The Manufacturing Institute will award Shaw Industries’ Kim Seijo, business intelligence and MDM (product domain) director; LaRuthie Mason, START industrial maintenance training manager and Erika Swartz, senior process engineer, with the Women in Manufacturing Science, Technology, Engineering and Production (STEP) Award on Thursday, April 21.

Seijo and Mason are among the 100 recipients to be recognized as honorees and Swartz is among the 30 emerging leaders selected. The winners of this year’s award were selected amongst hundreds of applicants from numerous manufacturers across the country reflecting a diversity of manufacturing sectors and positions.

Seijo was selected for the positive impact she has made within Shaw through the use of data to make better business decisions; Mason was selected for her leadership in preparing associates for highly skilled positions through the START program and leading efforts related to the Shaw Maker Space and Swartz for her process improvements supporting the start-up of Shaw’s Evergreen Ringgold recycling facility.

“These 130 women are the faces of exciting careers in manufacturing,” said Jennifer McNelly, executive director, the Manufacturing Institute. “We chose to honor these women because they each made significant achievements in manufacturing through positive impact on their company and the industry as a whole. The STEP Ahead Awards are part of the 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.”

The Manufacturing Institute will recognize 130 recipients of the STEP Ahead Awards at a reception in Washington, D.C. The STEP Ahead Awards program will highlight each Honoree’s story, including their leadership and accomplishments in manufacturing.

“We are proud that the accomplishments of these women are not just recognized within our company, but also within the industry at-large,” said Vance Bell, CEO, Shaw. “The diverse talents within our organization are well represented by this outstanding group of women.”

The efforts of the STEP Ahead program parallel those of the Women’s Innovation Network (WiN), a program Shaw launched in 2014 to support the development of leaders at Shaw through resources and opportunities that help women drive successful careers.

For more information, visit shawfloors.com and themanufacturinginstitute.org.