The list of 100 leading women recognizes women who are leaders in the automotive field -- those who make major decisions and have significant influence at their companies. The 2005 class emerged from a months-long nomination and judging process that attracted hundreds of entries from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"As women increasingly join and continue to advance through the management ranks, making major contributions to their companies and the North American auto industry, it's important to applaud their talents," said Peter Brown, Automotive News associate publisher and editorial director. "We're pleased to shine the spotlight on this impressive group of executives."
Today's special issue of Automotive News salutes each leading woman with a career profile and photograph. The special issue also includes stories about women's increasing role in the automotive arena. (A complete listing of the 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry follows.)
"We had a tremendous field of candidates to consider for our leading women list. Many of the women we selected have operational jobs. They work at auto companies, suppliers and dealerships. The list includes seven CEOs, three COOs, 13 presidents, 52 vice presidents, four assembly plant managers and one race car driver," said Mary Beth Vander Schaaf, Automotive News assistant managing editor and editor of the special issue.
Automotive News will recognize each executive on stage before Wednesday evening's gala audience of 800. The honorees are engaged in such automotive disciplines as design, energy, engineering, environment, finance, human resources, information technology, legal, management, manufacturing, marketing, assembly plant management, corporate affairs, customer service, purchasing, quality, regulatory affairs, safety and sales.
Automotive News will honor its 100 Leading Women by contributing a portion of the proceeds from the gala to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. During the presentation Meredith Corporation, one of the evening's sponsors, will also present a $5,000 scholarship to a female student at Detroit's College for Creative Studies.
Inforum, formerly the Women's Economic Club, is a co-sponsor of the gala dinner. Other sponsors include: ArvinMeritor, Automotive Women's Alliance, AutoTrader.com, BearingPoint, Booz Allen Hamilton, DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company, ExxonMobil, General Motors, IBM, JWT, Magna International, Manheim, Meredith Corporation, Minacs Worldwide, Tower Automotive, WE: Women's Entertainment, Visteon Corporation and Yazaki North America.
Automotive News published a first listing of the industry's top female executives in September 2000. A complete listing of both classes of 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry is available at http://www.autonews.com .
Automotive News is a critical source of news, data, analysis and information for the North American auto industry for automakers, dealers and suppliers. It is the only 100 percent paid publication in the industry with circulation exceeding 80,000.
2005 Automotive News
100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry
Diane Allen - Design Manager - Nissan Design America Inc.
Anne Asensio - Executive Director, Advanced Design - General Motors
Katy Barclay - Vice President, Global Human Resources - General Motors
Mary Barra - Executive Director, Vehicle Manufacturing Engineering -
General Motors
Jan Beauchamp - IBM General Manager, Global Automotive Industry -
IBM Corp.
Anne Belec - President and CEO - Volvo Cars of North America Inc.
Jan Bertsch - Vice President, Sales and Marketing Finance - Chrysler Group
Jane Beseda - Group Vice President and General Manager, North American
Parts and Accessories - Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
Jean Blackwell - Executive Vice President, CFO - Cummins Inc.
Sandra Bouckley - Plant Manager, Pilot Process Verification Center, Conner
Ave. Assembly Plant and Sterling Heights Vehicle Test Center -
Chrysler Group
Susan Brennan - Director, Manufacturing, North America Vehicle
Operations - Ford Motor Co.
Adriane Brown - President and CEO - Honeywell Transportation Systems
Barb Brown - Senior Partner, Executive Management Director,
Ford Retail - JWT
Lorie Buckingham - Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer -
Visteon Corp.
Christine Bucklin - COO - CarsDirect.com Inc.
Faye Caballero - President and CEO - Black River Plastics
Mary Carpenter - Executive Vice President and COO - GM Planworks
Theodora Casasanta - Director, Proactive Quality Systems, Corporate
Quality - Chrysler Group
Michelle Cervantez - Vice President, Marketing - Hyundai Motor America
Sue Cischke - Vice President, Environmental and Safety Engineering -
Ford Motor Co.
Annette Clayton - Vice President, GM North America Quality -
General Motors
Cathy Clegg - Plant Manager, Fort Wayne Assembly - General Motors
Deborah Coleman - Vice President, Global Quality - Ford Motor Co.
Barbra Cooper - Group Vice President and Chief Information Officer,
Information Systems - Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
Chris Cortez - Senior Vice President, Global Service and Parts -
Chrysler Group
Maureen Kempston Darkes - Group Vice President and President, GM Latin
America, Africa and Middle East - General Motors
Jacqui Dedo - President, Automotive - Timken Co.
Tracey Doi - Group Vice President and CFO - Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
Pandora Ellison - Director, Vehicle Attributes and Systems Engineering -
Ford Motor Co.
Amy Farmer - Plant Manager, Lansing Grand River Assembly - General Motors
Nancy Fein - Vice President, Lexus Customer Services - Toyota Motor
Sales U.S.A. Inc.
Marianne Fey - Executive Vice President and Managing Director - McCann
Erickson Worldwide
Felicia Fields - Vice President, Human Resources - Ford Motor Co.
Marcy Fisher - Director, Design Engineering - Ford Motor Co.
Elena Ford - Director, North America Product Marketing, Planning and
Strategy - Ford Motor Co.
Lisa Frary - Vice President, Engineering - Autoliv Inc.
Barbara Gasper - Vice President, Investor Relations - Ford Motor Co.
Sandra Gillespie - Senior Vice President, Procurement and Supply -
Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. Manufacturing Division
Nancy Gioia - Director, Current Model Vehicle Quality, North America -
Ford Motor Co.
Maryann Goebel - Chief Information Officer, General Motors North America -
General Motors
Louise Goeser - Vice President; President and CEO, Ford of Mexico -
Ford Motor Co.
Vanessa Gordon - Vice President and General Manager, Ford and New
Domestics Business Unit - ASC Inc.
Joy Greenway - Vice President, Climate Product Group - Visteon Corp.
Elizabeth Griffith - Vice President, Program Management and Advanced
Engineering - Intier Automotive Interiors Inc.
Margaret Hackstedde - Director, Product Design, Color and Trim Design -
Chrysler Group
Colleen Haley - President, Ford Business Unit - Yazaki North America Inc.
Linda Hasenfratz - CEO - Linamar Corp.
Karen Healy - Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Marketing Communications
and Facilities - Delphi Corp.
Deborah deBoer Henderson - Vice President, Quality, Engineering and
Technology, Light Vehicle Systems - ArvinMeritor Inc.
Sheryl Welsh Hyman - Senior Vice President - Robert Bosch Corp.
Cheryl Jones - Project General Manager, Baja California - Toyota Motor
Manufacturing, Kentucky Inc.
Kim Harris Jones - Vice President, Product Finance - Chrysler Group
Susan Kampe - Vice President and General Manager, Global Information
Technology, Automotive Group - Johnson Controls Inc.
Verena Kloos - President - BMW Group DesignworksUSA
Anna Kretz - Vehicle Line Executive, Front-Wheel-Drive Trucks -
General Motors
Jill Lajdziak - General Manager, Saturn Division - General Motors
Karen Leggio - Vice President, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain for
GM Latin America, Africa and Middle East - General Motors
Grace Lieblein - Vehicle Chief Engineer, Front-Wheel-Drive Truck Products,
Product Development - General Motors
Kathleen Ligocki - President and CEO - Tower Automotive
Paula Lillard - Vice President, Human Resources and Administration -
Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc.
Beth Lowery - Vice President, Environment and Energy - General Motors
Pamela Mader - Plant Manager, Moraine Assembly - General Motors
Marcy Hnath Maguire - Co-CEO and Owner - Maguire Automotive Group
Jean Mayer - Executive Director, Asia-Pacific and Africa Purchasing
and Global Systems - Ford Motor Co.
Deborah Wahl Meyer - Vice President, Marketing, Lexus Division -
Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
Maureen Midgley - Executive Director, Global Paint and Polymers
Manufacturing Engineering Group - General Motors
Linda Miller - Manufacturing Director, Powertrain Operations -
Ford Motor Co.
Pat Moran - Chairman - JM Family Enterprises Inc. and Southeast Toyota
Distributors LLC
Deb Morrissett - Vice President, Regulatory Affairs - Chrysler Group
Vicky Morter - Executive Director, Global Purchasing, Current Future
Business - General Motors
Cherri Musser - Group Vice President and Chief Information Officer -
General Motors Acceptance Corp.
Cindy Niekamp - Vice President; President and General Manager, BorgWarner
TorqTransfer Systems - BorgWarner Inc.
Dian Ogilvie - Senior Vice President and General Counsel - Toyota Motor
Sales U.S.A. Inc.
Jane Palmieri - Vice President, Body Engineered Systems - Dow Automotive
Danica Patrick - Indy Racing League Driver - Rahal Letterman Racing
Ann Marie Petach - Vice President, Treasurer - Ford Motor Co.
Berta Phelps - Vice President, Best Practices - Manheim
Lori Queen - Vehicle Line Executive, Small Cars - General Motors
Nancy Rae - Senior Vice President, Human Resources - Chrysler Group
Julie Roehm - Director, Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge Communications -
Chrysler Group
Barb Samardzich - Executive Director, Small FWD and RWD Vehicles -
Ford Motor Co.
Cynthia Conn Sidoti - Director, Paint and Energy Management -
Chrysler Group
Anne Stevens - Group Vice President, Canada, Mexico and South America -
Ford Motor Co.
Roseann Stevens - Vice President, Sales and Marketing - Metaldyne Corp.
Barbara Stokel - Regional Vice President, Eastern Operations - General
Motors Acceptance Corp.
Karenann Terrell - Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Chrysler
Group and Mercedes-Benz NAFTA - DaimlerChrysler Corp.
Jan Thompson - Vice President, Marketing - Nissan North America Inc.
Rosalinda Torres - Plant Operations Manager, Componentes Mecanicos de
Matamoros Operations - Delphi Corp.
Sue Unger - Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer -
DaimlerChrysler AG
Sheila Vaden-Williams - President - National Association of Minority
Automobile Dealers
Kitty Van Bortel - President and General Manager - Van Bortel Subaru and
Van Bortel Ford Inc.
Sylvia Vogt - Vice President, Corporate Affairs Americas -
Robert Bosch Corp.
Bette Walker - Vice President, Chief Information Officer - Delphi Corp.
Jane Warner - President - Plexus Systems LLC
Donna Wassel - Regional Vice President and General Manager, Atlanta
Region - CarMax Inc.
Liz Wetzel - Design Director, Global Design Brands - General Motors
Margaret Woodard - Vice President, Marketing - ADP Dealer Services
Carolyn Woznicki - Vice President and General Manager, Purchasing,
North America - Johnson Controls Inc.
Mary Ann Wright - Director, Sustainable Mobility Technologies and Hybrid
Vehicle Programs - Ford Motor Co.
Sheila York - COO - March/Hodge Automotive Group
CONTACT: Pat Adanti-Joy, +1-586-939-3429,
Email Contact for
Automotive News; Ellen Dennehy of Automotive News, +1-313-446-6039,
Email Contact
Web site: http://www.autonews.com/