• AutomotiveNEXT

    AutomotiveNEXT is an Inforum industry group that provides a network and supportive community for automotive women to empower them to achieve their full potential and make a lasting impact in the industry. It also serves as a strategic ally and resource for companies in fostering inclusive and thriving environments.

Making a Lasting Impact in Automotive

Inforum industry groups bring together practitioners to collaborate on industry issues and share best and next practices. AutomotiveNEXT is a powerful network and supportive community for women in Automotive that inspires and empowers them to lean in, achieve their full potential, and make a lasting impact in the industry.

AutomotiveNEXT aims to close the talent gap and strengthen the talent pipeline for automotive through three primary areas of focus:

  • positioning and promoting women thought leaders;
  • developing and inspiring rising leaders through volunteer and leadership development opportunities; and
  • sharing best practices for attracting, developing and retaining female talent.
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Develop & Inspire

Best Piece of Advice

2019 NAIAS Breakfast

January 18, 2019
Detroit, MI

Mentoring is a passion

Written by: Gene Oswalt, Vice President, Benefits, Compensation, M&A, Robert Bosch LLC, and Vice-Chair, AutomotiveNEXT

What is my passion?  Mentoring others.  Why? It’s like giving a gift, and being able to watch someone open it—the joy really is in the giving.  I also think of mentoring as my way to “Pay It Forward.”

When I was in an early leadership role, and was struggling with a particular challenge, my boss showed me a piece of paper that he had taped above his desk.  On it were these words:

Good judgment comes as a result of experience.

Experience comes as a result of bad judgment.

There is no shortcut to maturity—it comes one day at a time.

He then gave me the piece of paper, which has been taped to every desk or office wall I’ve had ever since—for more than twenty years. 

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Best Practices

Women’s Resource Group


Link by Link: A Guide to Forming a Women’s Network at Your Organization
Moss Adams LLP

Diversity

Minding the manufacturing Gap: How manufacturers can get their fair share of talented women
The Manufacturing Institute, APICS Supply Chain Council, and Deloitte worked together to understand why manufacturing isn’t getting its fair share of talented women. We surveyed more than 600 women in manufacturing, across all functional roles and levels, to get their gauge of how well companies are doing at attracting, retaining and advancing women. We also held an executive roundtable in Washington, D.C., where we convened senior leaders – representing a diverse group of some of the world’s largest manufacturing companies – to bring into focus their executive view of human capital and talent concerns.

Statistics and Facts

How and Where diversity Drive Financial Performance (Harvard Business Review, 2018)

Lean In Women in the Workplace Study (McKinsey & Company)
Women in the Workplace 2017 is a comprehensive study of the state of women in corporate America. This research is part of a long-term partnership between LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company to give organizations the information they need to promote women’s leadership and foster gender equality.

Women at the Wheel: Recruitment, retention and advancement of women in the European automotive industry (Automotive News & Deloitte, 2016)

Women at the Wheel: Recruitment, retention and advancement of women in the automotive industry (Automotive News & Deloitte, 2015)

Automotive News Project XX

Executive Committee

Michelle Braun – co-chair
Executive Director, Program Management
General Motors Co.

Corinne Diemert – co-chair
Vice President, North American Sales
Valeo

Carolyn Cerny
Director of Marketing NA
Continental

Christina Coplen
Consultant, Global Industrial, Automotive, and Leadership Advisory Practice
Spencer Stuart

Brandy Goolsby
Senior Manager, Business Development, Connected Vehicle Solutions
Wind River Systems

Regan E. Grant
Director, Global Strategic Marketing & Communications
Stoneridge, Inc.

Kara Grasso
Vice President, Strategic Operations
Denso

Jessica Hanson
Vice President Corporate Logistics North America
Robert Bosch LLC

Janet Harden
NA Controller
Continental

Joan Hart
Vice President, Global Program Management & Process Excellence
ZF Group

Laura Hirschhorn
Ford NA Key Account Manager
Henkel

Christi Kann Youngberg
Partner, Assurance Services
EY

Karen King
IT-Engineering Director
Yazaki

Rhonda McNally
Global Director, Marketing
Magna International

Laura Moss
Vice President, Finance Global Leather
Lear Corp.

Shilpa Patel
Indirect Purchasing Director
Faurecia NA

Desi Ujkashevic
Global Director, Automotive Safety Office Engineering
Ford Motor Co.

Lisa Vallee-Smith
CEO
Airfoil Group

Marlo Vitous
Head of supply chain planning
FCA US LLC

For more information on how to become a sponsor, contact Carole Leigh Hutton, VP Business Development & Marketing, 313-324-0234 or clhutton@inforummichigan.org.