Lear Corporation Names Vickie Piner Vice President - Supplier Diversity and Development
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Sept. 12 -- Lear Corporation today announced the appointment of Vickie Piner to vice president - Supplier Diversity and Development within the company's Global Purchasing Division. Piner reports to Lear Vice President - Global Purchasing, Joe Sefcik and succeeds Charles White who has retired from Lear.
In her new role, Piner is responsible for seeing that Lear meets internal goals related to certified minority vendors and the amount of goods and services it purchases from these suppliers to ensure the company achieves diversity spending targets.
Piner began her career with Lear in 1994 as an engineering manager and was promoted to positions of increasing responsibility until being named Lear's vice president of Global Six Sigma Deployment in 2001. Most recently, she was vice president of Quality for the Interiors, Electrical and Ford Customer Division. Prior to this assignment, Piner was vice president of Lear's Seating operations in France.
"Utilizing a diverse mix of suppliers is essential to the success of Lear's purchasing organization," said Sefcik. "Small and diverse companies bring strength, innovation and flexibility to our supply base by tapping unique skills and technologies available within the community. Given her past successes at leadership roles in engineering, quality and operations, Vickie understands what adds value for Lear and we believe she will continue to 'raise the bar' when it comes to benefits that can be realized through minority procurement."
Piner holds an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from General Motors Engineering and Management Institute in Flint, Mich. and a master's degree in manufacturing management from Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. In October 2001, she was honored with the Automotive Hall of Fame's Young Leadership and Excellence Award and was also a recipient of the Crain's Detroit Business "40 Under 40" Award which recognizes Detroit's most successful young business people.
Lear Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Southfield, Mich., USA, focuses on integrating complete automotive interiors, including seat systems, interior trim and electrical systems. With annual net sales of $17 billion in 2004, Lear is one of the world's largest automotive interior systems suppliers. The company's world-class products are designed, engineered and manufactured by more than 110,000 employees in 34 countries.
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