Please visit our sponsors by clicking on banner.

Engineering Manager of the Year Award

For information about this award, please visit https://asem.org/Society-Awards/#Engineering_Manager_of_the_Year_Award

2026 Engineering Manager of the Year

Steve Nackers | Sub Zero Group, Inc.

Steve Nackers has built a 20+ year career at Sub-Zero Group, Inc., progressing from hands-on engineering roles to senior leadership overseeing enterprise-level technology portfolios. As Director of Electronics and Connectivity, he leads the company's software, hardware, mobile, and IoT cloud platforms and cross-functional teams spanning product development, advanced research, and manufacturing integration.

Nackers tripled the size of his engineering organization over three years while sustaining near-zero voluntary turnover. He successfully guided the team through the global microchip shortage without losing delivery momentum, while mentoring engineers into senior and management roles through formal and informal programs. He founded Sub-Zero's AI Center for Enablement and its AI Champions peer development program, building capability across departments rather than within his own reporting line. He also spent five years on the Employee Focus component of

Steve Nackers

Director of Electronics and Connectivity,

Sub Zero Group, Inc.

Sub-Zero's People with Passion initiative and speaks regularly on engineering leadership and professional development to students, early-career engineers, and practicing professionals.

Nackers' service to the profession and community includes a longstanding partnership with UW-Madison, where he delivers technical and professional development sessions and spent six years on the Mechanical Engineering Industry Advisory Board supporting curriculum development and ABET accreditation. He mentors high school STEM students through the Pewaukee INSIGHT program. As a board member and later President of Cars Curing Kids, he developed the organization’s grant review system, led major fundraising events, and guided through the pandemic while developing the next generation of leadership. He co-authored AHAM whitepapers on Smart Grid integration, including one presented at the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference, and is a two-time recipient of the AHAM Distinguished Service Award.

Nackers holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with an emphasis in software and electromechanical systems, where he received the Schoof's Prize for Creativity (2001, 2002), the Tong Prototype Prize (2002), and an Engineering Expo Design Award (2002).

2025 Engineering Manager of the Year

David Whitehead | Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.

David Whitehead

President, Schweitzer Engineering

Laboratories, Inc.

At Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, David Whitehead sets the vision, values, principles, and direction, ensuring a strong focus on innovation, continued growth, and exceptional customer service.

He holds extensive experience creating innovative solutions for the monitoring and control of highly engineered electric power control systems requiring a deep understanding of critical business drivers in global markets and industries. Highly successful in building technology-focused teams that invent, develop, teach, market, sell, and support products and services in electric utility, industrial, datacenter, and other sectors using large amounts of electricity.

David Whitehead earned a B.S.E.E. from Washington State University in 1989 and a M.S.E.E. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1994. He is also a registered professional engineer in the states of Washington, Michigan, North Carolina, and New York. When Dave was hired at SEL in 1994, he was employee No. 124. Now the 34-year-old Pullman-based company employs over 5,000 people worldwide.

2024 Engineering Manager of the Year

Dr. Rob Gies | Newport News Shipbuilding

Dr. Gies is an Associate Technical Fellow, within the Chief Engineer’s Office, at Newport News Shipbuilding where he has been employed for over thirty-four years. Over the course of his career, he has been a Program Manager for aircraft carriers and submarines including CVN 79 and CVN 80, COLUMBIA Class Submarines, and VCS Class of Submarines, and he has been an Engineering Manager for machinery systems, propulsion plants, various product lines, engineering offices such as the Washington Engineering Office, and engineering departments over his thirty-four-year career at Newport News Shipbuilding. Dr. Gies is also the engineering professional in residence at Old Dominion University.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1990, a Master’s in Engineering Management in 1994, and a PhD in Engineering Management and Systems Engineering in 2022, where Dr. Resit Unal was his PhD Advisor. He earned all 3 of his degrees from Old Dominion University. Dr. Gies’ dissertation was entitled: “Learning Curve Characterization within Complex Low-Rate Production Environments”. Dr. Gies is also an adjunct assistant professor at Old Dominion.

Dr. Rob Gies

Newport News Shipbuilding

He is the immediate Past President of the Peninsula Engineer’s Council, past Young Engineer of the Year, Top 40 under 40 recipient, and is a member of ASME, SNAME, ASNE, ASEM, ASEE, INCOSE, Navy Submarine League, and US Navy League. For ASME and SNAME, he served in various leadership roles including international Vice President for both professional societies. He is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and is an Eagle Scout. He previously earned ASEM’s Award for Best Dissertation of the Year. Dr. Gies is also a Certified Professional in Engineering Management (CPEM).

Dr. Gies is the Past President of the Old Dominion University Alumni Association, current Vice Chair of the College of Engineering Advisory Board, the liaison between Newport News Shipbuilding and Old Dominion University, Assistant Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America, Past Chair of the Board of Trustees for Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, Past Parents Board Member for Georgia Tech, Member of the Parish Pastoral Council Church of Saint Therese, and has earned the President’s Model of Excellence Award from Newport News Shipbuilding.

2023 Engineering Manager of the Year

Dr. Michael Gazarik | VP of Engineering, Ball Aerospace

Dr. Michael Gazarik

VP of Engineering

Ball Aerospace

Dr. Gazarik has served Ball Aerospace since 2015 and was promoted to Vice
President of Engineering in 2016. He directs a 2,400 person organization to
efficiently and innovatively meet company operational objectives across $1.7B
broad portfolio of projects and programs.

Prior to this effort, Mike’s career included 13 years with NASA. This included
serving our nation as Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission
Directorate from 2011 to 2015. There he managed a portfolio spanning a range of
discipline areas and technology readiness levels to advance technologies for the
benefit of NASA, the aerospace industry, other government agencies, and to
address national needs.

Dr. Gazarik holds the doctorate and master’s in electrical engineering from the
Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as the Bachelor of Science in Electrical
Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

2022 Engineering Manager of the Year

Jana Iezzi-Tumblin | VP/ Chief Improvement Officer, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Inc.

ASEM is proud to have named Jana Iezzi-Tumblin as the 2022 Engineering Manager of the Year!

Ms. Iezzi-Tumblin has served as VP / Chief Improvement Officer at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Inc. since 2019. In this role, she is responsible for quality and safety, infection prevention, decision support, lean services, patient experience, clinical documentation integrity, and regulatory readiness.

Her vast professional experience includes serving as Director of Performance Improvement at Halifax Health, and as Director of Performance Improvement at Vizient Southeast, Inc.

Ms. Iezzi-Tumblin graduated from the University of South Florida with a Master of Science in Engineering Management in 2006.

Jana Iezzi-Tumblin
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Inc. VP/ Chief Improvement Officer

Please visit our sponsors:

2021 Engineering Manager of the Year

Brigadier General Margaret Burcham, U.S. Army, Retired, US Army (Retired)

Brigadier General Margaret Burcham
U.S. Army, Retired, US Army (Retired)

Brigadier General Margaret Burcham, U.S. Army, Retired, is a Senior Vice President at WSP, a leading global architect-engineer firm, and is based in Washington, DC. Margaret joined WSP in 2017 on the Federal Programs Strategy and Growth team and now leads the Army portfolio ensuring quality engineering service delivery to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in Europe, the Pacific and throughout the United States. Margaret has led a 400% growth of the WSP federal program in Europe over the past three years. She has also served as Senior Technical Advisor and Quality Assurance Lead on select planning projects such as the Base Camp Standards Regulation for U.S. Army Europe and the Academic Building Upgrade Program at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Ms. Burcham seeks to cultivate productive relationships with customers, clients, and partner firms in the federal Architect-Engineer space. Regular federal engagement facilitates her insights that inform her company’s federal strategy, enables her to mitigate project risks and alleviate challenges, and creates goodwill that builds the company’s brand across the federal sector.

Prior to joining WSP, BG Burcham served 34 years as an active-duty Army Engineer Officer. Her service included nine years commanding large engineer organizations to include a 700-soldier engineer construction battalion as well as the USACE Europe District in Germany, the USACE Gulf Region North District in Iraq during combat, and the USACE Great Lakes and Ohio River Division with seven districts, 4,400 employees and a $2B budget. The President of the United States appointed BG Burcham to serve as a member of the Mississippi River Commission in 2012-2014.

Ms. Burcham is a director on the boards of Combat Wounded Veterans Challenge, the Society of American Military Engineers Rhein-Main (Germany) Post and the Army Engineer Association, and is Co-Chair of the West Point Leadership and Ethics Conference whose volunteers teach ethical decision-making to Washington, DC-area high school juniors and their faculty. Ms. Burcham is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, Kansas State University Graduate School, the Army Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She and her husband have two grown children and two granddaughters and reside in Arlington, Virginia.

CLICK LOGO BELOW to find out more about ASEM's Promoted Organizations / Sponsors:

ASEM World Headquarters * 200 Sparkman Drive, Suite 2 * Huntsville, Alabama 35805

email: asem-hq<at>asem.org