Anne L. Stevens

Stevens was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1948.[2] In high school, she disguised herself in order to enrol in the male-only mechanics pit crew at a race track.[2] After graduation, Stevens enrolled in nursing but dropped out and took a job at Bell Telephone where she met her future husband.[2]

Stevens and her husband enrolled at Drexel University and she graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical and materials engineering.[3]

After earning her degrees, Stevens worked at the Exxon Chemical Company for ten years in multiple engineering and manufacturing positions.[2] She then joined the Ford Motor Company in 1990 as a marketing specialist.[3] Stevens was promoted at various times during her tenure at Ford. In 1992, she was named manager of a Quality Services Department and by 2001, was named vice president of North America Vehicle Operations.[3] In 2000, Stevens was the recipient of the Shingo Leadership Award and was later appointed to the Shingo Prize Board of Governors.[4] In 2003, Stevens received the Eli Whitney Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers[5] and was promoted to group vice president of Canada, Mexico, and South America branches of the Ford Motor Company.[6] The next year, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering[7] and honoured by the Automotive Hall of Fame.[8]

In 2005, she became the first woman executive vice president in the history of the Ford Motor Company.[9] However, this title was short-lived as she resigned in September 2006 alongside Dave Szczupak.[10] The next month, Stevens was appointed chairman, President and chief executive officer of Carpenter Technology, succeeding Robert J. Torcolini.[11] Upon her promotion, Stevens became the company's first female CEO.[4] In 2007, Stevens donated $1 million to Drexel University to start the Anne L. Stevens Scholarship Program for Young Women.[12] In 2008, Stevens was honoured with the Best 50 Women in Business Award.[13] She was also elected to serve on the Albright College Board of Trustees on a three-year term.[14] She stayed in her role as CEO until 2009, when she resigned and Carpenter Technology split her roles into separate positions.[15] As a result of the resignation and split, Stevens received a cash payment of $1.76 million.[16] Moving on from Carpenter, Stevens focused on her non-executive director position at Lockheed Martin until she stepped down at the end of 2017 to become chief executive officer of GKN Aerospace.[17]