Veronica Nelson is the new executive director of Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering (AMIE).

AMIE is a non-profit organization with a purpose to expand alliances that implement and support programs to attract, educate, graduate and place underrepresented minority students in engineering careers.

The outcome of an initiative by Abbott Laboratories in 1992, AMIE represents a coalition of industry and government agencies, and the ABET accredited Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Schools of Engineering, who see a diversified workforce as a competitive advantage and an essential business strategy.

Veronica’s career of more than two decades is steeped in engineering management and university/diversity recruitment  and she has held leadership roles in both corporate and non-profit areas.

She comes to AMIE having served most recently as Senior Associate in Talent Acquisition for Booz Allen Hamilton. She also has a deep commitment to enhancing the STEM Pipeline and HBCUs.

Nelson earned her Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University and her Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Robotics from Howard University. She received the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM) Fellowship and was the first female to obtain her Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University.

Veronica has over 20 years of experience in engineering and engineering management including the development of the first Automated Surface Mount Assembly Line in Northrop Grumman’s Baltimore-based Mission Systems Sector. She has over 7 years of experience in Human Resources managing Career Pathways Programs, Diversity Recruiting, New Graduate Professional Development Rotation Programs, Interns/Co-op Programs and University Relations & Recruiting at Northrop Grumman Corporation. Veronica recently served as a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton responsible for developing, managing and implementing firm-wide Strategies for University and Diversity Recruiting.

Veronica was awarded the 2007 Women of Color in Technology Award for Educational Leadership – Corporate Promotion of Education and the 2009 Black Engineer of the Year Award for Educational Leadership – Promotion of Higher Education for her passion and dedication to promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).   She currently serves on multiple Engineering Industry Advisory Boards and Technical Advisory Boards focused on increasing the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Pipeline and enhancing Engineering Education.