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CORRIDOR
Mixing talents
Reporter: Tim Kenyon
tim@corridorbiznews.com
Sue Nelson plans to build on the Corridor’s largest private employer’s strengths as diversity director at Rockwell Collins.
“I’m adamant and passionate about our strategies,” said Ms. Nelson, who replaced Karen Brown on Oct. 1. Ms. Brown left to become global director of inclusion and diversity at Baxter pharmaceuticals in the Chicago area.
Rockwell Collins gained recognition earlier this year from readers of Diversity/Careers in Engineering & Information Technology magazine as a “Best Diversity Company.”
Ms. Nelson hopes to further expand the avionics company’s high standing for workplace diversity and influence in the community from the groundwork set by her predecessor.
A better understanding of its global reach through employees and customers is a key component for diversity improvements in 2010, she said.
“We are a global organization and we have dimensions that are different because of the many locations of our people, and we want to understand them better and pull it into our current strategy,” she said. “To enhance that, we are excited about it.”
Part of that entails fostering employee improvement in their positions and self-growth, and mixing in new hires from a variety of backgrounds.
“We are known at Rockwell for providing opportunities for our employees. We work really hard on that so it continues to strengthen us and our employees,” she said.
The other half of the objective involves drawing people to Rockwell Collins, both employees and customers.
“It’s very important to seek out the marketplace to look for external talent to fuse with internal talent to develop the appropriate blend,” Ms. Nelson said.
Ms. Nelson knows a thing or two about capitalizing on talent and enhancing it.
She earned her bachelor’s degree at Upper Iowa University and her executive MBA at the University of Iowa.
Her parents set her on a path to be community-minded as a youngster when she grew up on the family farm near Wellman.
“I think I’ve always been interested in diversity, but wasn’t sure what it was when I was younger,” Ms. Nelson said. “I’ve always been involved, as my parents instilled the value of community to me and of volunteering and being open.”
She worked at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines before joining Rockwell Collins.
“I led diversity there and became more interested in seeing how well businesses can do with different markets when you have a diverse workforce and how strong of a team you can build,” Ms. Nelson said.
At Rockwell Collins, she has gained experienced in several roles.
“I was hired to be a part of a HR technology group and I came over in ’05 more as a technology person when I moved to the office of diversity as we were just starting to be a part of a grassroots initiative in the area on diversity,” she said.
She left for two years to manage a staffing group until hired to replace Ms. Brown.
“All of my positions have been under the umbrella of diversity and staffing for employee development under (Vice President) Rod Dooley,” she said.
She added she likes the satisfaction of helping with training programs and the company’s several networking groups to encourage employees to be community-minded and more open to diversity and inclusion.
“When we talk about them together, we talk about openness more than race and gender. Where you grew up, your education and values – that whole piece makes you who are,” she said.
It’s a major part for Rockwell Collins to be a better team and be more innovative in products for customers, she said.
She is set to influence her staff as she will soon fill a manager’s position that reports to her.
The staff is organized with a manager to each of the company’s three pillars for diversity – people, workplace and marketplace. Another staffer does analysis on affirmative action and related matters and an administrative assistant helps everyone else.
Hazel Pegues, executive director of the Corridor Diversity Focus organization aimed at boosting inclusivity in the region, looks forward to seeing the impact Ms. Nelson has at Rockwell Collins and the Corridor.
“She will keep her fingers on the pulse of what’s the most current kind of thinking and on initiatives around diversity globally and certainly as they relate to Cedar Rapids and the Technology Corridor,” Ms. Pegues said. “She’s very in tuned to technology needs and that forces us to really look at how diversity fits into that whole picture.” CBJ
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