Great Women in the British Car Industry: Three HORIBA MIRA colleagues named as finalists in national industry award
Three HORIBA MIRA team members have been named in the 2022 list of Autocar’s Great Women in the British Car Industry.
Run by Autocar, in association with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), and judged by a panel of automotive experts, the initiative recognises the top 100 women leading the way across the UK’s car industry. HORIBA MIRA has had three finalists on the list of leading women: Roisin Hopkins, Chief Commercial Officer, Lisa Rowles, Human Resources Director, and Edith Holland, Chief Engineer for Functional Safety.
The top 100 were chosen based on their seniority and level of influence and were announced at a ceremony hosted in London on Tuesday 14th June, which included keynote speeches and industry panel debates.
Those on the list were selected from the following 11 areas of the car industry: Aftersales and Workshop, Executive, Marketing, Manufacturing, Operations, People Development, PR and Communications, Sales, Purchasing, Vehicle Development, and Mobility and Digital.
Haymarket Automotive managing director Rachael Prasher, who heads the judging panel, said:
“I’m delighted to see how much the quality of our entrants improves each and every year when we come to judge this initiative, perhaps best seen with just how much the top Executive category has grown. It’s a fantastic sign of the health of our industry and the breadth of talented women working in it in ever-more senior and influential positions.”
Roisin, who is listed as a finalist in the Sales category has been a part of the MIRA team for over 30 years. Prior to her role in commercial, Roisin headed up HORIBA MIRA’s test services business, leading a number of major capital investments including a comprehensive battery test capability, commercial vehicle climatic wind tunnel, heavy vehicle semi-anechoic EMC chamber, advanced emissions test centre, and a real driving emissions service. In her current role as Chief Commercial Officer Roisin leads the development, implementation and maintenance of HORIBA MIRA’s commercial operations and achieved a record order intake in 2021 during her first year in the role.
Commenting on her success in the Autocar awards Roisin said,
“It’s a real honour to be listed in Autocar’s top 100 amongst so many inspirational and talented women. The automotive sector is an incredibly exciting industry to be a part of and it’s fantastic to feature in an initiative that not only celebrates diversity but inspires even more women to pursue a career in automotive.”
Alongside Roisin in the Top 100 is Lisa Rowles, Human Resources Director at HORIBA MIRA and a finalist in the People Development category. A highly valued member of the senior leadership team, Lisa has been part of the MIRA team for more than 25 years. In her role as HR Director, Lisa takes corporate responsibility for global and strategic HR, the operational HR team, internal communications, the skills business, and security, both on-site and for HORIBA MIRA’s defence contracts.
With the increasing challenge on resources and skills within a fast-changing automotive sector, Lisa is passionate about the development of talent across the automotive industry, focusing not only on resourcing for the current period but skills development of a future talent pipeline for the industry as a whole.
She said,
“I am very proud to have been named in Autocar’s top 100 great women and it’s a real honour to be listed alongside Edith and Roisin, two very talented leaders and role models in the industry. I have the pleasure of working within a business full of exceptional people who continue to inspire me to do my part to develop the very best team. By developing skills offerings, and providing opportunities for team members to be part of the future of our exciting industry, we can have a positive impact not only with a diverse team and to our industry, but also make a significant contribution to society as a whole.”
Edith Holland, Chief Engineer for Functional Safety at HORIBA MIRA was listed in the Vehicle Development category. As part of her role, Edith is responsible for a vast portfolio of Functional Safety customer projects, whilst also leading the new safety-related discipline of SOTIF (safety of the intended functionality). An emerging discipline allied with functional safety, SOTIF is key to the acceptance and assurance of automated driving functions. Edith has excelled in developing this area, coordinating the UK’s activities and contributions to the international standards committee developing the SOTIF standard, actively influencing regulatory and legislative positions for automated driving and producing training courses to support HORIBA MIRA’s customers with their Functional Safety activities.
Commenting on her success, Edith said,
“I’m delighted to be listed amongst such a high calibre of professionals in the industry working to drive the industry forward. With safety being a key driver for public acceptance of automated driving I am looking forward to leading further Functional Safety projects and contributing to standards and regulations that make safe automated driving a reality in the future. I hope to inspire more women into the exciting and fast-paced industry that is automotive.”
The top 100 were selected by a panel of judges including Mark Tisshaw, Rachel Burgess, Jim Holder and Piers Ward from Autocar’s editorial team.
To view the full list of 2022 winners, visit: www.autocar.co.uk/greatwomen/2022/winners
