Women Of The C-Suite: Interview with Dr. Sarah Buchner of Trunk Tools

Excerpt: 

“Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Igrew up in a small village in Austria and started working as a carpenter at age 12 to help provide for my family. What began as a necessity quickly turned into a passion. The gritty, honest work of construction and this early experience shaped my work ethic and laid the groundwork for my entire career. Climbing the ranks from foreman to superintendent and site manager, I led large-scale projects across Europe, witnessing firsthand the challenges and opportunities in the construction sector. Throughout my career, I continued to pursue higher education, earning several degrees, including a PhD in Civil Engineering and Data Science. My PhD research revealed the potential for disruptive construction technology to revolutionize the field, inspiring my move to Silicon Valley to attend Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Leveraging my hands-on construction expertise and academic background, Trunk Tools was born — a leading AI platform for construction.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

Trunk Tools is disrupting construction management by fundamentally changing how industry professionals engage with their project data. Construction data is notoriously complex due to the multitude of stakeholders and the intricacies of building designs. By integrating the latest advancements in AI (which are changing almost weekly) with Trunk Tools’ deep understanding of the construction industry, we enhance job site productivity, quality, and safety. While traditional construction technology has mainly focused on digitizing processes, we are using AI to rethink and streamline existing workflows, automating the most tedious tasks while providing workers with essential data to make critical decisions. This approach not only improves project outcomes but also increases worker satisfaction. Our goal is to empower field workers to focus on what they do best: building buildings rather than being bogged down by bureaucracy.”