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KEY HIGHLIGHTS
The Women Automotive Network is the fastest growing platform for automotive diversity and technology discussions. This is made possible by events, contents, mentorship schemes, and a rapidly growing community of over 15,000+ members across digital. In line with the Women Automotive Network’s effort to promote diversity in the Automotive industry through initiatives, it launched a scheme tagged “Women Automotive Summit” – an annual summit where experts come together to discuss latest trends and share relevant career insights and projections related to automotive.
This year’s edition of The Women Automotive summit held in June 22nd and 23rd. The event proved pundits right by delivering on exceptional sessions with industry experts championing key areas like the panel discussions and workshops. Each session met attendees from various works of life expressing excitement about being part of the network. Mariana Almeida who serves as R&D test engineer at Megna Auteca GmbH for example said after the event: “It was very inspiring to hear female leaders sharing experiences, motivating and highlighting the importance of diversity and how it adds value to employees and companies. Thank you, Women Automotive Network, and Magna International!”. Some other attendees had this to say:
“Thank you to the Women Automotive Network for connecting all of us, let’s shape the future together! And thanks again Arlena Amiri for an inspiring session. Krya på dig! -Ingrid Lascar”.
“A truly great session! So many good takeaways” -Lucy Cater
“Thank you for giving us the chance to take part! let us all be allies for a better future- together. 🙌” -Michaela Schelhardt.
It was thrilling to see all speakers bring in their ‘A’ game to discuss diversity and inclusion. Alerna Amiri (Head of Advanced Engineering at Polestar), beyond sharing her background, touched on leadership in general and the importance of leading with love, and overall, “You don’t need to PROVE but to IMPROVE YOURSELF”. -Arlena Amiri.
Nadine Haaf (Business Enterprise Architect Director, Capgemini) on her part while speaking on diversity and leadership said: “For real diversity, we need to change values represented in our leadership culture. This will not only attract women, but also men, and the younger generation”.
In attendance were 27 renowned companies and 34 speakers occupying top positions in Automotive (as majority) and other sectors. Some speakers included the likes of Jamie Zinser (Vice President Sales & Marketing, Global Auto, Novelis), Monica Perez Lobo (Sustainability and ESG Management Director, Toyota Motor Europe), Dr. Astrid Fontaine (Member of the Board of Management, Volkswagen CV), Volker Germann (CEO, AUDI Brussels), Laurie Fitzgerald (Senior Vice President, Avanci), Isabel Franco do Carmo (CTO, Innovative Charging Solutions Volkswagen Group China), thought leaders from other sectors, amongst others.
Speaking of the event during the panel discussion, Silke Neilg emphasized: “We need to listen to understand and address diversity of topics within the automotive industry… and the Women Automotive Summit is a great opportunity to connect, only if we speak up, then we can change things”.
Some highpoints of the event were met when Volker Germann (CEO, Audi Brussels) took the center stage as the man amongst women, promoting diversity. He expressed his appreciation to the initiative when he said: “I find it great that I can speak here in the Women Automotive Summit about this point because it has been a big part of my life… my aim as CEO is to create a psychologically safe environment for everyone to thrive”.
The event which premiered with the topic ‘Value driven diversity’, had Nadine Haaf (Business Enterprise Architect Director, Capgemini) address the audience on the value diversity brings and why it should be embedded in automotive culture.
The thrilling panel discussion on the last day had everyone smiling in approval via video conferencing, as the speakers were able to capture the essence of Diversity, and women in automotive. The catch-your-breath and catch-up moments shared both days at the Speed networking session offered attendees an opportunity to interact and establish new connections.
The workshop was a masterstroke manned by 11 speakers (Dr Maren SCHWEIZER, Katrin Zimmermann, Mark Arizmendi, Dr Paula Palade, Filiz Üsküplü
Elizaveta Olar, Fjollë Novakazi, Sridevi Vadapalli, Theodora Alexe, Nina Enders, and Daniela Ruggeri) who had the opportunity to be matched with fellow participants for one-to-one video calls. Feel free to share your opinion via this autosummit@wwpartnerships.com if you were in attendance.
Polls were conducted during the session to give insight and gather valuable data for future engagements. For example, when asked about Job satisfaction, 41.7% claimed to have job satisfaction, 11.1% said they didn’t, while 47.2% said it can be improved. When data was sorted further, it showed that those who have satisfaction were those at senior level. This could imply that the more you tick the boxes climbing the career ladder, the more satisfied
The event saw 511 attendees from 40 countries, hosted 320 networking meetings, had 35 speakers, and lasted for two days in total.
In attendance were partner and sponsors, companies like McKinsey & Company, Volkswagen CV, Capgemini, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford Motor Company, plus many more.
Join us for the final virtual event of the year where we will spend the afternoon reflecting on 2022 and looking ahead to what new challenges and opportunities 2023 will present, before an evening of speed networking!
This year’s speakers from: BCG, Roland & Berger, Ford, Peugeot, Bosch, Mercedes Benz Mobility, AkzoNobel, Daimler Truck.
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