Women in Manufacturing is proud to celebrate our milestone 50th episode with Wells Bullard, President and CEO of Bullard. Wells has built her career on listening closely to the men and women who rely on her team's products and pushing for innovation that genuinely supports the people doing the toughest jobs.

Since stepping into the CEO role in 2017, Wells has led with a clear vision, a collaborative spirit, and a deep commitment to understanding Bullard's customers.

Today we're going to explore her leadership journey, her philosophy on building meaningful products, and the impact she's making across the manufacturing world.

Today's guest, Holly Paeper, is a passionate leader who serves as President for Commercial HVAC Americas at Trane Technologies. Since joining Trane Technologies in 2016, Holly has held executive roles as President of Life Science Solutions, General Manager for Data Center Precision Cooling, Head of Marketing and Head of Strategic Sales and Operations.

Today, we'll hear more about Holly's leadership in HVAC and her journey in manufacturing, sustainability and mentorship.

We speak with Laura Phillips, Vice President of Engineering and Procurement at Pella Corporation. With a background in chemical engineering and an MBA, Laura has been a driving force behind Pella's efforts to advance women in engineering, founding the Women in Engineering community and mentoring countless women in the field. Under her leadership, the number of women engineers at Pella has tripled. Beyond the company, Laura actively supports Iowa State University's Women in Science and Engineering program.

Join us as we explore Laura's inspiring journey and the impact she's making in manufacturing today.

Join Allison Grealis as she talks to sisters Alex Heileman and Madison Trejo from Elite Biomedical Solutions, where they function as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Vision Officer, respectively. Known for her people-first leadership style, Alex blends her expertise in healthcare with a teacher's ability to connect and plays a vital role in shaping Elite's culture, innovation, and long-term vision. Formally trained in graphic communication design, Madison has a passion for building successful brands and has successfully built the marketing and brand strategy for Elite Biomedical Solutions.

We'll hear more about Alex and Madison's journeys into leadership and how they work together to navigate the unique challenges and rewards of running a family-owned business.

We are thrilled to have Cara Herzog, Director of DEI at Southwire Company, join Allison on the podcast. Cara sat down to talk about her upbringing and how, being the first in her family to go to college, it shaped who she is today. They talk about how diversity and inclusion can help grow companies and why it is so important in manufacturing and why male allies are so important to the conversation.

In this episode, we sat down with Ester Codina, President North America at Alfa Laval and WiM Board Member LIVE at our SUMMIT 2024 conference in Boston, Massachusetts. Allison and Ester spoke about women on a global scale, childcare for working moms, and took questions from the live audience.

Joining us is a special guest as he has been a long-time ally of women in manufacturing. Male ally Jeff White is Partner and Chair of the Manufacturing Law Industry Team at Robinson & Cole and currently sits on the WiM board of directors. On top of his allyship, Jeff is a leader within the manufacturing community and has been invited to speak at The White House, U.S. Department of Commerce events and manufacturing industry events across North America. We are excited to feature his story today in advance of his presentation at WiM's inaugural Men as Allies conference.

Joining us on the podcast today is Dr. Susan Emmerich, Manufacturing Talent Program Implementation Manager at BASF. Susan has spent many years within her impressive career creating and leading successful talent programs as well as working to find sustainable manufacturing solutions. We talked about BASF's Registered Apprenticeship Program in honor of Apprenticeship Week as well as her journey to manufacturing. You'll hear about the risks she took, and the resiliency that she showed, that led her to where she is today.

If you are interested in starting a Registered Apprenticeship Program at your company, be sure to go to our webpage: https://www.womeninmanufacturing.org/registered-apprenticeship-programs- You will find resources and contact information to get in touch to find out about FREE resources available.

In this episode, we sat down with Kari Mahaffey, Senior Vice President, Cloud | High Tech and Manufacturing with Oracle Corp LIVE at our SUMMIT 2024 conference in Boston, Massachusetts. Allison and Kari spoke about becoming a Woman Leader and not just a manager, carving your own path, Work/Life Integration for both women and men and much more. We also took some questions from the live audience as well.