The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) FY20 Board of Directors and Board of Trustees were officially installed on Thursday, August 8, 2019 at a reception at the B-29 Doc Hangar in Wichita, Kansas. As part of the ceremony, Vice President and Chief Engineer for Operations at Spirit AeroSystems, Cindy Hoover, officially accepted the title of president of SWE. The SWE FY20 Board of Directors and Board of Trustees positions are effective July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.
Bottom row (L to R): Sandy Pettit, PE, PhD; Cindy Hoover, Heather Doty, Karen Roth
Hoover will be entering her presidency with an objective to encourage other women engineers to consider continuous learning as the path toward leadership; always striving to be actively learning throughout one’s entire career path and taking advantage of all resources at their disposal.
After graduating from Wichita State University with a degree in electrical engineering, Hoover accepted a job at Koch Industries as a project manager. She then moved on to LSI Corporation working in various roles for 10 years. During that time, she went back to school and received her EMBA in business from Friends University.
Hoover has been actively involved with SWE for over 30 years, starting off as a collegiate at Wichita State University where there were only about four female engineers in her class. She then joined the Wichita professional section holding many different leadership positions in the local section. She eventually moved up into the regions holding a variety of positions and later chair positions for the Society.
“I’m very passionate about mentoring and supporting women as they move into the engineering profession, Hoover said. “SWE has always been a constant in my life where I have made lasting friendships and expanded my network throughout my career.”
“SWE has always been a constant in my life where I have made lasting friendships and expanded my network throughout my career.”
– Cindy Hoover, FY20 President
Hoover credits wonderful high school teachers and her technology engineer father for encouraging her to explore the STEM path. This later encouraged her to become a mentor to other young female engineers who were wanting to pursue this career path.
“We are looking forward to this next year with Cindy as the Society’s leader,” said Karen Horting, CEO and Executive Director of SWE. “Cindy’s passion for mentoring and supporting women is an excellent reminder of the need to continue our support and advocacy for women pursuing engineering.”
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