SWE - Fall 2007 - (Page 12) FY08 Society of Women Engineers Board of Directors Connolly has gained a broad base of experience during her career with positions in development engineering, manufacturing, and information technology while previously working for an aerospace company. Connolly obtained her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and her master’s degree in industrial engineering-management of technology from Arizona State University. During her over 20-year involvement with SWE, Connolly has held various positions in the ASU and Phoenix Sections and the Sonora Region. Her service on the national SWE board includes region director, three terms as the speaker of the council, and director of education. She received the Phoenix Section’s 1997 Outstanding Member Service Award. Connolly is an alumnus and former board member of Arizona Leadership 2000, a women’s leadership group, and also a member of the American Society for Quality. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, mostly to warm locations, to scuba dive with her husband, Rick. She also looks forward to bicycling to work at least once a week and practicing yoga. She has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, is a registered EIT, and was recognized as a SWE Distinguished New Engineer in 2004. Patterson has been a member of SWE since 1994 and is serving her third term on the board of directors. Previously, she served as speaker of the council of representatives. Other previous roles in SWE include serving as charter president of the Tulsa-NEO section, MAL representative and deputy director of Region I, national career guidance chair, and most recently, deputy speaker of the council of representatives. In her free time, Patterson enjoys reading, golfing, volunteering at her church, and spending time with her husband and daughter. Helen Patricia, Director of Membership Initiatives Helen Patricia is serving as the director of membership initiatives, her second year in the position. A member of the Pittsburgh section since 1989, Patricia has held a number of section positions including section president, fundraising chair, career guidance chair, and section representative. At the national level, in 1994 she served as secretary to the national conference, which was hosted in Pittsburgh. She served on the board in 2003-2004 as Region G director and then as region governor with the adoption of the bylaws in 2003. She has also served as alternate and leadership coach for Region G. She is employed at Kennametal Inc., a leading global supplier of tooling, engineered components and advanced materials that are consumed in production processes. In her role at Kennametal Inc., Patricia is the quality manager for metalworking manufacturing, North America, where her responsibilities include directing the quality teams at the MWM carbide manufacturing plants in addition to the metallurgical operations in North America. She is part of a global quality team responsible for creating and implementing the necessary strategies to drive the organization to Six Sigma quality levels. Patricia has been with Kennametal since 1982. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. She and her husband, Steve, live on a 28-acre farm in Ligonier, Penn. In her free time Helen enjoys spending time with her two horses and hiking with her husband and their three dogs. Fran Stuart, Secretary After a 19-year career as an industrial / manufacturing engineer at various aerospace companies, Fran Stuart is semi-retired. She is a partner in Stuart Technical Services, a consulting firm specializing in package testing services and resides with her husband on 10 rural acres in Rio Rancho, N.M. Stuart received her B.S. in industrial management from Georgia Tech in 1979. She joined SWE as a member of the Georgia Tech collegiate section. Prior to her student years, she had a three-year enlistment in the U.S. Army Security Agency as an electronic warfare linguist. Stuart has a long and varied history in SWE at all levels of the organization, particularly in Region B. She has served the region in positions ranging from counselor at California State University, Long Beach, to president of the Orange County Section, to representative of the Central New Mexico Section. She is currently a member-at-large and most recently served as the Region B member-atlarge representative and member-at-large secretary. Prior to that, Stuart was the Region B governor and Region B director. Stuart conceived “Celebrate SWE!” event at the national conference as an alternative to the previously held collegiate banquet. She has consistently contributed to Sonora Region B conferences and career fairs. She has sponsored five space campers and issued numerous Certificates of Merit. Stuart is an avid reader, a cross-stitcher, and a quilter, who also enjoys playing Mah Jongg with a very interesting and eclectic group of women. She was named the volunteer operations chair for the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, N.M. Siddika Demir, Director of Education Siddika Demir is manager of corporate services Six Sigma at Bechtel’s corporate office in San Francisco, where she is accountable for the successful achievement of Six Sigma goals for four senior vice presidents. She sets strategies and goals for each of the areas under corporate services, which include finance, corporate affairs, legal and risk management. She has oversight of 100 Six Sigma-trained individuals in corporate services. Demir’s tenure at Bechtel began in the Houston office following her graduation magna cum laude, with university honors and honors in major, from the University of Houston in 1993. She received a master’s in civil engineering from Purdue University in 1996. In 2000, she was nominated for the inaugural Black Belt program, as part of Bechtel’s Six Sigma quality initiative, and then joined the corporate office in San Francisco. Demir joined the collegiate section of SWE at the University of Houston in 1990, and was president Linette Patterson, Treasurer Linette Patterson is in her second year serving as SWE treasurer. Patterson is the MWD engineering manager for Dell Americas Operation. In this role, she manages an organization responsible for quality and process improvements. She joined Dell in 2004 and held an inventory control manager role before moving to the engineering and quality organization. Patterson also has seven years experience in consulting and telecommunications. 12 SWE FALL 2007
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