SWE - Fall 2008 - (Page 15)

a corporate-wide Northrop Grumman SWE group and has seen within her company an increase in SWE membership and participation at the SWE national conference. She received the Chicago Regional Section’s Individual Contributor, Consistent Contributor, and National Contributor awards in 2002, 2004, and 2008, respectively. Lin earned her bachelor’s degree in physics in Taiwan and a master’s in physics from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She and her husband have two daughters. She enjoys cooking and entertaining, and her favorite TV shows are Iron Chef and Law and Order-Criminal Intent. Lin has served in the children’s ministry at her church for more than 15 years. Fran Stuart, Secretary After a 19-year career as an industrial/ manufacturing engineer with 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 lives 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. Between her sophomore and junior years, she served a three-year enlistment in the U.S. Army Security Agency as an electronic warfare linguist and completed her education using the GI Bill, a small scholarship, and loans. She has a long and varied history in SWE at all levels of the organization, particularly in Region B. She has served the region, two sections, and the members-at-large in numerous positions, including as last Region B director and first Region B governor. She is currently a member-at-large and most recently served as the Region B member-atlarge representative and member-at-large secretary. As her proudest SWE contribution, Stuart conceived the “Celebrate SWE!” event held 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 and NASCAR fan. Last year she drove a Sprint Cup car 18 hot laps at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. she learned from that effort to develop organizational-wide implementation plans. Graf received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. In the following three decades, she has gained substantial experience in the engineering, construction, engineering cost analysis, budgeting, and information technology fields. A SWE member for more than 25 years, Graf has held numerous sectional, regional, and national positions. In her most recent role as finance chair, she helped to develop new budgeting processes to include program and strategic budgets. Her local section positions have been in the Rocky Mountain and Minnesota sections. Recently, she led the bylaws re-write committees for both Region I and the Rocky Mountain Section. In her spare time, Graf volunteers for her church’s Habitat for Humanity group and at a local theater. She likes to bead and hopes to do some fishing and camping this year. Erin McGinnis, Director of Membership Initiatives Erin McGinnis is the chief of staff for Commercial and Civil Satellite Programs for Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems (S&IS), based in El Segundo, Calif. Boeing S&IS is the company’s center for satellites and experimental space systems. S&IS is a world leader in the design, development, and manufacturing of satellites for government, civil, and commercial customers. S&IS has employees working in more than 20 operating locations nationwide. McGinnis reports directly to the president of Boeing Satellite Systems International Inc. and is responsible for the management of the operating rhythm activities, metrics, logistics, facilitation of executive level meetings, reviews, and high-level customer meetings and management of the overhead budget. Before joining Boeing, she worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation in various engineering and process improvement roles. She joined SWE as a collegiate member in 1998 and received her B.S. in industrial engineering from Purdue University in 2002. Since then, McGinnis has held several Los Angeles Section, Region B, and national positions within SWE. She began her graduate studies in business as well as systems engineering at Loyola Marymount University in 2007. McGinnis enjoys designing jewelry, reading, cycling, kickboxing, and yoga. Joan Graf, Treasurer Joan Graf has worked in the telecommunications industry for 30 years and is an IT manager for Qwest Communications in Denver. She currently manages a program office for an organization of more than 1,800 employees. In this role she implements new standard processes for the development organization, resource management, and financial management of more than $30 million of maintenance budget. This past year Graf was responsible for mentoring a team in Arlington, Va., to implement standard processes for efficiency and cost improvements. She is now using what Siddika Demir, Director of Education Siddika Demir is the associate director of corporate engineering, operational excellence (OE) at Genentech. Headquartered in South San Francisco, Genentech is among the world’s leading biotech companies, with multiple products on the market for serious or life-threatening medical conditions. Demir oversees the OE department, which supports engineering and corporate facilities services. She leads OE in meeting corporate engineering’s goals in continuous process improvement, cus- SWE FALL 2008 15

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Fall 2008

SWE - Fall 2008 Heritage Club Contents Farewell Message from FY08 President Michelle Tortolani Congratulations SWE Magazine A Conversation with FY09 President Virginia Connolly, P.E. Introducing the FY09 Board of Directors View from the Executive Suite Editor's Page Public Policy Update SWE Retention Study, Part 6 Membership Information & Calendar A&B SWE Member Kristina Johnson First Woman to Receive John Fritz Medal University Labs Fuel a New Era in Energy Women Engineering Leaders in Academe 2008 Opening the Gateways to Engineering Your Collegiate Section History is Waiting to Be Discovered Honoring the Legacy of Ada Pressman, P.E. Report from WEPAN Engineering World Proposed Bylaws Amendments Point of View Correction Career Toolbox Corporate Partnership Council Book Review SWE Smiles In Memory Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook

SWE - Fall 2008

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