GM Earns Top Honors at BEYA STEM Conference

For the past 34 years, the Black Engineer of the Year Award STEM Conference has served as a platform for STEM professionals to exchange best practices and strategies on how to promote and retain diverse talent in scientific and technical fields, while showcasing outstanding contributions made by minorities and women within STEM.

GM is on a mission to shape the future of mobility by empowering all employees to infuse unique perspectives in their work, thus enabling GM to remain in the forefront of an ever-changing automotive industry.

This year’s conference theme, “The Global Catalyst for Change: Making the Untapped Potential Possible” aligned with the accomplishments of Marcos Purty, executive director, Global Manufacturing Strategy & Planning and Eric Fonville, VDDV development engineer, Propulsion Structures, Sealing & Fastening. Purty received the Career Achievement Award and Fonville received the Research Leadership Award, which are some of the industry’s most notable honors in STEM.

“Years ago my single mother made a leap of faith to create better opportunities by moving us from a small town in Tennessee to Pontiac, Michigan—a city with a GM presence,” said Purty during his remarks. “It opened my eyes to what I wanted to be and excelling in math and science set me on my engineering path.”

“At 13, I knew I wanted to be an engineer and attended my father’s alma mater, The University of Michigan,” said Fonville during his remarks. “With the assistant dean’s guidance, I became the Society of Minority Engineering Students President, the first black in the Engineering Honorary and its vice president, and a first-year student mentor for the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program.”

Moreover, 12 GM employees from locations across North America were also recognized for their contributions to GM’s accelerated transformation:

Modern-Day Technology Leader Awardees:

• Fitsum Ejigu, Senior Software Developer, Austin, Texas
• Quanya Jefferson, Launch Manager, Flint, Michigan
• Lynne Moore, Engine Maintenance Manager, Spring Hill, Tennessee
• Will Morris, Senior Manager Information Security Engineering, Austin, Texas
• Michelle Stoutermire, Product Owner, Owners Center and OnStar.com, Detroit
• Bradman Taylor, Engineering Group Manager – CEI GCCX Retail Experience, Detroit

Science Spectrum Trailblazer Awardees:

• Opeyemi Alabi, Process Engineer, Warren, Michigan 
• Talona Johnson, Assistant Program Manager, Warren, Michigan 
• Phillip McQuirter, Shift Leader – Transfer Press Operations, Parma, Ohio
• Darrell Rounds, Facility Engineering – Electrical/Mechanical, Warren, Michigan
• Richard Salmon, Quality Engineer Manager, Lansing, Michigan 
• Susan Sewell-Cary, Electrical Engineer, Parma, Ohio

Additional conference highlights:

• Gerald Johnson, executive vice president, Global Manufacturing presented the Edward T. Welburn Legacy Award to Corey Randolph, R&D engineer, Nissan Technical Center, North America Nissan.
• Gerald Johnson, executive vice president, Global Manufacturing and Marcos Purty, executive director, Global Manufacturing Strategy & Planning conducted a fireside chat with nearly 100 DAPCEP participants who are pursuing interests in STEM careers. 
• Eric Fonville, VDDV development engineer, Propulsion Structures, Sealing & Fastening mentored a team of students from Norfolk State University, which developed a solution centered around autonomous wireless charging during the 2020 Advancing Minorities Interest in Engineering Design Challenge. 

Visit www.gmsustainability.com and access our latest Sustainability and Diversity and Inclusion reports to learn more about GM's efforts to promote STEM education and our efforts to foster an inclusive environment.