DENSO Recognizes 2021 STEP Ahead Nominees

In September, we called for associates to nominate exemplary female colleagues for the 2021 STEP Ahead Awards, a national honor given every year by the Manufacturing Institute to the best women leaders in manufacturing.

We asked and you delivered. From the c-suite to the production floor, here are the outstanding nominees you submitted to be considered for the awards:

• DIAM:
• • Kara Grasso, VP of Strategic Operations
  • Stacey Skerske, Senior Manager of Sales
  • Amanda Gray, IT Support Staff Supervisor
  • Denise Carlson, VP of NAPIC and Executive Lead for Diversity and Inclusion
• DMAT:
  • Emilee Davis, Tie Project Leader
  • Ashleigh Seay, Manager of Production Engineering
  • Cheryl Reagan, Production Visual Inspector
• DMCN:
  • Karen Whiteman, Engineer
• DMMI:
  • Kim Shakinis, Senior Process Engineer
  • Michelle Haviland, Advanced Process Engineer
• DMTN:
  • Connie Sharpe, Section Leader, Quality Engineering
  • Whitney Dye, Team Leader, Production
  • Haley Penney, Senior Specialist, Quality Engineering
  • Jananii Vaz, Senior Specialist, Production Engineering
  • Rebecca Sargent, Team Leader, Production
  • Monica Moore, Manager, Production
  • Beth Rollins, Manager, Engineering
  • April Banner, Section Leader, Production
  • Mary Sutherland, Senior Specialist, Quality Engineering
  • Tina Lakey, Manager, Quality Engineering
  • Amanda Dango, Senior Specialist, Production Engineering
• DPAM:
  • Ellen Yim, Purchasing Supervisor

Please join us in applauding all these DENSO leaders, who make invaluable contributions to DENSO every day and help us deliver on our principles of safety, quality and collaboration. We recognize the important impacts they make not only at DENSO, but in their communities and with friends and families as well.

What’s Next?

While we wished to submit all the nominees, the Manufacturing Institute is highly selective in its review process and only allows 10 submissions per company.

As a result, a DENSO review committee consisting of members from the Diversity & Inclusion Council, Corporate Communications, Human Resources and Government Affairs evaluated and submitted the nominations that best aligned to the awards’ criteria. Those criteria included examples of personal achievement, mentorship, leadership, and community and company contributions through specific results and data.

The Manufacturing Institute is expected to announce the winners on Jan. 8, 2021. If a DENSO associate wins, we will be sure to share!

Want to get involved next time?

Whether you were nominated this year or this is the first you are hearing of the award, know that next year you will have another chance to nominate yourself or another standout female leader from DENSO. We will share more details about how to nominate individuals – and how to make those nominations as strong as possible – closer to next year’s nomination window.

More About the STEP Ahead Awards

Produced by The Manufacturing Institute, an organization dedicated to growing and enhancing the industry’s skilled workforce, the STEP Ahead Awards recognize women in science, technology, engineering and production careers who exemplify leadership within their companies. The honor identifies top talent in manufacturing, and further encourages award winners to mentor and support the next generation of women to pursue manufacturing careers.