RMS Elections

Candidate slate and voting information for RMS Executive Council elections.

VOTING FOR FY26 WILL BE OPEN MAY 1 – 21

​Voting for FY26 Executive Council will open on May 1 and close on May 21 at midnight. To vote in the SWE RMS election, you must be a member of SWE, assigned to the Rocky Mountain Section community group, and in good standing. You may verify your member status and assigned community group by logging in at swe.org and viewing your profile to check the Paid Through Date and Community Group. To change your assigned community group, email membership@swe.org.

Expand each accordion by clicking the + sign on right to review the FY26 SWE RMS Executive Council slate, cast your vote using the Voting Form for the FY26 elections, and review SWE’s campaign policy.

Review the FY26 SWE RMS Executive Council slate.

President (1 candidate)

Kaitlin Chapman

Kaitlin Chapman is currently a Sr. Test Engineer at Medtronic, a medical technology company focused on engineering the extraordinary by creating innovative technology to meet the needs of patients around the world. Her role involves leading the strategy and execution of verification testing of clinical software on navigation and robotic systems that are used to complete brain and spine surgeries.

Kaitlin graduated from University of Colorado Boulder in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering with a minor in Biomedical Engineering. Kaitlin has earned a Design for Reliability and Manufacturability black belt certification from Medtronic and recently obtained her Master of Business Administration degree from Louisiana State University Shreveport while working full-time.

Kaitlin is actively involved with the Society of Women Engineers, both with the SWE Rocky Mountain Section and Medtronic’s internal SWE employee resource group (ERG) known as SWEnet. Kaitlin became a SWE member her freshman year of college and held many leadership positions during her collegiate career at University of Colorado Boulder. Shortly after graduating, she jumped into leadership roles in the professional section. Kaitlin currently serves as the President of the SWE Rocky Mountain Section, running for a second term, and has held multiple roles on the Executive Council over the years, including 1st Vice President, VP of Professional Enrichment, and Secretary. In addition to her SWE Section leadership roles, Kaitlin is actively involved in promoting diversity and inclusion at Medtronic. One of the ways she has accomplished this is by forming and leading an ERG called SWEnet Colorado that is dedicated to creating a community for female technical talent at the Medtronic Colorado campuses.

Outside of her work and SWE leadership roles, Kaitlin is actively involved in her community through volunteer roles at her church, Life.Church North Denver, where she helps create a community where people can connect and strengthen their faith. In her free time, Kaitlin enjoys spending time with her dog, Brinkley, going on hikes, and trying new recipes.

Vice President (1 candidate)

Heather Munoz

Heather Munoz is Engineering Director at Sundt Renewables, where she leads the engineering team of her company for photovoltaic solar projects. After a few years in structural design, she shifted to project management and has worked in solar for over ten years. Heather appreciates the way her position blends team management with engineering details as she and her team build renewable energy resources in the Intermountain Region.

Heather’s involvement with SWE began in 2011 as her office’s representative at the SWE annual conference in Chicago and was excited to return to Chicago for WE24 representing RMS as 1st Vice President. Heather is running for a second term as 1st Vice President and previously served as VP of Professional Development, VP of Membership, Section Representative, Local Social Chair, and as the WE Local Denver Local Host Committee Volunteer Liaison.

Heather has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Michigan. Heather has enjoyed experiencing SWE as a professional member and is excited to continue supporting the RMS membership. She enjoys spending time in the mountains with her husband, two young kids and Samoyed puppy.

Vice President of Collegiate Engagement (1 candidate)

Breanna Hayes

Breanna joined SWE in college where she was also a Peer Mentor, Teaching Assistant (TA), ARCS scholar, and an active member on the Mines Dance Team. Much of her previous leadership has focused on mentoring and teaching, but she also enjoys planning and executing events. Breanna is a process engineer at Kahuna where she helps design and execute energy projects. She particularly enjoys modeling and analyzing processes. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering with a process engineering specialty at Colorado School of Mines. In her free time, Breanna enjoys skiing, scuba diving, paddleboarding and spending time with her two cats, Beaker and Bunsen.

Vice President of Membership (1 candidate)

Shannon McAvoy

Shannon is currently the Technical Sales Manager for ReNu Technologies and is responsible for the technical evaluations for air-cooled heat exchanger (fin-fan) cleanings and customer engagement. This includes KPI reporting, data analysis/ reconciliation, and economic value.

Previously, Shannon spent 10 years working downstream oil and gas as a hydrogen catalyst technical engineer supporting customers with technical catalyst evaluations, account management, and onsite support. Prior to that, Shannon spent six years working in the downstream oil and gas industry as a process engineer and process safety engineer.

Shannon has a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical and biochemical engineering from Colorado School of Mines. Outside of work Shannon volunteers on the FAST (Fearful, Anxious, and Shy Team) with the Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies and Society of Women Engineers as a mentor for the CU Boulder Chapter and SWENext Co-Chair.

Vice President of Outreach (1 candidate)

Jayme Lara

Jayme is an Associate Fellow at Lockheed Martin, contributing to the Corporate Information Security team. She is involved in SWE at Lockheed Martin as the Communications Lead and for SWE RMS as the Newsletter Co-chair.

Outside Lockheed Martin, Jayme teaches cybersecurity as an Adjunct Professor at Villanova University and coaches youth soccer. Her three teenagers keep her engaged and active.

Vice President of Professional Development (1 candidate)

Madalene Fetsch

Madalene Fetsch is running for her second year as Vice President of Professional Development. In the last year, she has put together a slate of programs including a comedic speaker for a partnered event with Merrick, a tour of NREL’s latest technology, several programs with career coaches helping SWE RMS members achieve their professional goals, and a tour of the Metro Water Treatment plant. In FY26, Madalene looks forward to adding even cooler technical tours, lightning talks, and other programs that SWE RMS members have suggested for furthering our collective professional development.

In previous years, she has served on the Financial Committee (2 years), as the Treasurer (5 years), First Vice President (3 years), President (1 year) for SWE RMS beginning in 2009. She was also the Co-chair for the Social at WELocal Denver, creating an event that brought local women makers to WELocal to teach attendees to create a variety of art and craft projects to take home, screen-printing their own shirts, and play Colorado trivia games – all on a budget. More recently, she has served on the Education Committee and the Professional Development Grant (PDG) Committee at the Society level, and also speaks on workplace issues at both annual and local SWE conferences.

Madalene’s time with SWE started with her freshman year at CU-Boulder in Chemical Engineering, where she helped with events such as letter writing campaigns to new students and ice cream socials to talk to high school girls about engineering. After completing her Bachelor’s, Madalene joined the collegiate section at Washington University in St. Louis as a graduate student in biomedical engineering and helped produce the 2003 Region i SWE Conference. She Chaired the President’s Celebration for SWE FY21 President Heather Doty, handling shifting dates and updating venue and catering contracts as the world changed over the two years of planning.

Since returning to Colorado after graduate school, Madalene has worked as head of Quality Control for a local toxicology lab, and for the last 13 years, has grown in a career in Software Quality Assurance. She most recently led the Software Quality Assurance App team at Specialized Bicycle Components. In her free time, she is a founding member and treasurer of the artist workshop The Phoenix Asylum and regularly advocates for arts and artist housing support locally.

Madalene looks forward to the opportunity to continue on the Rocky Mountain Section Executive Council, and to lead Professional Development programs.

Secretary (1 candidate)

Ashley Kreuder

Ashley has been a member of SWE RMS since 2013 and has been active in the SWE RMS Executive Council and holding various positions on other committees. After a brief hiatus, Ashley is excited to reinvigorate her involvement with SWE RMS.

Ashley is currently working at Electra, a Clean Iron start-up, as their LCA Specialist. She has over 14 years of experience in sustainability and LCA.

Ashley has lived in Denver for almost 13 years and enjoys outdoor activities in the mountains and learning new things. She is passionate about sustainable living, recycling, and composting, and enjoys sharing her passion with future engineers.

Treasurer (1 candidate)

Sara Ellis

Sara has been a SWE member for 20 years, including 16 years with the Rocky Mountain Section. In FY25 she served as VP of Outreach. She chaired the Essay Contest from 2013-2020, during which time the program was recognized with Region i and WELocal outreach awards. Sara enjoys supporting a variety of RMS outreach activities and participating in RMS professional and social events. Professionally, Sara has spent her career working in analytical instrumentation across the pharmaceutical, agriculture, water, and wastewater industries, most recently in the role of Vice President at Timberline Instruments. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from CU Boulder. In her free time, Sara enjoys hiking, knitting, and exploring the outdoors with her husband and two young daughters.

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Policy on Campaigning and Endorsement of Candidates

As a professional society, SWE must maintain a high standard of behavior during our elections and protect our members from being inundated with messages about candidates. This policy is applicable to all SWE election activities including the petition process.

  • The primary source for information about Society ballot level candidates is the statements and ballot information provided via official Society channels. Other official Society channels may be approved by the SWE Board of Directors in order to increase the members knowledge of the candidates.
  • Use of SWE’s electronic resources are not permitted to promote individual candidates or to solicit signatures for a petition nomination. This includes SWE newsletters, SWE distribution lists, and SWE groups on social media. Personal email and personal social media venues are permitted provided that SWE is not included as part of the social media venue title or name.
  • Announcements made in the course of SWE business meetings, including conference calls, newsletters, or face-to-face meetings, should only include information on the elections themselves and details on where additional candidate information can be found (i.e. slate, ballot received by members, etc.).
  • Encouraging voting for a specific candidate or discussing individual candidates’ platforms is not permitted in the following situations:
    • Messages in the course of SWE business
    • Messages sent from SWE email addresses, including official HQ-designated email addresses or those that include SWE as part of the email address
    • Messages that include use of the SWE logo, SWE titles in the signature or SWE signature blocks
    • Messages sent to distribution lists created from section, committee, or other SWE group rosters or distribution lists
  • Images utilized during SWE elections should be professional portrait photos (or similar) of the candidate. Group photos are not permitted.
  • SWE print or electronic advertisements are not permitted.

Alleged violations will be referred to the Society Ethics Committee for investigation and action. Actions can range from a warning and retraction for first time offenders, up to dismissal from SWE, depending on the severity of the violation.

Recipients of a violation of this policy are not responsible for the actions of the violator but should contact the Ethics Committee with concerns.

June 11, 2021