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Global
Business Culture & Etiquette Panel
Presentation
Description:
We live in a global economy with engineering
teams dispersed worldwide. Even modest
companies and universities today need to correspond via e-mail, talk on the
telephone, or meet with engineers and business people from around the globe. This panel will explore the cultural
etiquette differences one can encounter globally in communication styles,
behavior, dress, personal space and greetings, eye contact, business cards,
sense of time, commitments, and relationships. Understanding these norms on a country by
country basis can make the difference between a successful business
interaction and an unsuccessful one.
Misunderstandings can also make for some perplexing and humorous
situations!
About the
Panelists:
Mary Ann Ledwith,
a member of North Country SWE, began her career at IBM in 1980 as an
Industrial Engineer. She has held various engineering, finance, headquarters,
and management positions in various divisions within IBM, including a four
year assignment in Ireland
as the Microelectronics Division Dublin Controller & Manager of Plans
& Controls. She is currently the Manager of Microelectronics Division
Business Controls in Essex Junction, Vermont.
Throughout her career she has worked with colleagues in various IBM locations
around the world including Ireland,
Canada,
France,
Spain,
Italy,
Singapore,
and Japan.
She was raised in a bicultural/bilingual home; her mother is Japanese and her
American father speaks fluent Japanese. She also lived in Bangkok,
Thailand
for three of her early teen years when her father was on assignment there.
Mary Ann and her Irish born husband, Sean, will celebrate their 25th year of
marriage this coming fall. They have two daughters; an 8th grader and a
freshman at WPI studying Chemical Engineering. Mary Ann is currently the
chair/board of Starbase Vermont
which introduces 4-5 grade students to hands-on and activity based Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Math.
Nicole Hoffman
works for Pratt & Whitney (a United Technologies company) in East
Hartford, CT. Mrs. Hoffman joined the company
in 1998. After her first year with P&W, Mrs. Hoffman spent 2 1/2 years
living and working as a Repair Development Engineer in Singapore
for Turbine Overhaul Services, Ltd, a joint venture between P&W and
Singapore Technologies. Following her time in Singapore,
Nicole worked as an Operations Manager for Hamilton Sundstrand Power Systems
(a United Technologies company) in San
Diego, CA.
In her current role, Nicole is the Airframe Integration/Model Manager for the
PW4000-100, acting as the primary interface between Airbus Industries and
P&W for the A330. Nicole graduated with a Bachelors of Engineering in
Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt
University
in Nashville,
TN.
She is currently pursuing her MBA with a concentration in International
Business at the University
of Connecticut.
Nicole resides in West Hartford,
CT
with her husband and two dogs. Nicole is an avid runner, and golfer and also
enjoys snowboarding, cooking and traveling.
Liz Garypie
currently serves as the Project Manager for U.S. Air Force and Israel
Programs at Sikorsky Aircraft. In this
role, she is responsible for all maintenance, support, engineering services,
modifications, upgrades and fleet technical issues associated with the USAF
and the IAF H-60 and H-53 aircraft, which totals nearly 200 aircraft
worldwide. In addition, Liz supports
USAF and IAF related business development efforts and other international
customer's contracts. Since joining
Sikorsky in 1999, Liz has held numerous positions within Engineering and
Engineering Management, and in those roles has supported both U.S. Military
and various international programs for the BLACK HAWK and H-53
platforms. Liz holds a BS in
Mechanical Engineering from Trinity
College,
Hartford,
and is currently serving as President of the Hartford
section of SWE.
Jeanne Trinko
Mechler, is a senior technical staff electrical engineer with 22 years of
experience in ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) chip design with
the IBM Systems & Technology Group in Essex Junction, VT. She works on a
daily basis with design teams and customers from India,
China,
Japan,
Germany,
and all over the United
States and has traveled
frequently to teach classes to customers and IBM design center engineers in
those locations. She received the M.S.
and B.S. in electrical engineering from the University
of Vermont
in 1989 and 1985 respectively, and the M.S. in engineering management from
the National
Technological
University
in 1992. She holds patents and has
published papers in the areas of design for test, reliability, failure
analysis, and ASIC design. She has
completed more than a two dozen ASIC chip designs, specializing in those
containing High Speed SerDes and is in the process of publishing a textbook
on this topic. She is a member of the
Technical Program committee for the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits
Conference 2004-present. She is a
senior life member of the Society of Women Engineers, and a member of the
Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, the National Engineers Week, EX.I.T.E.,
and technical education outreach committees for IBM, and a Girl Scout
Leader. She resides in Essex Junction,
VT with her husband and three children, ages 10, 11, and 15. She has very little spare time, but does
manage to enjoy photography and site-seeing in exotic places!
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Our 2008 Corporate Sponsors
Executive Level
Sponsor:
Raytheon
Senior Level
Sponsors:
FM Global
United Technologies
Corporation
Associate Level
Sponsors:
Sensata Technologies
IBM
Bose Corporation
BBN Technologies
Rohm & Haas Electronic Materials
Cisco Systems
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