Women in Manufacturing Education Foundation Board of Directors Announced

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Women in Manufacturing Education Foundation (WiMEF) is pleased to announce the election of 22 members to its 2022 Board of Directors, whose terms begin on April 1, 2022.

The board is led by Chair Cara Herzog, Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, People and Culture, Southwire Company, Carrollton, GA; Vice Chair Shameka Lewis, Site Manager of Safety and Security, HelloFresh, Grand Prairie, TX; Secretary Steve Speich, Intelligent Solutions Group Factory Manager, John Deere, Fargo, ND; and Past Chair/Treasurer Mary Ellen Grom, Executive Director, Customer Experience Solutions, AFL, Duncan, SC.

First-term members of the 2022 WiMEF board are:

• Kori Carlson, President, Brooklyn Tool Co., Minneapolis, MN
• Melissa DeTamble, Chief Human Resources Officer, PLZ Corp., Downers Grove, IL
• Mani Khanuja, Senior Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Specialist, Amazon Web Services, Vancouver, BC
• Vanessa Li, Program Manager, Novelis, Kennesaw, GA

“On behalf of the entire WiM organization, I am excited to welcome this new group of leaders to the WiMEF Board of Directors,” said WiM President Allison Grealis. “I look forward to working with them to continue developing and delivering effective and affordable programming that helps women advance in their industry careers.”

WiMEF funds the Leadership Institute for Women in Manufacturing and STEM, the Leadership Consortium, the Management Development Program, and the Empowering Women in Production Program, as well as a Virtual Learning Series that provides monthly webinars. These programs have helped thousands of women and men in the industry grow professionally and personally since the foundation’s inception.

Additional members of the WiMEF board who are continuing their service are:

• Rachel Camarillo, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Erin Air, Seattle, WA
• Michel Conklin, Executive Director, BotsIQ, Pittsburgh, PA
• Heidi Gerhard, Head of Talent, BASF Corporation, Florham Park, NJ
• Sascha Harrell, IN-MaC Director of Education & Workforce, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
• Kaitlyn Kelly, Operational Excellence Coach, Trane Technologies, Lexington, KY
• Danielle Lancianese, Director – Tile & Stone Category, Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Dalton, GA
• Leslie LeMair, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, George Utz, Minneapolis, MN
• Jenn Martin, Engineering Manager, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing, North America, Georgetown, KY
• Jo Ann Mitchell, MBA, JMitchell Consulting, Fair Lawn, NJ
• Melissa Rocha, Director of Global Sourcing, Kymera International, Charlotte, NC
• Catherine Ross, Director of Education, Smartforce Development, AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology, McLean, VA
• Shauna Smith, Global Process Excellence Leader, SPX FLOW, Charlotte, NC

• Carrie Uhl, Chief Procurement Officer, GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI
• Laura Wilde, Senior Director Quality & Mission Assurance, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Huntsville, AL

Grealis also thanked outgoing members of the WiMEF board for their outstanding service: Alicia Cannon, Apex Filling Systems; Sheila LaMothe, Goyer Management International; Susanne Lauda, AGCO Corp., and Gretchen Zierick, Zierick Manufacturing Corp.

The WiM Education Foundation (WiMEF) is the 501(c)(3) arm of Women in Manufacturing® Association, a more than 11,000-member-strong association dedicated to supporting, promoting and inspiring women who have chosen a career in manufacturing. WiMEF provides and supports effective and affordable educational opportunities for women in manufacturing. For more information, visit www.wimef.org and www.womeninmanufacturing.org.