Sheridan grad Jennifer Benedict (Architectural Technology, ’08) used to assess train crossings one-by-one. Today, she’s rewriting the national rules for how they’re built. With her revenue set to quadruple, she’s scaling a firm that began with just one laptop and a vision.
However, it was Jennifer’s subsequent membership in Sheridan EDGE’s Rise Program that truly allowed her to supercharge the success of her venture, Ironwood Infrastructure Inc. Jennifer’s firm specializes in complex railway infrastructure projects, bringing together railways, road authorities, industry leaders, and regulators to create safer and more efficient railway networks. Jennifer credits her second Sheridan experience at Rise with her business’s success and is also an example of how Sheridan grads are returning to the college community, enticed back by Sheridan EDGE’s programs and supports for entrepreneurs.
“For me, Rise’s greatest benefit is the personalized coaching it offers,” says Jennifer, who joined Rise’s third cohort in September 2024. “I truly value the opportunities to connect in-person, at workshops and getting to know the other people in my cohort. Rise has been incredible as it’s taken me from being just a self-employed consultant to an entrepreneur and business owner.”
In her first year of operations starting in 2022, she netted $170,000 in revenue. As of this month, Jennifer is on target to reach $1,000,000 in revenue by the end of this year, and she has several multi-year contracts amounting to over $500,000 per year for the next three years.
After joining Rise, she was assigned Mark Rodford as her coach. Under his guidance, Jennifer assembled a team of experts, building up her confidence in the process by guiding her through tasks like bidding for contracts.
“I appreciated gleaning more impartial perspectives from outside my industry urging me to go for it when scaling up my venture and completing tasks like this,” says Jennifer.
She hired a developer whom she met through Mark to create an app for quality and automation of grade crossing safety assessments. The design and testing are complete and will be ready to integrate into the business this year.
The app incorporates AI into Jennifer’s business and will help her maintain the high level of quality valued by her clients, even as she scales up her venture and delegates work.
“I wouldn’t have had the confidence to hire a developer and move ahead with the app without the support from the Rise program. Although the app is a significant investment, it helps to streamline processes, save time, add quality assurance and control checks and helps me showcase Ironwood Infrastructure Inc. as a leader in grade crossing safety,” says Jennifer.
For Mark, the most satisfying aspect of working with Jennifer was her proactive and flexible approach, recalling how she always came prepared with ideas on how to expand her operations at every meeting. This included everything from marketing and business development to the basics like bookkeeping. He described Jennifer as “my favourite type of person to work with.”
But his biggest gift to Jennifer was helping her break down the often-isolating experience of self-employment by helping her network with others in her Rise cohort. “I’m pleased that she’s doing great,” says Mark.
“Jennifer is the foremost leader in this country in what she’s doing, and the world will beat a path to her door.”
After completing her architecture studies at Sheridan, Jennifer obtained a degree in environmental studies, before pursuing a Master of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto. But it was a placement at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) out of College and a connection she made with a peer mentor while there that encouraged her to pursue engineering. While initially working in building code and inspections, a minor accident on site led to chance application at Canadian Pacific Railway. This in turn allowed Jennifer to return to the rail industry and an eight-year experience.
Jennifer launched Ironwood Infrastructure Inc. with more than 15 years of engineering and business experience under her belt. Her prior experience includes delivering over 120 bridge and grade crossing projects, in addition to the implementation of Transport Canada’s Grade Crossing Regulations and Standards for more than 7,500 crossings.
Today, Ironwood Engineering Inc. boasts big-name clients including Metrolinx, Hatch and CP Rail. Jennifer’s firm specializes in railway engineering, regulatory compliance, grade crossings, bridges, and complex joint infrastructure projects regulated by the Canadian Transportation Authority.
Jennifer says her business is emblematic of a shift in work patterns, with increasing numbers of people founding their own businesses and seeking self-employment, including as consultants working for firms. She said Rise is leading the way in a wider cultural move away from traditional corporate 9-5 jobs.
Meantime, she sees Ironwood Infrastructure Inc.’s role in this shift as preserving its unique niche in railroad engineering, even as it continues to scale up operations.
“I want to maintain a standard of excellence and quality that I deliver myself, but I want to bring in more people and deliver at a larger scale. I would like to be more automated, deploy more technology and double my revenue one more time,” says Jennifer.
Outside the office, Jennifer also credits Sheridan with bringing her to her husband Greg Babiak (Mechanical Engineering Technology Design and Drafting, ‘08). They nearly named their daughter ‘Sheridan’ after the college.
Rise is a program for social entrepreneurs ready to scale their impact enterprises at an accelerated pace. This project is funded by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). For more information, visit the program page or email us at edge@sheridancollege.ca.
