Last week, the Manufacturing Institute (MI)—the workforce development and education affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers—honored two outstanding women from GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS) (GF) at their annual Women MAKE Awards. Jennifer (Jenny) Robbins, Senior Director, Central Facilities, was recognized as a 2024 Women MAKE Awards Honoree, while Katelyn Harrison, Senior Integration Engineer, was honored as an Emerging Leader. The Women MAKE Awards is a prestigious national program that honors women who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and excellence in their careers, representing all levels of the manufacturing industry, from the factory floor to the C-suite.
For over two decades, Jenny Robbins has been an influential leader at GF. In 2023, she made a successful transition from a manufacturing leadership role to a global facilities role, where she built her new central facilities engineering team. In 2022, Robbins established the Community Engagement Team at GF’s Vermont facility in Essex Junction, which has significantly boosted employee engagement, inclusion and belonging. She continues to be a mentor, recently serving as the executive sponsor of GF’s Early Tenure Professionals employee resource group. Robbins played a role in the final stages of enabling GF in Vermont to become its own electric utility, GF Power. She and the team are in the planning stages of installing solar arrays at the site.
“I am empowered when my contributions positively impact my team, my company, and my community,” said Robbins. “Receiving the MI’s Women MAKE Honoree Award is a great honor, and I am deeply grateful.”
The Women MAKE Awards are part of the MI’s Women MAKE America initiative, which is the nation’s marquee program to close the gender gap in manufacturing. Women account for about half of the U.S. labor force but represent less than one-third of the manufacturing workforce. Women MAKE America aims to build the 21st-century manufacturing workforce by empowering and inspiring women in the industry.
“The Women MAKE Awards showcase the vibrant, diverse and rewarding careers in the industry and how women have excelled as manufacturing leaders, paying it forward to inspire and uplift the next generation to pursue opportunities in modern manufacturing,” said Caterpillar Group President of Resource Industries and Women MAKE Awards Chair Denise Johnson.
In her relatively short time at GF, Katelyn Harrison has demonstrated exceptional leadership, overseeing four different unit operations and spearheading complex projects with cross-functional teams. Recently, she assumed a leadership role as a senior engineer in semiconductor manufacturing process integration engineering. Shortly after joining GF, Harrison implemented updates to onboarding and community building for early tenure professionals, which have since been adopted by other GF sites globally. As a GF GlobalAmbassador, Harrison visits middle and high schools to introduce STEM to future technical leaders. In addition to her mentorship at GF, she also participates in MI’s Women MAKE Mentorship Program, serving as both a mentor and mentee.
“Continuous learning and growth empower me. By embracing new knowledge and skills, I gain confidence and resilience to navigate challenges. For me, empowerment stems from the journey of self-improvement and the belief that every obstacle presents an opportunity to become stronger,” said Harrison. “I am sincerely thankful to the MI for honoring me with this Emerging Leader award!”
“I am thrilled to congratulate Jenny and Katelyn on their Women MAKE Awards! They are both remarkable and innovative leaders who consistently make a positive impact at GF,” said Ken McAvey, Vice President and General Manager of GF’s Fab 9 site in Essex Junction, Vermont. “Jenny’s unwavering dedication to her employees, team, community, and business outcomes, and Katelyn’s innate talent for communication and collaboration across a diverse range of colleagues and stakeholders, are the driving forces behind their success. We are deeply grateful for Jenny and Katelyn’s outstanding service and leadership and eagerly anticipate their future achievements at GF.”
The Women MAKE Awards gala, held on April 18, 2024, in Washington, D.C., honored 100 industry leaders (“Honorees”) and 30 rising stars (“Emerging Leaders”) who were nominated by their companies as the “go-to” women, recognized for their innovation, dedication, contributions and good counsel. The evening highlighted the story of each Honoree and Emerging Leader, including their leadership and accomplishments in manufacturing. Honorees were further rewarded with access to a two-day leadership development conference in Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to the evening awards gala. Since its launch in 2011, the program has honored and recognized more than 1,400 Honorees and Emerging Leaders.
“With more than 600,000 open jobs in manufacturing today and the continued need to fill millions more jobs by the end of the decade, it’s critical for manufacturers to engage the largest underrepresented pool of talent: women,” said MI President and Executive Director Carolyn Lee. “The 2024 Women MAKE Awards gala was an inspirational, powerful event, where some of the brightest stars in manufacturing were recognized for the incredible work they have done—both to grow our industry and to uplift others like them.”
GF’s facility in Essex Junction, Vermont, near Burlington, was among the first major semiconductor manufacturing sites in the United States. Today, around 1,800 GF employees work at the site. Built on GF’s differentiated technologies, these GF-made chips are used in smartphones, automobiles, and communications infrastructure applications around the world.
