No One Gets Here Alone: Reflections from the Women Automotive Network: Detroit Summit 2026

On June 2, the Women Automotive Network came to Detroit. 714 professionals, 235 companies, 16 countries in person and online, all with their own reasons and why. But every single one of them showed up knowing the same truth: no one builds anything that matters alone.

Tracy Mack-Askew said it on the opening stage: what gets you to the next level is not what you can do as an individual it is the team you build around you. Yasmine King said it from her experience leading automotive partnerships at Analog Devices: when every company tries to solve the hard problems alone, the entire industry moves slower. Amy Sgrignoli said it in the closing panel, simply and without qualification: no one got here alone. Community is everything.

It was not a theme that was announced. It was one that every speaker, panellist and person in that room arrived already knowing. The Women Automotive Summit Detroit 2026 was proof of what becomes possible when an industry stops competing in silos and starts building together.

Setting the Stage: Opening Keynote

How Personal Excellence Fuels Collaborative Leadership with Tracy Mack-Askew, Chief Engineer, Daimler Truck

The day opened with a story that immediately changed the energy in the room. Tracy Mack-Askew, Chief Engineer at Daimler Truck, was interviewed by Stephanie May, Community Director of the Women Automotive Network, about a career built entirely on one guiding principle: seize every opportunity and never say no.

At 19, unhappy with her internship, she set up informational interviews with 20 different people at increasingly senior levels. They culminated in a meeting with Rick Wagoner, then CEO of North America at General Motors, who asked for her grades first but took the meeting. Her manager questioned whether she should. She went anyway.

"Working hard is just a barrier to entry. You have to prioritise your energy, prioritise your impact, and build a stellar network around you. Because what will help you at the next level is not just what you can do as an individual, but how you create the team around you."

Tracy Mack-Askew, Chief Engineer, Daimler Truck

It was not about seniority. It was about what becomes possible the moment you choose to show up before you feel ready. Heads nodded across the room. Many people in that audience recognised the moment she was describing.

Above: Tracy Mack-Askew, Chief Engineer, Daimler Truck, in conversation with Stephanie May, Community Director, Women Automotive Network.

From the Main Stage: Conversations That Stayed With the Room

Yasmine King, Corporate VP and Head of Automotive Business Unit, and Shalini Palmer, Corporate VP of Global Automotive Sales, both at Analog Devices, turned their session into a public conversation about the moments in their careers that could have gone either way. The turning points, the relationships that held, the honest conversations that changed everything.

Their message was one the room recognised. In an industry reordering itself at speed, the partnerships that hold are not built on contracts. They are built on trust, on showing up honestly, and on the willingness to solve problems together rather than in isolation.

"Every company I spoke with was trying to solve this independently. But when you're trying to solve a problem that has some level of interoperability mixed in, if you're doing that in isolation, the entire industry moves slower."

Yasmine King, Corporate VP, Head of Automotive Business Unit, Analog Devices

Yvette Zhang presented findings from AlixPartners seventh annual Disruption Index, drawing on more than 3,200 executives across 11 countries. Automotive remains the most disrupted industry on the planet for the second consecutive year, scoring above every other global sector. Tariffs, Chinese competition, affordability, the software-defined vehicle shift and AI are all hitting at once.

But Zhang's message was not a warning. It was a rallying call.

"In this room, we're not only talking about the trends in the industry. We are part of the group that's shaping it."

Yvette Zhang, Partner and Advanced-Mobility Segment Co-Leader, AlixPartners

Above: Yvette Zhang, Partner and Advanced-Mobility Segment Co-Leader, AlixPartners.

Sheila Stafford, CEO of TeamSense, Andrea Gooch, Senior HR Manager at Dana, and Pamela Fields, Plant HR Manager at BorgWarner, took the conversation somewhere it does not always reach: the factory floor. What does it actually take to change frontline behaviour at scale, in organisations with thousands of people across multiple plants? The answer they gave was not theoretical.

Andrea Gooch described standardising processes across 20 Dana plants, each of which had previously run a different system. Pamela Fields spoke about arriving at BorgWarner from a digitally advanced company and finding a paper-based world. Both made change happen because they led from proximity to the problem, not from a distance.

Culture change does not start at the top and cascade down. It starts where the work actually happens. Both women knew that because they had lived it.

Above: Sheila Stafford, CEO, TeamSense; Andrea Gooch, Senior HR Manager, Dana; Pamela Fields, Plant HR Manager, BorgWarner.

Emily Rutt, Programme Manager of Social Marketing at Mazda North America, opened by reframing something this industry often underestimates. Automotive has never just been about the vehicle. It has always been about the people, the places, and the shared experiences around it. The brands building lasting loyalty are the ones that understand the moments where they become part of someone's life.

"Community is the number one driver of connection to a brand. It deepens loyalty, it builds trust, it creates advocacy."

Emily Rutt, Programme Manager Social Marketing, Mazda North America

That principle reaches well beyond marketing. Every leader in the room is building something a team, a culture, a network. What makes it hold is not the structure. It is the connection.

Above: Attendees at the Women Automotive Summit Detroit 2026.

One of the most personal conversations of the day came from an unexpected place. Two male allies took the stage not to be applauded, but to be honest about why they show up, what they are actively doing differently, and why it matters beyond their own careers.

Kyle Taylor, Infotainment SW Department Manager at Hyundai America Technical Center, spoke about watching diverse perspectives make better software at Intel and Microsoft, and about his father, who spent his career diversifying a male-dominated academic department until it became majority female.

"I come here to show that I care and that I'm doing what I can to make the atmosphere more equitable for everybody. It's a small thing, but it will eventually make a difference."

Kyle Taylor, Infotainment SW Department Manager, Hyundai America Technical Center

Richard Nesbitt, VP of New Braking Systems Product Area at Bosch, was direct about his reason for being in the room. His daughters are watching what kind of world is being built for them. For many in the audience, his presence on that stage said more than any metric or policy document ever could.

Above: Kyle Taylor, Hyundai America Technical Center and Richard Nesbitt, Bosch, in conversation with Stephanie May, Director, Women Automotive Network.

Alisha Bellezza, SVP Global Automotive and Packaging Coatings at PPG, and Chris Garramone, General Manager Purchasing Supplier Development at Toyota Manufacturing North America, opened by polling the room live on the biggest leadership challenges organisations are facing right now. Aligning leaders and keeping teams engaged came out top, followed closely by skill gaps and managing constant change.

Chris Garramone, who has spent her career in R&D and supply chain at Toyota, put the grit required to operate in this industry plainly:

"This industry requires a certain grit and tenacity that is like no other. It's not made for everybody. And everybody's not made for it."

Chris Garramone, General Manager Purchasing Supplier Development, Toyota Manufacturing North America

Chris Garramone took the conversation further, reframing what she called soft skills as power skills the ability to communicate, persuade, tell the story, and hold people accountable to a shared direction. In a period of constant transformation, leaders who invest in these capabilities are not being soft. They are being strategic.

"Truth before harmony. Without transparency and getting different ideas on the table, how do you know if you're making the right decision?"

Chris Garramone, General Manager Purchasing Supplier Development, Toyota Manufacturing North America

The Power of Collective Insight: Panels That Drove the Conversation Forward

The panels brought a different kind of energy fast, direct and full of the kind of reflection that continued well into the networking breaks and beyond. Real questions, real answers, and no shortage of moments where the audience recognised themselves in what was being said on stage.

The question of how to compete for world-class talent when tech, AI and high-growth sectors are all in the running opened a conversation that quickly went deeper than recruitment strategy. Michelle Andersen, VP of Corporate Strategy at GM, put it plainly: the industry has gone through a near 180-degree shift. Data-driven decisions matter, but building a team that can lead with clarity inside genuine uncertainty is the real leadership test right now.

Marissa West put the talent conversation in its proper frame:

"If you can bring transformational change right now, this is the space to be in."

Marissa West, Executive VP and Chairperson North America, OPmobility

The panel returned again and again to one insight: the industry's complexity is not a barrier to attracting the next generation. It is the pitch.

Above: Kim Ito, Marissa West, Matthew Stich and Michelle Andersen in panel discussion, moderated by Nora Eckert, Reuters.

Hands went up across the room at the start of this session when the panel asked who was already driving a hybrid. The point was made without words: this is not a future conversation. The energy shift is happening now, in the cars people drive today, in the strategies organisations are being asked to execute this quarter.

Rebecca Yates, Senior Advisor at Castrol Technology, Mazen Hammoud, Director of Motion Tech Strategy at Ford Motor Company, and Jia Tan, Head of Personal Mobility at Castrol, explored how OEMs and suppliers are navigating a world where hybrid, PHEV, BEV and traditional powertrains must coexist across different markets, infrastructures and customer realities. There is no single answer and the leaders who navigate this best are the ones who resist the pressure to oversimplify it.

Above: Rebecca Yates, Castrol; Mazen Hammoud, Ford Motor Company; Jia Tan, Castrol.

April Stevens, Director of Manufacturing Strategy and Footprint Development at Ford Motor Company, opened by telling the room she began her automotive career as a UAW line worker at Toledo Jeep. That matters. Because real transformation in manufacturing does not begin with strategy documents. It begins with understanding what you are actually asking people to do, and respecting the people doing it.

Jennifer Kempf, Commercial President of Dow MobilityScience, spoke about what genuine cross-industry collaboration requires: speaking the language of the industry, arriving with curiosity before solutions, and being willing to change how you work in order to be genuinely useful to the people alongside you.

"The best way for us to be a good collaborative partner is to be educated and then to build our network."

Jennifer Kempf, Commercial President, Dow MobilityScience

Spaces for Growth: Workshops That Drive Transformation

Running in parallel with the main stage throughout the day, the Detroit workshops created space to go deeper smaller groups, more focused conversations, and the kind of practical work that is harder to do in a room of hundreds.

Sessions covered building a compelling elevator pitch, navigating value creation amidst margin squeeze, unlocking organisational data for better decisions, and showing up with confidence before you feel ready.

Rebecca Evans, Principal at Roland Berger, led a session on value creation amidst margin squeeze, helping participants assess their own organisations against a framework of what separates top automotive suppliers from the rest. Yasmeen Yount, Senior Vertical Market Manager at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, explored how organisations can unlock the power of their information supply chain, moving from data overload to decisions that actually land.

Meshell Baker, Chief Confidence Ignitor, ran an interactive session that asked every person in the room to identify exactly where they are right now, connect with someone at the same career edge, and leave with one bold action committed to out loud.

Above: Workshop sessions at the Women Automotive Summit Detroit 2026.

The Closing Panel: Ask Me Anything

Denise Barfuss (Automobility Advisors), Amy Sgrignoli (Subaru of America), Laura Baetens (Stellantis), Stefanie Stamatopoulos (Nissan North America)

The final session was exactly what it promised: open, unfiltered and completely driven by the room. Questions came from every direction. On navigating stagnation in a role you genuinely love. On what to do when your idea gets repeated back by someone else and suddenly lands differently. On bringing big ideas into closed-off leadership cultures. On work-life balance, on confidence, on what it means to lead in 2030.

Amy Sgrignoli, VP of Connected Business at Subaru of America, distilled the day's running thread into three principles that will stay with anyone who heard them:

"Remember that people are more than what you see. No one got here alone community is everything. And make sure you're having fun."

Amy Sgrignoli, VP Connected Business, Subaru of America

But it was her answer to one final audience question that stopped the room. Asked who she would choose to spend ten minutes with in an elevator, she did not hesitate.

"Any girl in approximately 14 to 16 years old. Because that is where we lose all of our confidence. And so if you can give me 10 minutes in an elevator with a girl who's in that age group, we'll make sure she doesn't lose that confidence and she knows she belongs in the room."

Amy Sgrignoli, VP Connected Business, Subaru of America

It was the perfect close to a day built entirely around that idea. Not just advancing the women already in this industry. Making sure the next generation never doubts for a single moment that they belong here.

Above: Attendees at the Women Automotive Summit Detroit 2026.

An Evening of Recognition: The AutoTech Awards

The summit evening moved into the AutoTech Awards and joint networking reception, where the Women Automotive Network presented two awards: Woman Automotive Leader of the Year and People and Culture Excellence.

Before the winners were announced, every shortlisted nominee was invited onto the stage. Not just the final recipients. Every single person whose work had been recognised was celebrated in front of the full room. Because how many times have we heard: we cannot be what we cannot see? Recognition matters. Visibility matters. And on this stage, on this evening, it was given to everyone who had earned it.

View the award winners here

Closing Reflections

The Women Automotive Summit Detroit 2026 is over. The momentum it created is not.

From the opening keynote to the final question from the floor, the message never changed. No single person, company or corner of this industry gets there alone. What was built in Detroit on June 2 was not just a day of sessions. It was proof of what happens when an industry chooses to show up for itself, together.

Because we are, and always will be, #BetterTogether

A Final Thank You

Detroit 2026 happened because of the people who chose to be part of it.

To every speaker who brought their story to the stage with honesty and generosity. To the sponsors and corporate partners whose belief in this community made the day possible. To every attendee who showed up, asked the hard questions and filled that room with the kind of energy that is impossible to manufacture. And to everyone who joined online from across 16 countries and made sure the conversation was bigger than any one room.

Detroit showed us what this community looks like when it is fully in the room. We cannot wait to do it again.