Joan Ferrell

Lead/President

Joan Ferrell was born into a US Air Force family with five girls.  Their parents taught that they could do anything and to not let their gender define them.  By 18, she had lived 11 years of her life outside the United States – England, France, Japan and Germany where she graduated from Zweibrucken American High School.  She graduated in Utah – Weber State – with a bachelor’s degree in software engineering. 
 
Joan works for Honeywell Aerospace serving in a leadership role.  In the US, she worked with and managed an international team, which gave her opportunities to travel to India and at one point enjoy the opportunity of living three months in Bangalore, India.  With four grown children, Joan and her husband took advantage of an international Honeywell opportunity in Brno, Czech Republic.  Although it took them further away from their children and grandchildren, the opportunity for growth and for making a difference drove their decision.  “It allowed me to combine my loves and my passions – Flight Management Systems, travel and most importantly mentoring women in engineering.“ explains Joan.
 
Her master’s thesis was on the “Impact of Social Supports on Persistent Women Engineers: Perspectives from the United States and India”.  “As I worked on my master’s it ignited my passion for inclusion and diversity.  It made me realize that I experienced many of the challenges and made many of the same mistakes as those women who decided to leave engineering,“ she explains.  It’s Joan’s mission to raise awareness for women and to help and mentor others to learn how to persist in a challenging, exciting and rewarding career.  After moving to the Czech Republic, Joan volunteered to be a SWE ambassador where her role is to get out the word and expand SWE in the area.