Women Honored for Excellence in Manufacturing
These women have accomplished success within their companies and have proven to be leaders in the industry as a whole.
The Manufacturing Institute announced 130 women who are 2015 STEP Ahead Award Honorees and Emerging Leaders on March 26 at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. These women have accomplished success within their companies and have proven to be leaders in the industry as a whole. This year, the Emerging Leaders category represents a select few young women who are the future of the industry and have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments at the beginning of their careers.
Among these winners were three Sandvik Coromant employees, including Veronica Messersmith, vice president of sales; Tara Shamus, service engineer; and, in the new Emerging Leader category, Faina Sandler, global web specialist.
"These women are the faces of exciting careers in manufacturing," says Jennifer McNelly, president, The Manufacturing Institute. "We chose to honor these women because they each made significant achievements in manufacturing through positive impact on their company and the industry as a whole.”
The STEP Awards are part of a larger STEP Ahead initiative, launched to examine and promote the role of women in the manufacturing industry that focuses on the attraction, development, advancement, and retention of high potential female talent.
STEP Ahead is designed to help improve the retention of existing female talent and highlight role models that can help raise awareness about careers for women in manufacturing. Currently, women represent 25 percent of all manufacturing employees but 51 percent of the potential workforce.
