Leadership Team
Get to know our FY24 Leadership Team (July 2023 – June 2024)
President – Tori Kushner
Tori has worked as a mechanical engineer since 2018 at Hallam-ICS, a consulting engineering firm located in South Burlington, and is currently pursuing her PE license. Her firm is 100% employee-owned with 135 employees and offers services in Mechanical, Electrical, Process (MEP) engineering, controls and integration, arc flash studies and electrical safety, toxic gas monitoring systems, and commissioning. Tori was the FY22 SWE North Country Secretary and North Country President since FY23.
Vice President – Emily Austin
Emily graduated from the University of Vermont in 2016 with a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Minor in Pure Mathematics. After graduation, she began job at GLOBALFOUNDRIES as a Photomask Engineer, followed by a job as a Business Analyst. After 6 years with GF, Emily left to pursued her passion for food and entrepreneurship. Along with her sister Chelsea and friend Adam, she started a CPG company called Chelsea Approved, which creates gluten free and vegan baking mixes.
Treasurer – Basak Simal
Basak works at GE Aerospace for Supplier Sourcing and performs technical troubleshooting and problem-solving travel to suppliers across the US. Basak started at GE Aviation Rutland as a Process Engineer, and filled in positions Production Supervisor, Quality Engineer. Previously she was the Process Improvement Engineer at a cosmetics manufacturing company called Autumn Harp and before that she was in the Leadership Rotational Program with Keurig Green Mountain. She graduated from Florida State University with a Mechanical Engineering degree. She has been involved in SWE since sophomore year in college.
Secretary – Stephanie Yum
Stephanie works at Marvell Technology in Burlington, Vermont as an IP Architect. Stephanie has been working in semiconductor for 10 years, first joining IBM as a photolithography process engineer and eventually transitioning to GF in 2015. In 2016 she shifted from process engineering to quality where she spent 5 years gaining experience in customer, supplier, and manufacturing quality. She joined Marvell’s ASIC Business Unit in April of 2022. Stephanie has a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maine and has served SWE since 2007 in various leadership roles spanning from Section President to Society Senator (FY17-FY21) and Society Senate Secretary (FY22). Stephanie is excited to return to support SWE North Country!
