Leah Zappia

In the fall of 2006 Leah knocked on the doors of AJ Kirkwood & Associates, Inc. seeking a career change and an opportunity. In her time at AJK there has been no rung on the ladder that she has not ascended to. Leah started her career as a Project Engineer, which then led to multiple promotions to Project Manager, Sr. Project Manager and Operations Manager where she managed in excess of $300 million of business. Her intimate knowledge of the organization and knowing what drives and motivates our people culminated in her rise to Chief Operations Officer in May of 2020. Since being promoted to the C-Suite Leah has implemented her vision for change by restructuring and redesigning multiple departments. Under Leah’s leadership AJK has streamlined our safety, engineering and IT departments, created field development & strategy think tanks that identify our next level talent, created education platforms that accelerate growth and has created clear pathways to promotability for field leadership. Under Leah’s guidance AJK has developed mentorship opportunities for our new Foremen and pipelines to various schools and organizations for talent acquisition opportunities.

Leah holds a General Electrician Journeyman card, BS in Business and MBA from the University of Redlands and a Law Degree from Western State College of Law. She is licensed to practice law in California and carries both the B and C-10 license for the organization. Leah chairs the Board of Directors at the Association of Builder and Contractors, Southern California (ABC SoCal) is on the Legislative Committee at Associated General Contractors (AGC) and is an active member of National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC).