Specialty: Manufacturing
Major Contributions:
Granted a US patent Dual Brightness Enhancement Film for screens
Factory Manager for John Deere
Recipient of the 2015 Prism Award from the Society of Women Engineers
Since 2016 Rosalind Fox has been the Factory Manager at John Deere’s 3.5 million-square-foot Ankeny facility which employs about 1,600 people that design, test, and manufacture cotton harvesters and other farm related equipment.
Her path to John Deere started at 3M Company where she worked on engineering projects that included the development of a Dual Brightness Enhancement Film that is used on laptop monitors and flat screen televisions. Fox was awarded a patent for this product that improves the brightness of these screens and saves energy. Knowing from the time she had her first engineering job at 3M that she wanted to be a factory manager she sought out roles and project assignments that would help her toward this goal.
In 2005 she was hired by John Deere as a Master Process Pro in the Construction and Forestry Division. Five years later she was promoted to Director of Global Diversity and Inclusion where she worked closely with Human Resources leveraging diversity and inclusion to higher levels globally for the corporation.
She then achieved her goal of becoming a factory manager, being placed in charge of the John Deere Turf Care factory in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina in 2012. During her tenure there she was extremely successful, having the highest profitability in the factory’s existence and improving employee engagement to the highest level ever in the facility. Her factory focused on safety as shown by the world-class 10 million hours without a lost time injury.
Beyond the work she does as a factory manager Fox has grown the company’s partnership with the Society of Women Engineers which in turn helps grow the global impact of SWE. In her efforts to encourage children, people of color, and young women to pursue STEM careers she helped to develop John Deere Inspire, a group whose members have donated thousands of hours including 152 mentors supporting 225 First Robotics teams.
Fox was the recipient of the SWE Prism Award in 2015 for both her personal accomplishments and her support of other women engineers. She was named a Women of Influence in 2021 by the Des Moines Business Record.
Written by Angela Goad
Sources:
Celebrating Black History Month: Rosalind Fox
John Deere: Rosalind Fox Testimonial (Archived)
2021 Women of Influence Honoree: Rosalind Fox
SWE Prism Award: Rosalind Fox (Archived)
See Also: