberta working in the oil and gas industry, but, after taking a role with a global aerospace & defense company, Doris discovered her passion for supply chain and procurement. Doris has since received her Professional Diploma in Procurement and Supply from the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply.

Doris has continued her career journey in supply chain and has worked on several major global shipbuilding programs. This includes the UK Type 26 program, Australian Hunter Class Frigate program and, most recently, the Canadian Surface Combatant program. Doris has been in shipbuilding for seven years.

Today, Doris is a Supply Chain Team Lead at ISI and is responsible for managing a team of procurement specialists, negotiating agreements with subcontractors, ensuring compliance with contractual agreements, monitoring delivery metrics, and much more. “Every day on the Supply Chain Team is different”, says Doris. “There’s never a dull moment in Supply Chain! On a daily basis, I interact with a large group of internal and external stakeholders solving complex problems. I really enjoy the variety of the work and the exposure that comes with the job.”