International Women’s Day 2023

Today, 8 March, is International Women's Day. A day to focus on and fully embrace gender equity. Our Chemring business is highly diverse, and our success depends on understanding, developing and creating the right networks to support our global population. 

In recognition of International Women’s Day and to embrace equity, we caught up with some of our fantastic Chemring women to hear about their roles and achievements.  

Brenda Walker 

I’m the General Manager at the Chemring Countermeasures USA (CCM USA) site in Tennessee and have been here for three years. Before this role, I was Chief Financial Officer for CCM USA for almost three years. The most rewarding part of my role is the opportunity to make a positive impact on the employee experience within the organisation.   

I experience many challenges in my daily role, two of the biggest would be ensuring we always operate with safety in the forefront of everything we do and bringing our new fully automated flare manufacturing facility to a production ready state.  

While I may be the only woman on the senior leadership team here at CCM USA, the majority of the production supervisors are women. I personally don’t see being the only female senior leader as an advantage or disadvantage.   

My greatest career achievement so far is to have performed my former role as CFO in such a manner as to earn the respect and trust of my colleagues and leaders. This enabled me to move to the General Manager role and immediately be accepted as the leader of the organisation.  

Outside of work, my greatest achievement is raising my daughter to be strong, caring, independent and successful. 

Crystal Phillips 

I’m a maintenance technician at CCM USA. I’ve been at Chemring for about 18 months and have also worked as an assembler. For me, being able to work on the equipment is the most enjoyable part of the job. I’m still learning though and enjoy the challenges of fixing problems.   

I do see women in leadership roles across Chemring and I’m proud to be the first woman to work in maintenance in my team. It’s my goal to excel in my position and move up when ready. I like to prove that women can work in maintenance roles too.   

Outside of work, my greatest achievement is doing the best for my son as a single mother.   

Bonita Somers 

I work at CCM USA as a Contracts Administrator and have been here for almost 10 years. Before this role, I started in production as an assembler. I then became a Quality Technician and a Quality Specialist, and now work in my current role.   

I find helping people the most rewarding part of my job. Getting to the position I’m in today is my greatest achievement at work. Everyone here plays a role in providing our products to the military and I’m proud to have been a part of that process from the production floor up to a key administrative role.  

Outside of work, my greatest achievement was earning my bachelor’s degree in Business Administration Management online, all while working full-time. It wasn’t easy to get through, but I made it, and it helped me to progress to my role today.   

Renay Gibbs 

I work in Procurement as a Buyer for CCM USA and have been with the company for 39 years. I started as a Quality Inspector, then moved to Receiving Inspection and now to procurement, where I’ve worked since 2006. Each area that I have worked in has been a delight. My learning experience has been very rewarding, and I’m now working in a role that I don’t see as just a job but as a service.   

It’s my goal to mentor the younger generation of women to become stronger and more able earlier in life. And to not be afraid to take chances.   

Outside of work, I’m most proud of the work I do in my church, in my community and with my sorority. 

Sarah Ellard  

I’m the Group Legal Director & Company Secretary based at the UK head office. From a functional perspective, I’m responsible for governance, legal and compliance matters across the Group and from a wider leadership perspective, I’m an executive director of the Chemring Group PLC Board and a member of the Group Executive Committee.  

I joined Chemring in 1994 as the Assistant Company Secretary, the youngest employee by far in a very male-dominated head office. That said, my boss - the Company Secretary at that time - was a formidable lady, who was very well-respected by her male colleagues and undoubtedly a major influence in my future work life. I was promoted to Company Secretary in 1998 and in 2011, was asked to join the PLC Board as Group Legal Director. I’m pleased to say that I am now one of three female members of the PLC Board but it has taken a little while, given that Chemring was established in 1905.  

I’m sure no one would believe me if I said I hadn’t encountered prejudice as a female in the workplace over the years but I’ve always tried to maintain my focus on doing my job, and addressing the many other challenges thrown at me, to the best of my ability.   

Chemring has come a long way in embracing diversity and inclusion in recent years. It is now very encouraging to see females at all levels of seniority throughout the businesses and in a wide range of roles which traditionally would have been seen as being only suitable for men. I’m fortunate to have been given the opportunity to progress my own career at Chemring, with the support of a number of both male and female colleagues, and hope that we can all continue to create a respectful environment where everyone can perform to their best and achieve the recognition and success they aspire to, irrespective of gender.   

Outside of work, I’ve managed to raise four children and survived (just about) twenty-one collective teenage years between them so far… Coming to work every day at Chemring has often seemed like the much easier option!   

Karen Kern 

I’m a Senior Contracts Manager at Chemring Energetic Devices (CED) in Downers Grove, Illinois. I’ve worked at Chemring for almost seven years having started out in the Quality Department as a Contract Analyst before transferring to the CED Contracts Department. I am also an Internal Auditor for CED and a co-coordinator for the Women of CED group.  

Every day is different and my customers and co-workers are great to work with. We have a good mix of men and women with different personalities and backgrounds. This allows us to discuss different ways to approach an issue as a team. It’s also great to see women in the most senior roles at CED.  Our President, Controller, and Director of HR are all women.   

At work, my biggest achievement is being asked to be a part of the Aspire Leadership Training here at Chemring over this past year. And outside of work, raising two wonderful children who are now adults and working in fields they enjoy. 

Teresa King 

I work as a Production Project Manager at CED and have been in this role for just over seven years. Getting product delivered to the customer is the most rewarding part of the job. It is the ultimate reason that I come to work - knowing that what I do makes a difference in someone else’s life.  

We have a good mix of men and women at work, and it gives us different perspectives to tackle problems in the best way. I see women in very senior roles at Chemring and I most admire the young women engineers who play a vital role in designing and creating new products, as well as keeping the current product lines up and running.  

My greatest career achievement is being a part of the team that qualified and delivered the NASA Standard Initiator. Outside of work, my greatest achievement is being a Mom and a Gigi (grandmother). I’ve managed to have a work career and a successful family life.