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Today, on International Women’s Day 2020, I’ve been contemplating the influence of some amazing women, all that I am lucky and proud to call friends and colleagues, that are shaping the digital transformation of the manufacturing and supply chain. They are examples and heroes to us all and the exemplify to theme of this year’s activity of #EachforEqual, where an equal world is an enabled world.
Here are a few of the amazing women shaking things up in the world of digital manufacturing. Kudos and thanks to all of them and to every other woman in technology, helping to change the industry and to motivate the stars of the future.
Senior Vice President at Dell Technologies, Cheryl Cook spearheads development and strategy for the Global Partner, Embedded and Edge Solutions Marketing organization. Beyond her main global responsibilities for branding, partner program marketing, channel events, partner communications, and MDF/BDF program investments and execution, Cheryl drives long-term partner marketing strategy, together with regional Commercial, Enterprise and Infrastructure Solution business teams. A vocal advocate for the partner community, Cheryl is known as an innovative, collaborative leader who creates compelling business solutions that accelerate partners’ success.
A contributor to Fortune Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Women’s community, Cheryl is an active proponent of women in business and technology. Cheryl is the founder and executive sponsor of the Dell Technologies Women’s Partner Network, an initiative that supports and empowers our community of women partners. Cheryl also contributes to Dell’s Women in Action and Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network. Honored by CRN numerous times as one of the Power 100 Women of the Channel, 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs and Top 100 Channel Sales Leaders, as well as Channel Partners Top Gun 51, Cheryl serves on the board of directors for ARC Document Solutions, is a member of Channel Focus Club 50 and holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Florida.
In her own words: “At Dell, we recognize that diversity is not only the right thing to do, it’s also a business imperative. We know that the role of women, really, the role of diversity, in digital transformation is critical. The speed at which technology is advancing and transforming our lives and culture is truly fantastic. To succeed at this incredible speed of change requires relentless innovation, which requires diversity of thought, perspective and experience. To put it succinctly: diversity drives innovation, and innovation fuels success. Technology may be moving at a rapid pace today, but just think of the speed we could obtain, and of the diversity of ideas and perspective we could hear, if we enabled and empowered the women in the world!
Heather Andrus leads a corporate innovation team at Fortive, working to bring accretive growth to Fortive’s portfolio of industrial businesses. She has been leading product development and innovation initiatives for three decades. Her passion for product development grows from a deeply held belief that creating great products positively impacts people’s lives. Heather grounds her work in people: understanding met and unmet needs and working to fill these by balancing technology, design and business.
Heather has previously worked at IDEO, Apple, 3Com, Jabil and Altitude (an Accenture Innovation X.0 company). She has a BS from MIT in Computer Science and Engineering (with a minor in Cognitive Science as well as pre-med coursework) and an MS from Stanford in ME (Product Design).
In her own words: “Digital transformation changes the way we work every day. With a portfolio of brands located around the world, being able to innovate with cross functional and diverse teams means embracing digital tools to collaborate and rapidly develop innovative solutions.”
Fictiv COO Jean Olivieri has over 22 years of expansive experience in hardware product development, operations, and strategic business development. New Product Introduction is the backbone of her career, and she has held executive leadership positions in operations at Fortune-500 companies such as Apple, Motorola and SpaceX.
In her own words: “Fictiv is actively changing the way innovation occurs, delivering hardware at the speed of software. We passionately embrace diversity and are extremely proud that almost half of the Fictiv team are female at all levels of the organization. It is truly an inspirational place to work, where change is a part of daily routine. A diverse approach has delivered an inspirational team, they are the real heroes!”
Eduarda Ferreira is the founder and President of 434 Creations, a 3D printing company with a focus on full-color 3D printing. 434 Creations offers full-color 3D printing services and is also working on developing its own multi-material 3D printing technology. They provide 3D printing services to fund R&D to develop their own 3D printing materials (powder and binders) to cut costs and provide full-color 3D prints at a much lower price compared to what’s currently on the market.
In her own words: “Women have been transforming additive manufacturing since the beginning and there are many role models in the industry that I admire and look up to, such as Jennifer A. Lewis, Harvard Professor and Founder of Voxel8 and Marina Hatsopoulos, Z Corp.'s founding CEO. Role models of women changing the future of manufacturing are very important to attract more women into the industry.”
Laura M. Marsden is Digital Health Lead at Jabil Healthcare. Her passion is leveraging ethnographic research and innovative digital solutions to provide patients, clinicians and researchers with real time data and meaningful insights. Her roles in patient advocacy, healthcare improvement implementation, and Medical Device Research and Development have provided a unique perspective, and customer-centric approach.
She has extensive experience in the strategic business and product development of complex surgical systems, and is a champion of usability and risk management practices in accordance with FDA guidance and international medical standards. Her expertise in analysis and effective translation of data and insights to actionable, agile product development of intuitive devices ensures the safety of both user and patient.
Laura is Co-founder and member of the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children’s Parent & Patient IBD Advisory Council. She serves an appointment to the James M. Anderson Center for Health System Excellence Pathway to Mastery Steering Committee of Improve Care Now; an international pediatric initiative to transform health care costs, and patient outcomes of children and young adults with IBD through a sustainable, collaborative chronic-care network of parents, patients, clinicians and researchers. Laura earned a BFA in Industrial Design and HF from Rochester Institute of Technology and has been practicing for 25 years.
Editor's note: We'll introduce you to more superstars tomorrow.
