DBT40 Honoree: Rosette Iskander Gillan

AGE: 33
Organizational Development and Continuous Improvement Leader Bloom Energy (Newark)

Introduction.  Rosette Gillan is the Organizational Development and Continuous Improvement Leader at Bloom Energy. She develops training programs for the employees at Bloom and drives continuous improvement ideas in the organization. She has spent her entire career in manufacturing, the majority of which has been spent learning, implementing and teaching lean manufacturing.

Professional accomplishments: The professional accomplishments I am most proud of are when I have worked as part of a team to implement a major change or introduce a new innovation. During my time with Helvoet (Datwyler), I was a continuous improvement associate where we transitioned the entire company’s culture and philosophy from traditional to lean. We trained more than 300 team members on lean concepts and systematically implemented lean in every part of the organization from sales to manufacturing. I transitioned to technical engineering for my role at FMC (DuPont). In that role, I supported a chemical process that made a pharmaceutical additive. The highlight of that role was working with the R&D team to change the formulation and manufacturing process of one of our key pharmaceutical products. In my current role at Bloom Energy, I am part of a team that transitioned the assembly of our products to full scale production using lean principals. My key accomplishment in my current role is developing a lean training curriculum that is used to help propagate the lean culture to our entire organization and even to other Delaware manufacturing facilities. I am currently partnering with UD to develop a continuing education course to help other professionals in Delaware learn how to implement lean in their own organizations.

Community service: I take pride in my involvement with Bloom Women’s Leadership Initiative (BWLI), whose mission is to help women connect with each other and reach their desired potential with encouragement, tools, and opportunities. As part of BWLI, I participate in community outreach programs to create opportunities for people (especially young girls) to learn about manufacturing and STEM careers. The work that I am most passionate about is working with educational institutions, like Jobs for Delaware Grads (JDG), to develop programs to prepare students for their future. I believe if we want to change the face of manufacturing and STEM to be more inclusive, we need to start with the younger generation, getting kids (especially girls and minorities) excited about opportunities in those fields early.

Tell us something that’s not on your LinkedIn profile: I love to cook and bake but I never use a recipe. I love experimenting with different flavors, especially when it comes to making cupcakes! I throw elaborate birthday parties for my kids, where everything from the food, to the decorations and giveaways always match the theme. I have always loved to travel, and this is one area where my love for process and organization shines through, I love planning every detail and getting the most out of every minute we have.

Guilty pleasure? I love reading, unfortunately, I usually just read cheesy Chick-lit. It’s my guilty pleasure, I love to get lost in a ridiculous story that is usually poorly written with a totally predictable ending. Something about reading chick-lit is like a spa day for my brain.

What are you currently reading (or what’s your favorite book)? I have very diverse tastes when it comes to reading, I love chick-lit (see guilty pleasure above), and fantasy collections like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones. I also really love Jodi Picoult, she is my favorite author, and I have read every single one of her books. The last book I read was “Mrs. Everything,” by Jennifer Weiner. At the end of the day though, my all-time favorite book is “Pride and Prejudice,” I read it almost every year, it’s like visiting old friends.

First job? My first official job was a drive-through cashier at Burger King. I took that job really seriously! My work station was impeccable, all my condiments and cups were always stocked. When I was on shift, no one waited in the drive-through line for more than 3 mins and 30 seconds. No matter how angry people got about forgetting extra pickles or their fries not having enough salt, I always managed to stay cheerful. 

What advice would you give to yourself 10 years ago? Don’t take everything so seriously. Ten years ago, no matter what I was doing at the time, it always seemed like it the most important thing in the world and that if it wasn’t done perfectly, the world would collapse. After I became a mom, it really changed my perspective.

Family and education: My husband Frank and I have been together since our sophomore year in college, so for 13 years. We were married nine years ago in Hawaii on Maui! We have two kids, Jameson Daniel (JD) who is 6, and Katriana Rose (Kat) who is 3. My mom lives with us in an apartment that we built for her that is attached to the house. My husband and I are both engineers. We both graduated from Drexel University in 2009. I have a bachelor’s in chemical engineering with a minor in operations management.