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And forget GPS— I remember carrying around huge maps on my lap while driving, trying to find sites in major West Coast cities( probably not the safest way to navigate)!
I was fortunate to be able to build relationships and collaboration among companies to solve problems. But to continue to get better at that, I felt that understanding the ecosystem of my customers and collaborators was critical. With no internet at the time to research information, I subscribed to technical book publishing companies and learned about tool making, material science, statistical process control, lean manufacturing, and anything that touched on the manufacturing world.
That self-education track enabled me to build a very broad understanding of industry. I was able to talk with engineers, production leads, and CFOs or CEOs with enough background to make them feel that I understood their world and their specific challenges. That knowledge helped me to sell vertically through an entire organization and become what was later termed a“ trusted advisor.”
Perhaps most importantly, my guiding principle was always to put the customer’ s interests first— even if it was not advantageous to me in the short term. Doing so has created a high level of trust and quality relationships that have served me well in my professional life.
When I quit traveling and settled back down in Spokane, I was invited to join the Inland Northwest Aerospace Consortium, a small regional industry group covering Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana. It was my first time serving on a board, and my first experience in working with a non-profit entity.
I became board chair a year later, and started the learning curve of non-profit industry development work. In 2024, I took on the role of executive director; we re-branded as the Northwest I90 Manufacturing Alliance, and expanded our industry scope beyond just aerospace to include energy, space, and medical manufacturing sectors.
This move was more in line with our regional industries, but I also believe that all advanced manufacturing sectors face common challenges( AI, workforce, automation, etc.). I think that rather than staying in our industry silos, it just makes sense to work together in a cross-sector fashion to solve these problems.
APRIL | MAY 2025 ISSUE NO. 44 47