The Women in Manufacturing Association (WiM) provides career and educational resources and support to women working in the manufacturing industry. The WiM Hall of Fame recognizes leaders who have exhibited a commitment to growing the voice of women in the manufacturing industry and have created pathways for other women to succeed. 

Currently a senior executive in HP’s 3D printing and digital manufacturing division, Lontoh is the executive sponsor for the company’s Women in 3D Printing and Women in Manufacturing initiatives. She’s been a passionate advocate for the advancement of women in technology for many years. Beginning in 2012, she served as both a mentor and a selection committee member for the US State Department’s TechWomen program, receiving recognition for her work from then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. 

HP has been a corporate member of WiM since 2019. Lontoh views her involvement with the organization as an extension of her work advancing more women and women leaders in technology. “3D printing & digital manufacturing are really about enabling digital transformation in the manufacturing sector,” she says, which is why the company, and HP’s women leaders in particular, “need to be exposed more to the manufacturing industry, not just the technology or 3D printing industries.” 

“Women thrive in technology areas where they feel they can make a real impact. Areas such as 3D printing & digital manufacturing provide women with the opportunity to work in an emerging technology area that enables flexible and agile manufacturing systems, which contributes to ensuring supply chain resiliency, especially in the age of supply chain disruptions caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.”

Lontoh holds engineering degrees from UC Berkeley and MIT, and an MBA from Kellogg. With a professional focus on business and marketing, she’s found her sweet spot is working at the intersection of new technology, new business models and policy. Over the last fifteen years, she’s been involved with disruptive new technologies such as industrial IoT and 3D printing to enable digital transformation, both at new businesses within large Fortune 100 companies such as HP and Siemens, and within venture-backed Silicon Valley technology companies. “I really wanted to work in an area that is contributing something more to society, rather than just selling a product,” she says of her career choices.

The WiM Hall of Fame honor is the latest in the long list of accomplishments and recognitions that have earned Lontoh a place on MIT’s Notable Women Alumni list. She is a National Asian American Hall of Fame Inductee (2017) and recipient of the Entrepreneurship and Corporate Excellence Award and the Global Emerging Leaders under 40 award. She was invited by the White House to speak at President Obama’s Global Innovation Summit in 2016. She is a speaker and contributor to conferences and media such as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, World Economic Forum, Forbes, Fortune, TIME, CNN, NBC, Reuters, the BBC, MIT Technology Review, the Huffington Post and others.

Forty-six top students from eight leading undergraduate Supply Chain Management and Engineering programs across the US and Mexico were presented with MIT fellowship awards in a virtual ceremony held on May 4, 2020.

The MIT Supply Chain Excellence Awards are given annually to outstanding graduating senior supply chain or industrial engineering majors at select institutions that have partnered with the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics’ Supply Chain Management master’s program to expand opportunities for students to pursue graduate study and advance the field of supply chain and logistics.

MIT SCM program Executive Director Dr. Josué Velazquez describes the awards program as “a way to recognize exceptional talent coming out of the best supply chain and industrial engineering undergraduate programs in the world, while also raising awareness of MIT’s master’s program in Supply Chain Management.” He praised this year’s pool of nominees as “incredibly strong, with exceptional academic records, experience, and leadership qualities. It was an honor and a challenge to choose winners from such a talented pool of applicants.”

Velazquez and SCM program Academic Administrator Robert Cummings were joined for the 2020 awards presentation by Supply Chain and Engineering faculty and department chairs from Arizona State University, Lehigh University, Michigan State University, Monterrey Tech (Mexico), Penn State University, Purdue University, Syracuse University, and Texas A&M University, who honored their student nominees and announced the names of fellowship recipients from their respective programs.

The virtual event was the first Supply Chain Excellence Awards ceremony hosted by MIT’s SCM department; in prior years, winners were announced on each campus during spring academic awards events. With campuses closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a need to adapt became an opportunity to bring nominees and representatives from all schools together for the first time.

Along with the presentation of awards, the program featured remarks from past Supply Chain Excellence awardees who are currently completing their master’s degrees as part of the SCM class of 2020. Trevor Thompson, 2016 SC Excellence awardee from Arizona State University, shared, “It’s not the award itself that brings you the greatest satisfaction. It’s the reward that comes after utilizing that award that will truly change your life. The SCM program will set you up for an incredible future in supply chain management; and connect you with a whole new family.”

Texas A&M alum and 2017 awardee Gina Gerhart added, “It’s an incredible honor to receive this award. MIT’s SCM program is a very collaborative experience and an opportunity to absorb not only from courses, but also from a diverse group of peers, faculty, and staff.”

Bringing the ceremony to a close, Velazquez told awardees, “You’re already super successful. We know you’ll make big changes in the world, and we want to be part of your journey.”

The MIT Supply Chain Excellence Awards program has provided $520,000 in fellowship funding to 20 awardees who have joined the MIT SCM master’s program to date. Awardees can redeem their awards by applying and being admitted to the SCM program after gaining 2-5 years of post-bachelor’s professional experience. Fellowship awards may be applied toward SCM master’s program tuition at MIT, or at MIT Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) network centers in Spain, Malaysia, Luxembourg, or China.

2020 MIT Supply Chain Excellence Award Recipients

Ricardo Anaya Urdaibay, Monterrey Tech
Erin Bahm, Michigan State
Ruth Bang, Syracuse
Sean Conway, Lehigh
Lane Fellhauer, Texas A&M
Harry Hawkes, Lehigh
Rachel Hooker, Penn State
Rushabh Jajadia, Purdue
Olivia Levine, Arizona State
Alexandra Machlis, Lehigh
Julia Mionis, Arizona State
Kathryn McPherson, Syracuse
Rachel Osborne, Purdue
Megan Reimel, Michigan State
Sarah Roman, Penn State
Elisa Ruiz Mugica, Monterrey Tech
Hector Ronaldo Sandoval Juarez, Monterrey Tech
Alexander Shaw, Michigan State
Samantha Stevons, Michigan State
Erin Thalacker, Syracuse
Carolina Ustick, Texas A&M
Alyson Weber, Syracuse
Joshua Westin, Arizona State

Victoria Abigail Felix Valdez, Monterrey Tech
Jared Briones, Arizona State
Larissa Chow, Lehigh
Jilian Cordova, Texas A&M
Michael DiNardo, Syracuse
Melissa Finneran, Michigan State
Katie Gustas, Penn State
Regin Horan, Michigan State
Ethan Hunn, Penn State
Ingrid Itzel Garcia Bustamante, Monterrey Tech
Elizabeth Key, Texas A&M
Aaron LaCourse, Arizona State
Adriana Melissa Bravo Valencia, Monterrey Tech
Regina Mijares Madero, Monterrey Tech
Hailey Nirenberg, Lehigh
Kyle O’Brien, Syracuse
Liem Phan, Penn State
Jacob Rubenstein, Michigan State
Matthew Russel, Texas A&M
Morgan Schurr, Lehigh
Anthony Solivais, Arizona State
Alexis van Ooyen, Lehigh
Joseph Whitman, Penn State