Immigrant engineer visits Penn State Fayette to kick off university’s CEO Conservations Series
Amy Fauth | Herald-Standard
Penn State Fayette sophomore Inman Young, right, sits down with Petra Mitchell, CEO of Catalyst Connection, during the most recent installment of the university’s CEO Conversations Series.
Amy Fauth | Herald-Standard
Petra Mitchell, CEO of Catalyst Connection, with Charles Patrick, Penn State Fayette Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer. Mitchell was the university’s first guest speaker for the 2019 CEO Conversations Series on Wednesday at the campus’ student center.
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus kicked off its 2019 CEO Conversations Series by welcoming Petra Mitchell, CEO and President of Catalyst Connection, a non-profit economic development organization in Pittsburgh that is dedicated to helping manufacturers with business growth and job creation.
Sponsored by Ford Business Machines, the series is designed to give students and community members the opportunity to hear from and talk with key local, regional and national executives on key topics such as business, entrepreneurship and leadership. The series started at Penn State Fayette in 2007 with guest speaker Joseph A. Hardy III of 84 Lumber.
Guest speakers are given an opportunity to speak, followed by a sit-down conversation with a student moderator and an additional question and answer period with attendees. The events are free and open to the pubic.
The student moderator for the session was Iman Young, a sophomore in Business Management and Marketing with a minor in psychology. An active student on and off campus, Young is on the campus basketball team, a member of the Business Club and the Student Veteran Association. He also works as a loader for UPS and is a reservist in the U.S. Army.
Charles Patrick, Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer at the university, introduced Mitchell.
“(Mitchell’s) experience in manufacturing operations, technology acceleration and business development stretches back to 1988. Before joining Catalyst Connection, she was employed by GE Aircraft Engines, now GE Aviation,” he said.
Mitchell holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton and a Masters from the University of Cincinnati. She sits on the board of directors of the Advanced Robotics in Manufacturing Institute, Leadership Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center Network.
Mitchell said she is passionate about manufacturing because manufacturing is responsible for getting her where she is today. Mitchell is an immigrant born in Slovenia. She came to America and Pittsburgh with her parents. Her father worked as a machinist for 40 years.
“Manufacturing allowed my father to give us a solid middle class life,” she added.
She encouraged students to find what they are passionate about. She is an engineer, but Mitchell admits she isn’t a stereotypical engineer. She didn’t like taking things apart and putting them back together again. However, she was good at math, good at science and loved to create things. Her favorite hobby was actually sewing.
She also was a female engineer in a time when there weren’t a lot of female engineers. There’s even less working as executives in manufacturing.
“Manufacturing isn’t just for men…I know a lot of very successful female engineers.”
That being said, she also wanted students to know that manufacturers are hiring – and in all categories.
A recent study asked manufacturers in the region about hiring and 100 respondents said on the day they answered the study they had some 2,300 open positions.
The keys, Mitchell said, are to have basic employability and basic mechanical aptitude. With those skills, someone with little to no post-secondary education can get a job in manufacturing.
It’s important, Mitchell said, because the region has the potential to be one of the top manufacturing communities in the world.
“I see this as a tremendous opportunity for the university and all the people in this room.”
Mitchell did leave attendees with three morsels of advice. The first is that “Nothing happens until someone sells something.” No matter what your career path looks like you can’t have business without selling.
The second is that “Leaders lead.” It’s important to take care of your team because they are what will get you and your organization to achieve the goals you have set out.
“You need a plan and the ability and willingness to execute that plan.”
Lastly, Mitchell said manufacturing is in the midst of what she calls the fourth industrial revolution, something she termed as “Industry 4.0.”
Industry 4.0 is the coming together of the mechanical, digital and biological aspects of manufacturing.
“Industry 4.0 has the potential of truly revolutionizing industry in our country and Southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Mitchell.
During the Q&A, one guest asked what the fifth industrial revolution would be.
Mitchell laughed and said “now, that’s a good question.”
The next CEO Conversations event will be held at 12:15 p.m. April 17 at the Student Center and features Jeff Erdely, Co-Founder and Parner at SESCO Enterprises, LLC, which focuses on buying and selling certain short-term, liquid electricity products traded in the U.S. wholesale electricity markets.