McCracken serves as the North
America sales leader for fuel ethanol.
McCracken noted that her greatest personal
challenge is managing the demands of a dual-income
family. Both she and husband Michael hold high-level
management positions, so they work together to make
career and family work. “Although both of us have made
compromises along the way, we’ve both been able to
have extremely successful careers as we’ve supported
each other in reaching our goals.”
issue. I saw him very animated and filled with passion,
and that brought engineering into the real world for me.”
The Women in Engineering program at Purdue University
offered a strong support system and brought further
focus to her educational goals. McCracken earned a
degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering with
a focus in Food Processing and went to
work in a corn milling plant
that produced high-fructose
corn syrup. “That’s where
I was introduced to the
corn milling
process,”
McCracken
said.
Professional globe trotter
As a global key account manager, McCracken has
traveled to Turkey, Hungary, the Netherlands, Bulgaria,
Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. On a personal level, she
and husband Michael have also traveled extensively. “It
is always very interesting to learn about the cultures as
I travel,” she said. “What’s the housing market like, how
do they generate their income, how do they pay for their
fuel? Wherever we go, you see the common threads
of agriculture, energy, and tourism woven through the
economy. It makes me thankful for our strong economy
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Her work at
the milling
plant drew the
attention of one
of her suppliers,
DuPont, and the
company hired her
as a technical service
representative.
McCracken visited customers and helped
them with their technical challenges, forging
strong relationships in the process. Thus, it
was a natural transition for her to move into
sales. “I loved working with customers, and
what started as a U.S. role gradually moved
into a global role,” she explained. Currently,
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