The Manufacturing Institute Honors Cooper Tire's Kathleen Slocum with 2019 STEP Ahead Award

Business Wire 4-Mar-2019 9:00 AM

National award recognizes women for excellence and leadership in manufacturing

The Manufacturing Institute has recognized Kathleen Slocum, Senior Manager, Corporate Quality for Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, with a Women in Manufacturing STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Ahead Award for 2019. Slocum is among 130 women nationally who earned the honor this year from a field of hundreds of nominees.

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Cooper Tire's Kathleen Slocum has been recognized with a 2019 STEP Ahead Award for demonstrating excellence and leadership in manufacturing. (Photo: Business Wire)

The STEP Ahead Awards program, now in its seventh year, recognizes women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers and represent all levels of manufacturing, from the factory floor to senior executive leadership. On April 11, winners of the STEP Ahead Award will be recognized at a reception in Washington, D.C., where honorees' stories will be highlighted, including their leadership and accomplishments in manufacturing as well as their roles in the community. Slocum, one of seven Cooper employees to receive this honor over the past four years, will attend this event along with members of Cooper's senior executive leadership team.

"Kathleen is a hands-on leader who has made meaningful contributions to Cooper. She has dedicated her career to manufacturing and works directly with our plants to implement important quality initiatives. Her extensive technical experience, particularly in the field of tire uniformity, supports Cooper's commitment to high quality products," said Brad Hughes, Cooper's President & Chief Executive Officer. "On behalf of everyone at Cooper, I congratulate Kathleen and wish her continued success."

Slocum joined Cooper in 2016 with nearly 20 years of experience in manufacturing, with specialization in tire uniformity. She is responsible for ensuring consistent quality by developing and implementing global manufacturing quality systems and leading continuous improvement activities related to variation reduction and quality improvement. A Canadian immigrant to the U.S., Slocum is active at Cooper and within the local Findlay, Ohio community, serving as a member of the Cooper Women's Network, the Findlay Art League and the Findlay International Club. She holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in mechanical engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The STEP Ahead Awards are part of a larger STEP Ahead initiative, launched to examine and promote the role of women in the manufacturing industry through recognition, research, and leadership for attracting, advancing, and retaining strong female talent.

About Cooper Tire & Rubber Company

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) is the parent company of a global family of companies that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of passenger car, light truck, medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires. Cooper's headquarters is in Findlay, Ohio, with manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations within its family of companies located in more than one dozen countries around the world. For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.

About The Manufacturing Institute

The Manufacturing Institute (the Institute) is the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers. As a non-partisan organization, the Institute is committed to delivering leading-edge information and services to the nation's manufacturers. The Institute is the authority on the attraction, qualification and development of world-class manufacturing talent. For more information, please visit www.themanufacturinginstitute.org.

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