FY19 Election Guide: Candidate Bios & Statements

President-Elect Candidates:

• Theresa Krack
• Abstain 
• Write-In 

Theresa Krack

Biography

I am excited to be running for FY19 President Elect!

I have over ten years as a professional member, having held leadership positions in the Wisconsin and Pacific Northwest professional sections. I am an accomplished session speaker and panelist at SWE Society, Joint Region, and WE Local conferences.

I have been an active member and leader in SWE PNW since 2013 and served as a SWE PNW Section Rep for the last three years, representing the section in SWE business meetings and governance change discussions at both Society and Region/WE Local conferences.

One of my accomplishments with SWE PNW has been leading the strategic effort to integrate and upgrade the section’s virtual footprint and communication platform. This has been an ongoing, multi-year project to continue improve the member-to-member engagement and communication of key SWE information.

I joined the SWE Leadership Coaching Committee (LCC) in FY18 as a coach and am thrilled to be expanding that role to include being Section Management & Operations SME for FY19.

Having been engaged as SWE evolve as an organization this past year, I believe I will bring key knowledge and connections to help the section align and grow under the new SWE structure.

Candidate Statement

As President Elect, one of my keys goals would be develop the coordination between the President and President Elect roles, driving to longer term strategic planning for the section. To accomplish this goal, it will not only take short- and long-term planning at the section leadership level, but also engaging connections and support from other areas of SWE.

I plan on leveraging the connections I have, as well as support from the Leadership Coaching Committee (LCC), to bring in materials, resources, and templates to help our section better adapt to the new governance model and continue to achieve strategic growth and success.

In additional to engaging the SWE resources, I also want to enable improved SWE business and topic dialog not only within our leadership team but also with our section members. We have many section members with a variety of SWE experiences that can help bring additional perspectives to the discussion and help develop both the short- and long-term direction we are heading as a section.

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Treasurer Candidates:

• Sherrie Rippe
• Abstain
• Write-In

Sherrie Rippe

Biography

Sherrie Rippe is a Tooling Stress Engineer at Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Everett, WA. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, she earned her Masters and Bachelor in Civil Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. Her passion is helping others grow in their professional and personal lives, she serves as a Board member for the North Seattle College Education Fund and is a Professional Career and Life Coach. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, spending time with her husband, and playing with her two dogs and cats.

Candidate Statement

I am currently running for Treasurer of our section for FY19.  As the FY19 treasurer, I would like to finalize the sections Travel Fund Policy and work more closely with the Scholarship Chair to work to spread the word to area students about our scholarships. I have experience developing and revising policies and procedures, and would enjoy working with the executive board to ensure all of our procedures and policies are up to date. As a professional member, I have served as SWE PNW Membership Chair FY09 thru FY11, as SWE PNW Secretary FY12, SWE PNW Section Representative FY15, and SWE PNW FY18 Treasurer. I am eager   to apply my knowledge of how SWE operates to the role of treasurer.

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Secretary Candidates:

• Ashley White
• Marina Dannecker
• Abstain
• Write-In

Ashley White

Biography

Ashley joined SWE at Seattle University where she attended engineering school for electrical engineering. While at SU she served as the Treasurer her junior year and then President her senior year. As president she collaborated with a team of nine to organize social and professional development events and outreach opportunities. As well as coordinating fundraisers like bake sales in which she created SWE themed cookies to sell. After graduation she continued to help SU’s section by serving as their professional liaison. She assisted them on numerous occasions throughout the year and kept them informed about things happening in the professional sector. Ashley is currently working for Honeywell Aerospace as a system engineer. She works on communication and navigational radio equipment for airplanes. In her free time Ashley loves to visit new places and attend various conventions.

Candidate Statement

In her life, Ashley has had the privilege of having a family that supported her decision to pursue engineering. She attended a university which has women as the department heads for most of the STEM majors. Ashley also has had many great female mentors who have careers in engineering fields. However, not all women have this kind of support, and SWE is one of the best organizations at making sure that women and young girls have the aid they need to succeed in careers that are still male-dominated. Ashley wants to continue showing women that they can have jobs in engineering fields and that SWE can provide the extra support they need. Her goal for Secretary is to have an active role in supporting current and future women engineers. While also mentoring recent college graduates to stay involved with the society, and to promote the growth of women in engineering.

Marina Dannecker

Biography

I first joined SWE while studying Materials Science and Engineering in at UCLA. I immediately got involved with the collegiate section, joining several committies, coordinating our annual Evening With Industry event, and eventually serving as President my senior year. I moved to Seattle about 2 years ago to start my career as a Materials and Processes Engineer at Blue Origin. I joined SWE PNW and helped plan events as a member of the Professional Development committee and then served as Secretary for FY18. I have gained so much from SWE – mentors, a network, close friends, leadership opportunities, chances to try new things – and I want to do what I can to give back to SWE and help create opportunities for other women engineers. When I’m not busy with work and SWE, I enjoy reading, hiking, yoga, improv, and checking out random coffee shops.

Candidate Statement

I am running for Secretary because I am passionate about making the SWE PNW section operate smoothly. I want to help the other SWE PNW officer’s roles be as easy as possible by providing organized and detailed documentation of meeting minutes, voting records, contacts, event information, and all other information we need to track. I have really enjoyed serving as secretary in FY18.  Over the past year, I implemented many new things for secretary, basing little on what was done previously. In FY19, I want to get all of these tools, documents, and systems running efficiently and to a timely schedule. I plan to establish regular monthly dates that communications are sent out to officers/members, to better track action items and ensure that tasks are followed up on, and to create templates that are stored in a single location that make it easy for officers to document lessons learned after events. I hope that by establishing a schedule and routine, it will empower future SWE PNW leaders to develop long-term strategic plans. I also intend to create templates and standard operating procedures so that new leaders do not have to start from scratch.

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Vice President of Professional Development Candidates:

• Sonia Hingorany
• Abstain
• Write-In

Sonia Hingorany

Biography

Sonia Hingorany currently serves on the SWE PNW Executive Committee as one the VP of Professional Development. This year, she has organized several social events including the Escape Room Event, Blue Origin Tour, Annual Holiday Part at the Living Computer Museum, Reinvent Speaker Panel Event, Pie-Making Class, Amazon Prime Now Tour, Self-Defense Seminar, Annual Spring Banquet Brunch, Boeing P-8 Tour, and the Professional Development Committee Monthly Meetings. Sonia looks forward to continuing her involvement with SWE and leading the professional development mission again this coming year.

Sonia moved to Seattle almost three years ago for her full-time job. She currently works at Amazon in the North America Transportation and Logistics organization. Sonia earned her MBA from Carnegie Mellon University where she focused on concentrations in Information Systems and Operations Management. Before earning her MBA at CMU, Sonia previously worked at Accenture for five years in a technology consulting capacity. She earned her BS in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Cognitive Science from UCLA where she initially got involved with SWE. Sonia held a position on the SWE board for three years. She played several key roles in SWE at UCLA as the Internal VP, responsible for handling funding for the organization, as well as the Evening With Industry chair. 

Sonia likes to play soccer and tennis and enjoy the outdoors including running, hiking, and skiing. She loves to travel; Sonia has been to more than 30 countries and visited 40 states in the US. 

Candidate Statement

This year as I enter into the VP of Professional Development position, I would like to expand more on the mentorship aspect of Professional Development through resume and cover letter building workshops coupled with conducting mock interviews. I feel there is a large gap in SWE providing the resources and support for folks looking to make a career move and that require assistance in that process, and I would like to bridge that gap. I would also like to host workshops that include having open conversations about various issues, such as diversity, this year. I think we experienced a good start to this through the Reinvent Speaker Panel and I’d like to do more types of these events that will hopefully surface topics we can then have more intimate dialogues on with smaller groups. 

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Vice President of Career Guidance (Outreach) Candidates:

• Heather Alvarez
• Abstain
• Write-In

Heather Alvarez

Biography

Heather Alvarez first joined SWE events while pursuing her engineering degree and discovered her love for outreach. She joined SWE professionally in 2012. She began as the Outreach Chair, and worked her way through various positions including treasurer, Section Rep, and ultimately to President of the SWE Antelope Valley Section. However, her first passion was always in outreach. She wants to make a difference in her community by teaching others about STEM and real world engineering applications.

Heather earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from California State University, Chico. She then joined the USAF as a civilian and has worked as a test engineer on various aircraft platforms such as the B-1 Bomber and C-17 Cargo in California, and more recently the KC-46 tanker here in Seattle. She is currently enrolled in the Masters of Science for Engineering Management at George Washington University.

Candidate Statement

Hello! My name is Heather and I am excited to be running for the VP of Outreach position. I am truly passionate about STEM and believe that many of the STEM fields are misjudged and underrepresented by women and people of color. In my previous positions in SWE, Antelope Valley Section, I designed annual events with the Girl Scouts, spoke at middle schools, and went to career nights at community colleges. I helped out at high school science fairs and worked booths to demonstrate Bernoulli’s principle. In the Seattle area, I have volunteered with Techbridge, I have helped teach young girls how to solder circuit boards, and learn software coding through on-line games. I love getting involved in the community and believe that by joining the PNW SWE board, I will have the opportunity to make a difference. I hope to build on the ground work that has been laid out and continue to make great connections in the local area. Thank you for considering me for VP of Outreach!