SME Elects First Woman President

For the first time in its 78-year history, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) has elected a woman to lead the organization. The new 2010 president, Barbara M. Fossum, PhD, was officially sworn in along with the rest of the 2010 executive committee at the Society’s Awards and Installation Banquet in Dearborn, Michigan late last year.

Elected an SME Fellow in 1996 and a member since 1989, Ms. Fossum has held a number of positions in industry and academia. She currently consults for entrepreneurial startups and is a Senior Research Fellow of the IC2 Institute of the University of Texas at Austin.

As president, Ms. Fossum says she would like to coordinate efforts among professional societies and other organizations to achieve key objectives for the manufacturing community. “I believe SME can be a catalyst among professional organizations to make progress toward a national manufacturing strategy,” she says. “Working together, government, industry and academia can rebuild U.S. manufacturing capability in key industries.”