John Deere offers a range of rewarding career opportunities across many industries, including engineering.
Women engineers at John Deere are innovating on behalf of humanity. They use their pioneering spirit to work on breakthrough innovations that meet tomorrow's challenges in food production and agriculture.
One of these impressive engineers is Rebecca Guin, the first female factory manager in the 103-year history of John Deere Waterloo Works. Rebecca lives in Bettendorf, Iowa, USA, with Dustin, and their two children.
In her role at John Deere, Rebecca manages foundry, drivetrain, and tractor and cab assembly operations, aligning local teams to deliver key business results of safety, quality, delivery, and efficiency. With more than 5,500 employees, John Deere is the largest employer in Iowa’s Cedar Valley and one of the most important locations for Deere and Company, producing its largest horsepower tractors for customers around the world.
Awarded for forging a diverse culture at John Deere
Building lasting relationships with customers and dealers is important to all John Deere employees, but for Rebecca it's equally important to forge strong bonds with her colleagues. Creating those bonds and helping foster a diverse culture at John Deere helped Rebecca earn the Society of Women Engineers' (SWE) Global Leadership Award. The prestigious award recognizes a female leader who has made outstanding contributions in engineering and leadership in a global setting, with an emphasis on creating a diverse and inclusive environment.
"Strong relationships are core to fostering an inclusive environment in any department and in any role. I've always focused on bringing teams together, creating authentic connections, and sharing an aligned vision. When you do those things, you can really build a great dynamic, particularly when you're working with diverse global teams. Throughout my career, I've always focused on doing the right thing and opening doors for others," explains Rebecca.
Building and mentoring talent within the business
Rebecca has an established reputation for identifying and mentoring talented women and men at all levels in the business, wherever she has worked. Rebecca's efforts to build talent have had a major impact on John Deere’s global persona. For example, while working at the Bruchsal facility in Germany, Rebecca participated actively in the European Team Enrichment Council, where she engaged factory managers across Europe in discussions related to diversity.
Before Rebecca came to Bruchsal, there were no women in operations leadership. After Rebecca left, the Bruchsal factory became a leader in diversity as the only manufacturing unit with women in a variety of leadership roles.
Leading diversity and sustainability efforts
Rebecca's inclusivity focus also sees her actively lead diversity and inclusion councils. Rebecca is also a leadership sponsor for SWEl; a member of John Deere’s SWE Executive Leadership Council since 2017; and an executive sponsor for the company’s Women in Operations Network.
Rebecca deeply believes in lifting up communities, and she engages with local community leadership around economic development, talent development, and volunteerism to enable sustainable growth. Rebecca is a member of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission, a Greater Cedar Valley board member and vice-chair of its commerce chamber, and a member of the Waterloo Development Commission.
Taking on global leadership roles in agriculture
Rebecca joined John Deere in Waterloo, Iowa in 1992, gaining expertise in manufacturing, engineering, supply management, quality, and operations. Over the next 10 years, Rebecca took on global leadership roles across the Agricultural Division (Ag).
While serving as global director of manufacturing services for the Ag and Turf Division (A&T), Rebecca was responsible for establishing the global strategic direction for division manufacturing engineering and operations units.
Relocating to Germany to take on new roles
In 2011, Rebecca and her family relocated to Germany, where Rebecca served as the A&T global director for operator station. In this position, Rebecca was responsible for the global design, development, production, and support of operator station environments and operator experience.
Next, as seeding and tillage global product line director, Rebecca's responsibilities included leading the overall business strategy and global manufacturing footprint across nine locations for planters, air seeders, and tillage equipment. In 2019, Rebecca returned to Waterloo Works in the USA as factory manager.
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