The Art of Engineering

Jules Brinn, segment manager for high purity OEM sales at American Air Filter, traces an unlikely path from sports medicine student at East Carolina University to a 20-year career in air filtration. Jules and Denise talk about navigating complex Department of Energy and pharmaceutical manufacturing projects, and what it's like to be the only woman on her outside sales team. She also reflects...

In this episode Denise McIntosh talks with Katie Hubbard, a rubber chemist and compounder at American Phoenix in Eau Claire , Wisconsin. We learn how her high-school chemistry class put her on an exciting path and how she discovered a manufacturing company right in her hometown. You’ll discover how two American companies are discovering opportunities hidden within the confusion over tariffs, and h...

Denise Mcintosh speaks with Andrea Sousa, Commercial Director at the PIAB Group, about growing up as the middle child, always being ready to change when life throws a curve ball, coming up in a male-dominated field, and how AI is transforming her role and company. 

In this episode, Denise McIntosh speaks with Kirsta Scranton, Senior Construction Project Manager at the University of Iowa, about her three-decade career in construction and the path that led her into engineering. Kirsta reflects on her career journey from the West Coast to Iowa, the challenges of working in a male-dominated industry, and her role as both mentee and mentor to women entering the f...

Lauren Parker, senior project designer at Stantec Consulting joins Denise McIntosh to discuss her love of engineering, how she found her way to her position, how being the only woman in some of her classes informed her professional life, and how she keeps it all balanced.

Christa Myers is a Senior Fellow in Aseptic and Sterile Products at CRB Group , and visits with Denise to talk about how having broad experiences helped her hone into her specialty. She speaks about the importance of mentorship, accepting feedback, and approaching life with humility.

Cristina Mendonça is the Engineering Manager at Tekna in Ontario, Canada, and in this episode she tells Denise about her vast life experiences that brought her to where she is today. Including learning four languages, moving to Canada to take on a new challenge, and even being a seamstress for Cirque du Soleil. Learn who her influences have been and how she has risen to her current position in thi...

Beth Brock is the Technical Consulting Director at Environmental Resources Management . After spending 27 years at Eli Lilly, Beth has embarked on a new adventure while also looking forward to retirement in the near future.  In this episode, she and Denise McIntosh discuss the value of networking and how to protect your personal time for a work-life balance.

Brittany Lutz is the Senior Research and Development Scientist in Nutraceuticals at Ortho Molecular Products . In this episode, she shares with Denise about how growing up tag-teaming with her dad working on cars lead to a lifelong curiosity about science. She talks about her day-to-day duties working in the nutraceutical industry and being involved in the creation of new products for Ortho and wh...

Shannon returns to The Art of Engineering in her new position as the Life Science Leader at The Design Group in St. Louis. Shannon and Denise discuss the book Everybody Matters, and how treating people like a family in the workplace improves culture.

In this episode, Denise is joined by Custom Powder’s Senior Vice President of Products, Scott Heffern, and Sales Executive Austin Hill speaking with Tyler Courtney, Pharmaceutical Account Manager at ChargePoint Technology . They’ll discuss the advances that have been made in powder transfer, important safety issues that have been solved, and how companies are able to scale-up their processes for b...

Denise visits with Zen Zen Yen, Head of Engineering at Bayer Supply Center in Germany. Denise caught up with Zen Zen at the ISPE Annual Meeting and had a chance to discuss what it was like growing up in Germany, switching from studying medicine to engineering, and the importance of finding a community of peers like ISPE.

At the age of 21, M. Wallace “Wally” Funk was selected to be one of 13 women to train for space flight in 1959. By this time, she had been an experienced pilot for over 5 years. Wally’s love of aeronautics led her to a life-long career in flight training, giving thousands of young pilots their first taste of flight. She worked for the FAA and was the first woman to be a lead investigator at the NT...

Ann Rhodes is the founder of People Ink and author of Built on Values: Creating an Enviable Culture that Outperforms the Competition . Ann and Denise discuss how a positive culture and employees who share the same values as a company is the missing piece for most organizations.  Ann shares storeis from her time with Southwest Airlines and JetBlue, and explains the steps needed to form a solid cult...

Denise introduces us to several of the women who work at Custom Powder Systems. We learn what they do, how they started, and ideas from their point of view on how we can encourage and recruit more women into the industry.

This roundtable discussion was recorded at the Pack Expo International in Chicago as Denise and her guests discuss how to encourage a more diverse workforce, and why that is so vital to business growth. These four experts will share tips on how they are proactively bringing new talent to the table and setting their companies up for success in the future. Guests: Jill Miller, CEO of Lunum , Derick...

Returning to the workforce after an absence doesn’t have to be scary.  Carson Riutta learned that through networking and discovering that she already has more than enough skills and knowledge to jump in provide great value to a company.  In this episode, Denise and Carson discuss why it’s so important to network, ask questions, and stop telling yourself stories about what you can’t do…instead, dis...

Before she was 18, Jennie Tavares found herself in a new country, learning a new language and culture. By the time she was in college, she was excelling in engineering and had picked up a Brooklyn accent. In this episode, Denise talks with Jennie about her remarkable career path, her infectious optimism, and the importance of good networks and mentoring. Guest:  Jennie Tavares, Director of Global...

Denise McIntosh talks about supply chain challenges facing Nicole Baird, the senior buyer at Aptar .  Nicole shares how her ability to develop and maintain relationships has paid off when supplies are short, and encourages those getting into the industry to always be learning.  By learning different aspects of the business, Nicole has been able to quickly adapt to whatever the economy throws her w...

Denise visits with Lindsey Daniel and Jen Clark at the most recent ISPE conference in Boston.  In this episode, you’ll learn how each of these women came to be a part of the organization, and how ISPE and Women in Pharma have greatly improved the careers of women throughout the industry. Guests:   Lindsey Daniel, Product Operations Program Manager at Takeda Jen Clark, VP of Sales and Account Relat...

019 - Jill Miller Guest:  Jill Miller, Founder and CEO of Below the Line   Jill Miller’s journey ranges from an unlikely start in sales working for a thermoplastics company, to following her passion of narrowing the wealth gap in the Food & Beverage Packaing/Processing Industry.  In this episode, Jill talks about how she to to the point where she realized changes could be made and NEEDED to be...

Guest:  Jen Clark, Vice President, Sales and Account Management at CAI Jen Clark came out of school with a degree in industrial engineering when she got an invite to her first ISPE annual meeting.  As an eager graduate, she began networking and telling people in the industry she was ready to work.  In this episode, Jen and Denise advocate for making personal connections with people and building la...

Guest:  Amanda Wollnick, Development Engineer at American Breast Care Amanda Wollnick once thought science “isn’t for girls.”  But something kept calling her back to it.  In this episode, you’ll hear how she took her chemical and engineering knowledge to American Breast Care in Marietta, Georgia.  There, Amanda is helping transform the prosthetic breast industry, and even holds a patent on a formu...

Guest:  Bo Crouse-Feuerhelm VP of Client Solutions at JE Dunn Bo Crouse-Feuerhelm has gone from being a college drop-out to a Vice President of Client Solutions in a major construction company.  Her career has been full of unexpected turns, working with exceptionally generous mentors, and exceptionally difficult bosses.  But her story really begins navigating a profoundly difficult childhood of ab...

Guest:  Sandra Bachamp, Director of Engineering at DPS Group   In this episode, Sandra talks about the fascinating path that took her from just a fleeting interest in architecture to discovering her calling in engineering.  She and Denise discuss the importance of mentors and mentorship, balancing work with family, plus advancements in modular isolation rooms that are changing many industries.