What Glass Ceiling?

At the recently concluded PMPA annual meeting in San Diego, the organization named Darlene Miller, president of and CEO of Permac Industries (Burnsville, Minn.) as its new president. Darlene is the first female to be named president of the association and will head the association’s board of directors.

Through the years, she has been a tireless and effective advocate for the precision machined products industry carrying the message as a member of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. She also co-chaired the High Tech Education subgroup, where she created an advanced manufacturing skills training program called Right Skills Now, which has been rolled out to technical and trade schools across the United States.

We all know that matching worker skill with employers needs is one of the critical issues facing our industry and manufacturing in general, and Darlene has been on the front line trying to reconcile this issue. “Darlene has been the leading voice in our industry, touting careers in manufacturing and the need to further develop the next generation of precision machinists, says PMPA Executive Director Mike Kobylka. “I look forward to working with Darlene in the coming year as she serves as the association’s president.”

In addition to her role as PMPA president, Ms. Miller serves as a member of numerous boards, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive committee and board of directors, U.S. Chamber Commerce chair of the Council on Small Business, St. Catherine’s STEM advisory board, National Visiting Committee member of the 360º Manufacturing Applied Engineering Center of Excellence, Learning Blade advisory board, and Federated Insurance advisory board.