For more than 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2016 sales and revenues of $38.537 billion, Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates through its three product segments - Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment.

I come from a farming family in Illinois and started out my professional career in Higher Education. I was teaching outside of the regular curriculum and doing registration for students at Millikin University.

I decided that Higher Education was just too political for me, and I felt like I needed a change. Caterpillar was very big in my town, and it just so happened that a member of the Board of Trustees at Millikin University was the Vice President of Caterpillar. He recommended me for a position and I have since been with the company for 12 years.

My preparation is ongoing, and a hybrid of formal education and experience. I was exposed to machinery and equipment on the farm, which is experience that has served me well throughout my career in Manufacturing. As far as formal education, I received both a Bachelor's degree in Business and a Bachelor's degree in Organizational Leadership from Millikin University. I received a great deal of on-the-job training through Caterpillar and trained as a Gallup Strength Coach. I am also Six Sigma Green Belt certified and currently pursuing my Black Belt.

The biggest challenge for me, as a woman, has been being treated equally. I have often found that men have this misconception that women are "too busy" to put in the work to get the job done and done well, when in fact we are more than capable!

I am excellent at focusing on a project. They call me "The Fixer" because I am able to sort out a project, bring all factions and people together to get it done, and then execute it.

I am  now considered a Subject Matter Expert (SME) after successfully pulling together a project that others could not envision happening.

My greatest accomplishment to date was taking that leap of faith and making that jump from Higher Education to Manufacturing, and assimilating well with their very different cultures.

I see myself exiting in 5 years and continuing on to mentoring young people, among them my granddaughter. I want to create future leaders among young girls and women, to ensure that women as a whole continue to progress and advance and shatter ceilings in the corporate world.

Currently, I volunteer at job fairs for Junior High and High Schools and show these young women that there are opportunities at Caterpillar and in Manufacturing in general. I teach them it's not just about working with a wrench, it is about building relationships so we can work together.

I grew up in a farming community and my brothers tended to do things I could not because I was a girl. My brothers would get work gloves to work on equipment and I would not. My grandmother said, "Not having the gloves just brings you closer to God, you get to touch the oil the soil the equipment." That inspired me.

I want to be remembered as a person who worked hard, had a good heart and was always gender and color blind.

Women In Network - WIN

Group President Award- Caterpillar

United Way

Griffin Abused Women's Shelter