The Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance has long supported women in the MRO industry through scholarships, career assistance and other resources, but now the organization is aiming to advance its mission by launching its inaugural conference.
“The conference has been on the vision board for years. It’s been something that we really wanted to do,” says Stacey Rudser, president of the Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance (AWAM). While the organization has traditionally had a presence at the Women in Aviation International Conference, “we really wanted something of our own, especially for maintenance technicians, where we could talk about the hard things, celebrate the big victories and get together in celebration of what we do as women in maintenance,” she adds.
AWAM first floated the idea of a virtual summit but received an “overwhelmingly” positive response from the MRO industry at the prospect of a physical conference. It is working with industry partners such as the Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM) and the Aviation Technician Education Council on conference hosting and planning.
Although AWAM is still finalizing agenda details, Rudser says the conference will feature presentations related to professional development and leadership and personal skills. “We really want to empower women and give them the tools to successfully navigate some of the more difficult professional experiences they have,” she says.
For instance, AWAM is looking into adding a session to help members learn more about dual career paths that include both technician and pilot components. “Some of our members are pilots or also interested in becoming pilots,” says Rudser. “We’re seeing a big demographic of students who are taking this dual path, which is pretty new. Historically, there have not been a lot of women who are A&Ps [airframe and powerplant technicians] and pilot certificate holders.”
AWAM is seeking industry submissions for presentations and sponsorships for the event. The conference will also feature a career fair with mock interviews, a keynote by Maria Deacon, senior vice president of technical operations at United Airlines, and a presentation of scholarships. Rudser says AWAM awards around $100,000 in scholarships every year, and the organization is launching this year’s scholarships March 15.
Rudser expects the conference to sell out but notes that AWAM “really wants to reach the women who are kind of far flung out in the industry and who might not even know that AWAM existed until now.”
The AWAM Conference will take place Sept. 26-28 in Irving, Texas at the Aviation Institute of Maintenance’s Dallas campus. Registration is live at awam.org.
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