East Hartford, Connecticut – The Manufacturing Institute recently honored Susan M. Walsh, director, Commercial & International Programs, and Amanda Varricchio, Next Generation Product Family test engineer, Systems Engineering Validation, as 2016 Women in Manufacturing Science, Technology, Engineering and Production (STEP) Ahead honorees.
The STEP Ahead Awards, bestowed annually since 2012, provide women across the United States with a platform to highlight the incredible opportunities manufacturing careers have to offer, whether the women are running a company, designing the next big product, or testing innovations on the shop floor.
Walsh and Varricchio were recognized on April 21, 2016, at the STEP Ahead Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., where this year's group of 30 emerging leaders and 100 honorees, their nominating organizations, company leadership, and peers within the manufacturing sector were celebrated. Pratt & Whitney also honored them at a private reception on March 22, 2016.
"I am very pleased to be chosen for this prestigious award," said Walsh, who is based in the UTC Washington, D.C., office. "I look forward to continuing to tell the Pratt & Whitney story, which includes the greater roles that women are assuming in Washington."
Varricchio added, "I'm honored to be recognized and to help represent the fantastic engineers here at Pratt & Whitney. When I learned I'd been selected, I was totally speechless."
Walsh and Varricchio were two of eight nominees from Pratt & Whitney. This is the first year that the company sponsored a formal nomination process for the STEP Ahead Awards. Previously individuals had been nominated for this prestigious award, but the Pratt & Whitney Women's Council decided that for this year's awards, it would solicit nominations from across the enterprise. Calls for nominations went out not just in technical areas, but everywhere that talent makes an impact on success, including Supply Chain Management, Legal, Quality, EH&S – in short, the entire company.
"Pratt & Whitney is home to an impressive number of talented and innovative women," said Mary Anne Cannon, vice president, EH&S, and executive champion, Pratt & Whitney Women's Council. "It is a great honor to have our eight nominees considered for the 2016 STEP Ahead Award. Congratulations to Susan and Amanda and all of our talented employees who were nominated."
Source: Pratt & Whitney