Officers
Last updated 5th January, 2013
FY13 Region B Officers
Governor: Stephanie Loete
Stephanie Loete is a flight test engineer at the Air Force Test Center located on Edwards AFB, California. She graduated from the University of Southern California in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and a Multimedia and Creative Technologies Minor. She has been an active SWE member since entering college and has over five years of experience working in bomber flight test as a civilian for the Air Force. Stephanie is currently the region governor and a member of the Antelope Valley section. She lives in Lancaster, CA and enjoys reading, walking, and traveling. Contact Stephanie at stephanie.loete@swe.org
Lt. Governor: Jennifer Dugan
Jennifer Dugan received her Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University and is employed by Whole Hog Technologies in Albuquerque, NM. She is Sonora Region Lieutenant Governor and the Central New Mexico Section Representative. Her previous section roles include president and treasurer and she served four years as the region treasurer. Jennifer has also held several executive council roles in her local ASME section.
Treasurer: Keli Callahan, P.E.
Keli Callahan is an Associate Vice President with Carollo Engineers and is the Office Manager of Carollo’s Las Vegas office. During her 11 years with the firm, she has been involved in numerous environmental projects with an emphasis on planning and design of water and wastewater infrastructure, water reclamation and treatment facilities, computer modeling, and construction management. She received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from California State University, Fresno and a master’s degree in civil/environmental engineering from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is registered as a professional engineer in Nevada and California. Keli joined SWE in 1999 and was a re-charter member of the Las Vegas Valley section. Since then, she has served as Section Representative (FY07, FY08), Vice President (FY09), and President (FY09-FY10). She has held the Region Treasurer position since FY11. Keli is also active in ASCE, APWA, and WEF.
Secretary: Kim O’Rourke
Region B Nominating Committee Chair: Stacie Suggs
Region B Professional Senator: AmyJo Bowdidge
Region B Professional Senator: Fran Stuart
Region B Alternate Professional Senator: Tracy Van Houten
Region B Leadership Coach: Renee Defeo
Renee Defeo is a Plastics Engineer/MBA working for Intel Corporation as a Technical and Commodity Manager in the Global Sourcing Procurement Organization. She obtained her BS in Plastics Engineering from University of Massachusetts at Lowell, MA. Renee also completed her MBA-TM degree from University of Phoenix. She moved to the Phoenix area immediately after completing her undergraduate degree and started her career at a custom Injection Molding Company called The Tech Group at their Tech Medical Division. Renee also worked for Plastican as a Materials & Quality Manager for their start-up division in Phoenix, and Molding; Maintenance Engineering Manager at Warner Lambert-Schick. Renee has now been with Intel for 12 years working as an Engineering program manager for various areas and projects including handling media development, substrate development, product/packaging definition and now supporting IT Strategic Sourcing. Renee recently joined the Region B Leadership Coaching committee and is excited to help strengthen our SWE sections and community. Renee is also the Phoenix Section Representative. Renee is a leader at Intel who initiated and chaired the Intel SWE Strategy team and helped to bring Intel on as a SPC member. Renee continues as a member of the SWE Strategy team which strives to optimize and strengthen the relationship between SWE and Intel. Along with her passion for SWE, Renee loves the sport of Triathlon – you can always catch her at a race or event somewhere!
Region B Leadership Coach: Joan Fisher
“Just Joan” was born in the birthplace of aviation, Dayton, Ohio, one of eleven children (six boys, five girls). She earned an Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Dayton in 1982 and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Boston University in 1985. She has been in the aerospace business for almost thirty years, currently working for Raytheon Company’s Integrated Defense Systems division as part of the systems engineering team providing software & hardware electronics integration for some of the newest US Navy ships, many currently stationed in her hometown of choice, San Diego. She has enjoyed many years of active participation in SWE in Tucson, AZ and San Diego, CA as secretary and past president, and currently as Section Representative. Her desire is to see her section continue to grow its outstanding outreach programs and provide valuable networking and professional development opportunities with joint events with other engineering societies, considering SWE a priceless resource for promoting the profession of engineering and for the growth of women in their engineering careers. She intends to lend her SWE experience and passion to her new role as Region Leadership Coach.
Region B Leadership Coach: Leslie Hugo
Region B Collegiate Senator: Wendy Merkley
Region Alternate Collegiate Senator: VACANT
Region B Collegiate Representative: Haleigh Auck
Haleigh is a 5th year undergraduate at University of California, Santa Barbara. She will graduate in June 2013 with her B.S in Chemical Engineering and a professional certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship. She has been a member of SWE since 2009 and served as section president at UCSB for two years along various other roles. Haleigh is involved with the UCSB Women’s Club Volleyball team and has served as president of the club for two years. Haleigh was also recently promoted to a student supervisor position at the UCSB Recreation Center. In her spare time, Haleigh enjoys relaxing at the beach, cooking, playing beach volleyball, and spending time with her family and her boyfriend. Haleigh hopes to stay involved with leadership roles in SWE beyond graduation. You can contact Haleigh at
swe.rcr.b@gmail.com.
Region B Collegiate Representative: Thelina Smith
Thelina Smith is a Biomedical Engineering student at the University of Utah with an emphasis in Biomaterials. She will graduate from the Bachelors-Masters program in Fall 2014, with minors in Leadership Studies and Mathematics. She has been a member of SWE since her freshman year and has served as president for the University of Utah collegiate section (FY11). Since then, she has served as a Biomedical Engineering Ambassador for the University of Utah’s College of Engineering, and has became an active member of The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), where she will be serving as the University of Utah’s Chapter President (FY13). In her spare time you can find Thelina volunteering for the Lupus Foundation of America-Utah Chapter, fishing, writing poetry, cooking, playing badminton or dancing! Thelina hopes to continue her leadership roles within the society as a member of the Region Collegiate Team. Contact Thelina at Thelina.Smith@Utah.Edu
Region B Collegiate Communications Editor: Lindsay Kammeier
Region B Collegiate Leadership Coach (Lead): Annika Jensen
Annika is a senior in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Utah State University. She will graduate in December 2011 with her B.S, minors in Mathematics and German. She works at the Space Dynamics Laboratory, part of the Utah State University Research Foundation, as an Engineering Assistant. This means she does whatever the real engineers with degrees tell her to do, including data management, CAD modeling and satellite test preparation. Annika is currently the president of the USU collegiate section and serving as a Collegiate Leadership Coach for the region. She has been a member since her freshman year and has served in her section as publicity chair, secretary and outreach coordinator. Last year she was the Region Collegiate Representative for Region B. In her limited time not occupied by homework, Annika enjoys running, studying history, not doing homework, and cooking with her husband, Ryan.
Region B Collegiate Leadership Coach: Lisa Rogers
Region B Collegiate Leadership Coach: Susie Kirkland
Susie Martinez Kirkland has been a collegiate leadership coach since 2006. She enjoys meeting collegiate members and watching them develop and improve as leaders.
Susie graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 2005. Her current and past SWE involvements include San Diego Professional Section Collegiate Outreach Committee Director, Counselor for the San Diego State University Collegiate Section, 2010 Sonora Region Conference Chair, FY10 Phoenix Section Vice President, FY08 Region B Secretary and 2005 Sonora Region Conference Co-chair.
Currently, Susie is a System Test and Qualification Engineer at General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in San Diego where she works on Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Prior to working at GA, Susie lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, working initially as a digital designer and then as a software task lead at General Dynamics C4 Systems. Her favorite thing about being an engineer is working with others to solve problems daily. During her free time, Susie enjoys cooking, kayaking, hiking, traveling, laughing too loud and spending time with her husband, their two cats, family and friends.