FY23 Core Board

Kristen Wagner - President

Kristen Wagner is a Mechanical Engineer at PepsiCo – Quaker Foods & Snacks in Milling Research & Development. She has worked at Quaker for the past nine years since she graduated from The University of Iowa in 2013. Kristen has been active in SWE for thirteen years; four years as a collegiate and nine years as a professional member. Throughout her professional career, Kristen has held various roles within SWE-ECI: President for three years, Vice-President for one year, Jr. Girl Scout Day Chair for two years, and College Outreach Chair for three years. Kristen was awarded the WE Local 2021 New Emerging Leader in Technology & Engineering (ELiTE) Award. Locally, Kristen has received the SWE-ECI Leadership Award 2019-2022, and she received the SWEsterhood Award in 2018. Aside from work and SWE, Kristen’s favorite hobbies are traveling, being outdoors, and spending time with her husband Devin, their three-year-old son Logan, ten-month-old baby girl Bella, and their dog Rylee.

Kristen is excited to be back in the Presidency role to let her passion for SWE-ECI really show through.

Jillian Nagle - Secretary

Jill is a Project Manager for P&G Oral Care in Iowa City. She studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Iowa where she graduated in 2013. At the University of Iowa, she was very involved with the Society of Women Engineers. She held several exec. board positions throughout her four years and rounded off her collegiate SWE career with being the President her senior year.

Upon graduation, Jill got involved with the local professional section, SWE-ECI. Over the past eight years Jill has been Vice President, President, K-12 Outreach Chair, and now circling back to fill the Secretary role.

Katie Allen - Treasurer

Katie is a Sr. Engineering Manager who works at Collins Aerospace. She has been active in SWE since her college years at the University of Notre Dame. She joined SWE-ECI in 2011 and has previously served as K-12 Outreach Chair when she inaugurated the popular Jr. Girl Scout Day event and President when she helped update the section bylaws and bring in Rockwell Collins corporate sponsored memberships. She has been treasurer many times and earned the Leadership Award for SWE-ECI in 2015 and 2016. Katie has attended and organized numerous section events.

Katie is happy to continue as treasurer as she feels that she is good at the role and has done a good job keeping SWE’s budget the last few years. She has ensured that our grant from Collins Aerospace is kept active, allowing many of the popular events to take place. Being treasurer allows her to help in many different aspects which she enjoys. It is also a good fit for her personal life, currently. The treasurer role allows her to support the section on her own schedule.

Megan Sharp - Membership Secretary & K-12 Outreach Chair

I'm currently an Engineering Manager at Collins Aerospace - an Aerospace company that creates different functionalities for aircraft in both the commercial and defense sectors. I lead a team of 18 engineers and run some strategic initiatives for my department - including a innovation committee that takes ideas engineers submit and see if we can get them funded and I hold a LEAN position that allows me to facilitate events to investigate different challenges that the department wants to solve. I'm 30 years old, and graduated in 2015 with an undergraduate Electrical Engineering degree from Iowa State University. I spent about a year as a software engineer, before changing to a Manufacturing Electrical Engineer at Collins Aerospace for 2 years. From there, I've take roles as a Project Engineer (leading engineering project teams through many different projects as an individual contributor) for 2.5 years and, finally, a manager of engineers for the last 1.5 years. I am currently pursuing an MBA at The University of Iowa as well. I've been actively involved in different volunteering efforts around women in STEM including: Introduce a Girl to Engineering, Collins Aerospace Women's Employee Resource Group, Society of Women Engineers, and the Future City competition.

After completing her rotation in the Collins Aerospace ERG program, Megan is excited to repurpose some of her spare time to SWE-ECI as the Membership Secretary and K-12 Outreach Chair. We are excited to have Megan as a new member on SWE-ECI core board!

Samantha Armstrong - Communications Secretary

My name is Samantha Armstrong, I moved to Iowa in 2019 and have enjoyed meeting more people through SWE ECI. I got married in 2021 and live with my husband, we are both engineers and met in college. I've worked for Schneider Electric for a year now where I have been testing materials and parts for a power of two. This will be Sam's 3rd year as the Communication Secretary and we are happy to have her and her creativity back!

Shelby Baker - College Outreach Chair

I am a Team Lead at P&G in the circuit board department for the power tooth brushes and chargers. I have been with the company for just under 2 years. I attended Iowa State University and graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. While at Iowa State, I was an active member in the SWE organization where I held several positions including VP of Membership, Co-President Elect, and various other cabinet positions. My favorite parts of SWE and other organizations I was a part of was being able to engage and mentor other students. I enjoy spending time outside with my dog, working on DIY projects at my house, knitting, and sewing!

Shelby will be filling SWE-ECI's College Outreach position this FY. We are excited to leverage her connection to the Iowa State SWE section to further our relationship. She is excited to get involved with SWE-ECI and we are happy to have her! Welcome to the core board Shelby!

Keerthana Reddy - Professional Development Chair

I moved here from India in January 2019 and graduated with a master's in mechanical engineering from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2022. I'm currently a Project/Product Engineer at Schneider Electric in Cedar rapids, Iowa. During my grad school, I was involved with SWE for a year as a collegiate member. I recently got a dog and am open to doing stuff which involves pets. I love reading, painting, and hiking and organize the book club at my company. I got my first role at Schneider through SWE and being a part of SWE-ECI is my way of giving back to community.

Keerthana will be filling our Professional Development Chair this FY - we love Keerthana's willingness to help out where needed and we are excited to welcome her to our Core Board!

Victoria Hennessey - Special Event Coordinator

Victoria Hennessey (also goes by Tori) is currently a Process Engineer at P&G’s Beauty Care Site in Iowa City having started March 14, 20222 (Pi Day). She graduated with distinction and Honors with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University in December 2021. She has been active with SWE, WiSE and WiME throughout her college years. Some of her favorite memories at college were volunteering for K-12 STEM Outreach and helping out with First Robotics competitions at local schools. In college she also was a Community Advisor for the WiSE learning community for 2 years and worked as a peer mentor for Freshmen studying engineering. In her free time she enjoys hiking, biking, rock climbing and scuba diving. She love to plan and coordinate social events and can’t wait to pass some fun ideas around for this FY as SWE-ECI Special Events Coordinator.

Welcome to the SWE-ECI Core Board, Tori, we are excited to get to know you this FY!

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