Find out Why It Is Important to Change the Perception of Manufacturing at the Women's Leadership Program during SMTA International 2022

The Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) announces that it will host presentations about technology innovations and career advancements from 1-3:15 p.m. CST on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.

Co-chaired by Tanya Martin of the SMTA and Jessica Molloy of ZESTRON, the second presentation will take place from 1:45-2:30 p.m. Loretta Renard, CEO at REMAP, will focus on changing the perception of manufacturing.

As manufacturing becomes more advanced and digitized, perceptions about careers in manufacturing are changing – creating a more positive perception of the sector and incenting more women to pursue careers in manufacturing. This is further supported by workforce multiplier jobs – currently estimated to be 16 jobs created for every one high-tech manufacturing job. These multiplier jobs support and drive manufacturing, but are not on the manufacturing floor – such as automation technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and a whole host of supporting professions from supply chain management through logistics, finance, marketing and beyond. Today, there is much sophistication and excitement around manufacturing and this is quickly changing the demographics of the workforce.

The winners in this evolving industry will possess varying combinations of technical, leadership and power skills. Loretta will discuss the growing role of women in the advanced manufacturing sector and how she has leveraged her communications, interpersonal and leadership toolkit to grow her own unique and unexpected career in the manufacturing sector.

Loretta Renard is the CEO of Canadian innovation accelerator REMAP. A member of the all-women leadership team since 2014, Renard has been instrumental in developing and deploying REMAP’s mission to fund transformation, drive collaboration across industry and academia, and enable Canadian companies to navigate the digital economy. Renard is an experienced executive with 25+ years of operations, strategy, corporate governance, communications and change management leadership for both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

Prior to joining REMAP, Renard provided corporate communications for a global electronics manufacturer serving the healthcare and technology sectors. Renard is a lifelong volunteer and has supported a number of important causes including on-the-ground earthquake relief initiatives in Haiti. 

To find out more about the Women’s Leadership Program, visit www.smta.org/page/wlp.