Allie Schwertner has always focused on sustainability. She carried a water bottle around in elementary school (before it was cool) and started a farm at her high school.
For her college senior capstone project, she helped design a conceptual energy recovery process that captured volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to power a fuel-cell. The process design, which included a technical feasibility, also considered economic, resiliency and environmental life cycle analysis – proving that the use of a fuel cell matched all three outcomes.
With a degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering and unbridled enthusiasm for environment and technology, she’s in a job she designed herself: sustainability strategy and technology leader on Rockwell Automation’s sustainability team. Still young in her career, her lifelong activism and passion for sustainability brought her here.
It’s truly passion meeting purpose.
Expanding human possibility with sustainability strategy
As part of her core mission, Allie identifies new opportunities for Rockwell Automation and its customers to transition to a low carbon, circular economy at the convergence of digital transformation.
At a time when many industrial customers struggle to bring together asset management, energy management and operational performance, Allie combines Rockwell Automation systems, solutions and services, paired with our global partner ecosphere, to create sustainable value.
Family, experience inspires creativity
The daughter of a single mom, some of Allie’s earliest memories are of her mom gardening. “Her creative nature and personality inspired me to take the ordinary and turn it into something extraordinary, in all aspects of my life,” Allie said.
In high school, Allie’s future career was deeply influenced by an intense, three-week environmental science course in the Bahamas.
“The area was underdeveloped, with scarce resources and little economic opportunity, so people were expert at using and reusing what they had to sustain life,” Allie said. “The village built an anerobic digester that would turn animal waste into energy, which could be used, for example, desalination of water to create clean drinking water. The way these connected people and ecosystems worked to benefit the whole, was fascinating to me.”
World Economic Forum fellow
While Allie has been focused on helping customers be more sustainable for years, she now can deepen her expertise as a World Economic Forum (WEF) advanced manufacturing fellow focused on sustainability. Her spot in the WEF's Advanced Manufacturing Fellowship denotes her place as a leader who has the vision and values, the character and competence, to shape the future.
As a WEF fellow, she will be helping empower industry and subject-matter experts to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges by working with the Forum’s project teams and stakeholder communities. Rockwell Automation’s involvement with WEF is a natural fit, as the company helps industry achieve a low-carbon circular economy with innovative products, solutions and services.
“I want to make the world a better place and have a positive impact. And here at Rockwell Automation, I can influence a large corporation and our strategic vision and go-to-market strategy for sustainability,” said Allie.
Now that’s impact.
Curious about Rockwell Automation’s sustainability efforts? Read our Sustainability Report. Are you a maker, an innovator, problem solver or builder? Check out this video and visit our Careers page to learn more about opportunities to help our customers and our world work better.
