Catherine Werner

Senior Director, Environmental Health and Safety

I love coming to work every day with the mission to keep our people safe and the environment clean. For every product manufacturing business, I believe that strong environmental, health and safety performance is fundamental to achieving long-term operational excellence, a positive workplace culture and a great business reputation.

With over 25 years of manufacturing experience, Catherine brings tremendous value to GE Appliances through her role as Environmental Health and Safety Leader. In this position, Catherine aims to keep all employees safe by creating new policies and enhancing company-wide safety initiatives. For example, by implementing year-over-year improvements with a focus on workplace ergonomics, Catherine reduced OSHA recordable injury rates by 35 percent and lost time injury rates by 60 percent. In addition, she led the Supply Chain Training team to develop a standardized approach for new hire production training that gives new employees the ability to enhance their skills before starting on the shop floor. As a result, Catherine reduced workers’ compensation costs by $5M and improved new hire retention rates by 13 percent.

Catherine leads with passion, grit and determination at GE Appliances and beyond. She strives to continually support the next generation of female talent through countless mentorship and leadership opportunities. Most recently, Catherine served as Treasurer and Founding Member of the National Board of Directors for Women in Manufacturing (WiM) and Women in Manufacturing Education Foundation. In this position, she helped secure a $100K grant for the WiM Educational Foundation and sponsored seven women to attend Case Western’s WiM-developed Leadership Lab for Women in Manufacturing. As co-leader of the GE Appliances Women in Operations group, Catherine has brought leadership training opportunities to women throughout the company, and developed a global mentoring program.

Catherine’s sincere passion for helping others is visible through her long history of community service. As a co-leader for the Anchorage School Community Connections group, she helps local middle schoolers develop a sense of charity and strengthen their leadership capabilities. Leading school-wide community service projects throughout Louisville, KY, the group donates over 300 hours every year by cooking at the Ronald McDonald House and organizing many other community activities.