Page 25 - Kettering Magazine Spring 2017

“For grAduATes i hAVe Two pieCes oF AdViCe. TAKe The FACT
ThAT Through hAVing A loT oF Co-op experienCes, You’Ve

experienCed A loT oF diVersiTY And gone Through A loT

oF ChAnge. ConTinue ThAT in Your CAreer. do diFFerenT

Things. TrY new Things. ThAT’s helped me wiTh growing And

seeing where i Am mosT eFFeCTiVe. - Dave Anderson ‘93

“The co-op was huge in terms of getting a sense of And he’s able to share that advice.
what i wanted to do and what i was most effective at.
each opportunity was a different department with a “For students the first thing i would recommend is to
different focus,” Anderson said. “with each co-op/ really have a high expectation for yourself and your
internship experience being different i quickly learned internships. don’t just check the box,” Anderson said.
to come up to speed with each new opportunity. it “i looked at each assignment as i have this unique
gave me a lot of confidence in just doing that in my opportunity to look back and say, ‘wow. i contributed
career – learning jobs quickly. i can take on any new something.’”
opportunity and learn it and didn’t have to stay on one when someone has that attitude it will not only benefit
path.” the company but the student will also be exponentially

As a manufacturing systems engineering major at benefited, he added.
Kettering, Anderson started as an engineer in the “For graduates i have two pieces of advice. Take the
medical industry with positions in process and quality fact that through having a lot of co-op experiences,
engineering. After four years, he advanced into you’ve experienced a lot of diversity and gone through
management roles. a lot of change. Continue that in your career. do

Throughout his career at Abbott, he’s held positions different things. Try new things. That’s helped me with
such as operations director, Technology Vice president growing and seeing where i am most effective.
and research and development Vice president. “You also need to go to graduate school for

he led the integration of an acquisition of Thoratec into engineering. when i look for engineers i’m looking
st. Jude medical. And now as Vice president of m&A at the top 5-10 percent of people. it will get you
integration he partnered with Abbott leadership in further.”
leading the integration of st. Jude medical into Abbott. Kettering helped Anderson hit the ground running in

“You have a multiplier effect in management any new role he stepped into.
roles. You’re managing a very large research and The co-op on top of the education prepared him for his
development team, managing multiple diseases and future career.
therapies,” Anderson said. “Another thing i love about
my job is being able to impact the employee’s lives “The labs at Kettering had major processing equipment
themselves. i can help create an environment that like big injection molders and sheet metal forming
enables them to thrive and be successful.” equipment. it was a great asset to students. i wasn’t
intimidated as a young engineer just running the
Throughout his career, Anderson has learned some equipment,” Anderson said.
valuable lessons.

s pring 2017 2 5