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 be recognized for their life-changing contributions and achievements as engineers and leaders. The Wisconsin professional section of the Society of Women Engineers, a.k.a. SWE-WI, became a chartered SWE section on 11/3/1973.

The SWE-WI Professional Section currently partners with the SWE Collegiate Sections at 8 universities in the Wisconsin/Michigan area:

Executive Council

FY25 (July 2024 – June 2025) Executive Council:

  • President: Kyela Specht
  • VP 1 – Professional Development: Natalie Gamez
  • VP 2 – Collegiates: Maureen Duthie
  • VP 3 – Outreach: Heidi Balestrieri
  • Secretary 1 – Recording: Michele (Gagas) Dodez
  • Secretary 2 – Society Liaison: Gina Janke
  • Treasurer: Katie (Buchalski) Vandenburg
  • Membership Chair (non-elected/EC): Susan Thomas Schlett

President: Kyela Specht

Kyela has been a SWE Member since 2012, when she started as a collegiate member at Bradley University, and has since had a variety of involvement throughout the years.  In 2018, I became more involved in the Wisconsin Professional Section when I volunteered on the WE Local Milwaukee Planning Committee, specifically for the SWENext event.  Most recently, I have been the Wisconsin Section’s Google Coordinator for FY20 and have been Secretary 1-Recording for FY21, FY22, and FY23, and Section President in FY24. Kyela is currently the Village of Cottage Grove’s Public Works and Utilities Director. 

In FY25, Kyela is looking forward to continuing to build on the foundation and goals that were outlined in FY24 to further grow the professional section and continue the involvement through the Executive Committee and the members. SWE-Wisconsin has a strong section of professionals and collegiates and Kyela is looking forward to building on the successes of the section for the future. 

VP 1 – Natalie Gamez

Natalie has been a member of SWE since college and most recently with the Spring Forward planning committee (21, 22, 23, and 24), chairing Spring Forward (23), and volunteering for outreach activities including a panel discussion at Divine Savior Holy Angels high school and STEM Forward’s Contrapt competition.
Natalie currently works in Milwaukee at STRATTEC Security Corporation as a Product Engineer III. Over the years she’s chaired multiple United Way campaigns and most recently started a STEM / Engineering Resource Group at their Milwaukee office with goals of expanding to their office in Michigan.
She looks forward to working with the section to provide meaningful professional development activities.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliegamez/

VP 2 – Collegiates: Maureen Duthie

Maureen Duthie (She/Her) has been a member of SWE since 2014 starting as a collegiate at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. After graduating in 2019 with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, she currently works as a Product Engineer III at Clarios in Milwaukee and is an MBA student at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. At Clarios she is also a university outreach coordinator for their STEM Outreach volunteering group, EXTND, and is a member of their women’s networking ERG. This is her second year serving on the SWE-WI Executive Board and looks forward to continuing collaborating with the collegiate sections to provide support and meaningful opportunities to connect with the professional section. In her free time you can find her rock climbing, sailing, hiking, playing soccer, volleyball, skiing, or spending time with her friends, partner, and two cats.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maureen-duthie/  ​

VP 3 – Outreach: Heidi Balestrieri

Heidi Balestrieri has been involved in SWE Outreach programs for many years as both a presenter and a student which has fueled her passion to introduce STEM careers to today’s students.  Besides being the VP 3 Outreach/Outreach Coordinator for SWE-WI for the past five fiscal years, she has held a variety of SWE section roles in SWE-WI and Heart of Iowa SWE.  In her professional role, Heidi is Director of Engineering at Sentry Equipment in Oconomowoc. When not planning or presenting outreach events, Heidi attends her daughters’ school events and uses them as research assistants for developing new outreach activities.  She would like to continue in the role as VP 3 Outreach to continue to grow SWE-WI Outreach across the state.

Secretary 1 – Recording: Michele (Gagas) Dodez

I am the Secretary 1 – Recording for FY25. I received my Bachelor’s degree in BioMechanical Engineering and Master’s degree in BioInstrumentation from Marquette University.  I started my SWE career during my undergraduate studies, and I was able to serve for one year each as the Student Council Representative and the Fundraising Chair.  After I graduated, I continued to stay with SWE during my role as a Manufacturing Engineer for Criticare Systems working on patient monitors.  I currently am working as a Validation Engineer for Pfizer.  I have been the Newsletter Editor for the SWE-WI Section for a total of five years, and the counselor for the UW-Stevens Point section for the last four years.  I will continue to support the Wisconsin Section as the Secretary keep the communication open between the Executive Committee and the Members. I currently live northeast of Madison with my husband, 9 year old Newfoundland Abby, 3 year old cat Winnie, and 5 month old Newfoundland Nixie.

Secretary 2 – Society Liaison: Gina Janke

I am interested in keeping our section connected with SWE as an organization through communication of governance meetings and changes in the organization at large. 
 
A current Life member, I have been engaged with SWE throughout most of my collegiate and professional years, working on local, regional and national SWE activities.  Through my experience, I hope I can help provide additional value to the SWE-WI members as Secretary 2-Society Liaison.

Treasurer: Katie (Buchalski) Vandenburg

Katie Vandenberg is originally from Michigan and has been a member of the Wisconsin Section since 2019. She has a degree from Michigan Technological University in Environmental Engineering. While at MTU, she was involved with the school SWE section from 2015 and has been involved in leadership since 2017. This is her first year in this position and she is looking forward to learning more about the Section. Katie works for Ruekert Mielke, Inc as a Project Engineer. In her free time, she can be found crocheting or reading. 

Membership Chair: Susan Thomas Schlett

Susan has been involved with SWE for over 40 years. She has held various roles within the organization including president of SWE-WI, membership chair for the Society and has earned SWE’s Distinguished Service Award. Susan was a founding section member and first SWE section president for her alma mater Trinity College in Hartford, CT where she currently serves as SWE Counselor, in addition to SWE-WI membership chair.

FY25 SWE-WI Organizational Chart

SWE Wisconsin Position Descriptions

Elected Officers

President – Oversees the entire SWE-WI Section and elected positions. The President runs monthly executive committee meetings that are approximately 1 hour long. This position also plans and manages two in-person strategic planning meetings in the summer and winter. Typically attends national and local conferences. (2-4 hours/month).

VP2 Collegiates – Be the SWE-WI professional section contact for local SWE collegiate sections via email, video calls, and in-person visits (as needed). Provide support for collegiate sections answering any questions or issues. Maintain and update collegiate section contact information. Attend virtual monthly SWE-WI leadership meetings, attend bi-annual in-person SWE-WI leadership strategic planning meetings, and send email communications updates to collegiate sections at the start, middle, and end of their semesters. (1-2 hours/month)

Secretary Recording – Oversees and coordinates communication members as needed. Records minutes during meetings. This position attends the two strategic planning meetings in person. (2-3 hours/month)

Treasurer – Oversees the SWE-WI account and manages the budget for the year. This position also oversees the scholarship committee. The treasurer maintains the sections taxes and other government documents to keep it in good standing. This position attends the two strategic planning meetings in person (2-3 hours/month)

VP1 Professional – Oversees the members in the membership, professional development, and networking groups. Supports Spring Forward chair with annual event. Attend virtual monthly SWE-WI leadership meetings and attend bi-annual in-person SWE-WI leadership strategic planning meetings. (2 hours/month)

VP3 Outreach – Oversees outreach coordinator and communicates events to section. Submits events to society. Reaches out for new events. (3-16 hours/month)

Secretary Society Liaison – Reviews governance updates from society and reports back to the section. Writes an article about governance and society happenings to the newsletter. Backup to Secretary Recording for recording minutes at monthly meetings should they be unavailable. (2 hours/month)

Appointed Positions

Reports to VP1 Professional – Professional Development Committee

Nominating Chair – Is a SWE-WI member who is not planning to run for an elected section officer position. Attempts to organize a nominating committee with two other SWE-WI members who are not planning to run for an elected section position in that particular SWE fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). The committee reviews the most current section membership roster for who to suggest for leadership roles. They work with the current section EC to see who is interested in running for elected positions. By April the committee puts together a ballot which is electronically sent to the section members for voting over a two week period. The committee tabulates the voting and reports the results to those who have run for positions, as well as the EC and the entire section membership.(<1 hour/month)

Membership/Data Officer – Analyzes the membership numbers and welcomes new members. It is recommended that the person in this role review the section membership roster minimally on a monthly basis for accuracy. The roster is obtained from SWE Headquarters. It is helpful to attempt to contact all new members, preferably by telephone, to “Welcome them to SWE-WI” and to “verify their email address”. Names of new members and their email addresses should be relayed to the EC and in particular to whoever maintains the SWE-WI section distribution list on a monthly basis. If any roster errors are discovered, such as collegiate members being incorrectly assigned to our SWE-WI professional section, then that information should be given to SWE Headquarters for a section transfer. (<1 hour/month)

Corporate Liaisons – Assists communications committee in coordinating communications with corporate partners.

Conference Coordinator – Coordinate section meetups at the annual society conference and SWE local.

Event Planning Milwaukee – Plans social and professional development networking events in the Milwaukee area. (<1 hour a month)

Event Planning Madison – Plans social and professional development networking events in the Madison area.

Event Planning Fox Cities – Plans social and professional development networking events in the Fox Cities area.

Event Planning La Crosse – Plans social and professional development networking events in the La Crosse area.

Spring Forward Chair – Plans Spring Forward annual event. Create a sub-committee to help plan the event. (2-4 hrs/month)

Reports to VP3 Outreach – Outreach Committee

Milwaukee Outreach – Plans and volunteers with Milwaukee outreach events.

La Crosse Outreach – Plans and volunteers with La Crosse outreach events.

Fox Cities Outreach – Plans and volunteers with Fox Cities outreach events.

Reports to Secretary 1 Recording – Communications Committee

Google Coordinator – Sends weekly emails of happenings in the section and manages the email account.

Webmaster – Manages section website and updates for events. (1 hour/month)

Newsletter Editor – Creates the newsletter every other month. Collects and edits submissions. (2 hours/month)

Social Media Coordinator – Manages Facebook page. LinkedIn and other social media with society.

Corporate Liaisons – Assists communications committee in coordinating communications with corporate partners.

Reports to Secretary 2 Society Liaison

Mentor Coordinator – Coordinates mentor relationships in the section.

Herstorian – Makes a digital reference of SWE-WI history.

Internal Awards Chair – Coordinates nominations for and presentation of internal awards given out annually at Spring Forward. (1 hour/month).

External Awards Chair – Works with eligible section members to nominate them for SWE awards. Assists nominees in obtaining letters of support and works with them to write up the required documentation to complete an accurate awards packet that is submitted to SWE Headquarters prior to the program deadline. The chair requires at least two hours per month during the award period (currently December-March timeframe).

Reports to Treasurer

Scholarship Chair – Sends out submission information and chooses scholarship winners. Fundraising. Coordinate with corporate liaison.