Mindy Koch Receives the Society of Women Engineers' Emerging Leaders Award; Mindy Koch is recognized for her outstanding technical excellence as an individual resulting in significant accomplishments in safety, health, and environment.

CHICAGO -- The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) today announced Mindy Koch recipient of the 2005 Emerging Leaders Award for demonstrated leadership in safety, health, and environment.

Mindy is environmental, health and safety (EHS) manager for the New Mexico Site of Intel Corp. As EHS manager Mindy's responsibilities include managing a department of 18 EHS professionals, overseeing a 4.4 million-square-foot semiconductor manufacturing space and more than 5,000 employees. She and her team develop and implement EHS programs and services. She also oversees the Americas Region Industrial Hygiene Specialist.

"Mindy Koch as shown incredible passion for her role in safety engineering," says Ronna Robertson, president of the Society of Women Engineers. "She has taken that talent and managed to lead numerous teams to a better work environment."

During her 14-year tenure at Intel, Mindy has served the company in various capacities: safety engineer, safety & industrial hygiene team leader, and site environmental manager. She has also served as an instructor with Intel University, teaching thousands of employees about worker safety and Intel's safety culture. Mindy has instructed courses in new employee orientation, control of hazardous energies, electrical safety auditing, incident investigation, behavioral safety coaching, incident and injury free culture, and office safety.

"Mindy's career has steadily advanced to her current role as a senior leader at Intel's major New Mexico site and within global environmental health & safety," says Lewis Scarpace, general manager and director, world wide environmental health & safety, Intel Corp. "Her guidance, mentoring, technical, and leadership counsel is routinely sought by many in Intel and the community--a further testament to her stature and value."

Mindy has added a host of community relations activities to her resume. She dedicates most of her time volunteering with the Girl Scouts, as well as with WERC: A Consortium for Environmental Education and Technology Development (formerly the Waste-management Education and Research Consortium). In addition to her volunteerism, Mindy has been the recipient of several awards for her contribution to improved environmental management.

Mindy earned her B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico. She is a certified safety professional.

This marks the inaugural year for the Emerging Leader Awards. These awards were created in response to overwhelming demand from our corporate partners and members to recognize the accomplishments of mid-career women. The Emerging Leader Awards honor women engineers who have demonstrated outstanding technical excellence as an individual resulting in significant accomplishments in the following areas: academia; manufacturing and construction; procurement/logistics; product research, design, and engineering; quality, safety, health and environment; and sales and marketing.

The Emerging Leaders will be formally presented Friday night, November 4, 2005, at SWE's National Conference Awards Banquet in Anaheim, Calif. The National Conference, "Women Engineers Leading Global Diversity," is being held at the Anaheim Convention Center, November 3-5, Anaheim. The more than 3,000 attendees include professionals from every discipline of the engineering profession and a large number of engineering students and educators. The 2006 Conference is scheduled for October 11-14 in Kansas City, Mo.

About SWE

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE), founded in 1950, is a not-for-profit educational and service organization. SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women. SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in those aspirations and receive the recognition and credit for their life-changing contributions and achievements as engineers and leaders. For more information about the Society please visit www.swe.org or call [phone].