Head of electrified propulsion receives award

Posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:28 PM EST.

Jayanthi Iyengar, Director and Chief Engineer—Electrified Propulsion Product Development, received the Women of Color Career Achievement in Industry Award on Saturday evening at the 14th Women of Color Conference in Dallas. 

The Women of Color awards recognize the most innovative professionals in the science, technology, engineering and math fields for their career accomplishments despite the traditional obstacles faced by women in these fields. The Women of Color Conference is the only multi-cultural celebration held to honor the significant achievements of women in technology. Iyengar received this prestigious diversity award “for making outstanding contributions in her field, and for being a role model and leader for others.”

“The Women of Color award clearly identifies some of the most influential business and community leaders in the U.S.,” Paolo Ferrero, Senior Vice President—Powertrain, said. “Chrysler Group is proud that Women of Color magazine and Career Communications Group recognize Jay’s extraordinary accomplishments as an engineer and a corporate leader.”

Iyengar is responsible for developing and applying electrified propulsion technology to all Chrysler Group vehicle applications. In this role, she has responsibility for electrified systems development including controls, calibration, electrical system architecture, diagnostics, power electronics, high voltage batteries and battery management systems, e-motors and motor controls.  Her organization also has responsibility for advanced technology development of next generation plug-in type systems and vehicles. 

Iyengar and her family are active in the community through various philanthropic and community activities. In particular, Iyengar volunteers her time at the Accounting Aid Society where she provides tax preparation and counseling assistance to low income families, seniors and other communities in need around the Detroit area.

“Jay joins a long list of accomplished women leaders at Chrysler Group who’ve received this important recognition,” Nancy Rae, Executive Vice Preident—Human Resources, said. “These women are terrific role models for all of us, and great examples of why diversity is so important to the future of the Chrysler Group and to the future of our country.”

“It is an incredible honor to be recognized in this way along with such outstanding and accomplished women leaders,” Iyengar said. “I want to thank my family and friends for their love and support, and those who have mentored me throughout my career, for their wisdom and guidance. I learn from the talented engineers around me and Chrysler Group’s leadership has provided a very supportive environment for professional growth.”

The Chrysler Group continues to be a leader in promoting diversity throughout its enterprise.  The company was recently named one of the “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” by Working Mother magazine, the 12th time Chrysler Group has achieved this prestigious benchmark, and the second consecutive year the company was the only automaker to be included on the list. 

The company recently was recognized for the fourth time by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as one of 305 leading corporations to score a perfect 100 percent on the foundation’s 2010 Corporate Equality Index, which rates corporations annually based on their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workplace policies and benefits. In addition, Chrysler Group recently was named to Hispanic Business magazine’s Diversity Elite 60, for implementing strategies to reach more hispanic customers and to pursue more business with minority- and hispanic-owned suppliers.

Most recently, the Chrysler Group was named the “Company of the Year” for 2009 by the Canadian Aboriginal amd Minority Supplier Council for its “extraordinary commitment to supply chain diversity and the development of Canadian Aboriginal and minority-owned businesses.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:28 PM EST and is filed under Employee and tagged Dashboard. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed.