GAMECHANGERS: BENTLEY’S INSPIRING FEMALE ROLE MODELS
‘They are lifting other women as they rise,’ says the creator of the Inspiring Automotive Women Awards, at which three Bentley Colleagues have just been recognised by their peers
A big shout out to three of our Colleagues, Lilly Hulse, Mariam Zahedi and Anne-Kathrin Altendorf, who have each been named among the most inspiring women working in the automotive sector. A credit to themselves and to Bentley, they’re achieving great things while also demonstrating how much the company values and encourages diversity.
Digital Apprentice Lilly Hulse, who at age 20 is only in her second year working at Crewe, was named Rising Star of the Year – an award recognising the key role she played as part of the team designing apps and software to help the business manage risk assessments and plan the safe return to site for Colleagues during the Covid pandemic.
Lilly has also worked on a solution to unlock data and share key information with senior executives, and her “AutoSwitch” concept for an app providing an all-in-one platform for car retail services and car trading earned her a place as a finalist in the Autocar Drivers of Change initiative.
Technical Manager Mariam Zahedi currently works within Bentley’s Manufacturing Systems team, focusing on a new manufacturing system and strategy to help deliver future products. Mariam supports a number of STEM outreach activities to encourage more women and girls to consider a career in manufacturing.
As our first Head of Diversity, Anne-Kathrin Altendorf oversaw the development of Bentley’s Be-Inclusive Diversity Wins training programme, which saw over 800 Bentley people managers trained remotely in 2020. Anne-Kathrin also designed the diversity strategy that forms a key part of Bentley’s Beyond100 programme.
Julia Muir, Founder of the Automotive 30% Club which runs the Awards, said: ‘All of these truly fabulous women deserve our heartfelt appreciation for their outstanding contribution to making our industry more vibrant, exciting, warm, collaborative and successful.’
Our own Dr Astrid Fontaine, Member of the Board for People, Digitalisation and IT, said: ‘Creating a truly diverse and inclusive workforce is a key part of our Beyond100 strategy. We aim to achieve 30% of diversity candidates in management positions by 2030 – so we are delighted to continue working with the Automotive 30% Club on their efforts to promote inspiring female colleagues and the wide range of opportunities for women within our sector.’