Distinguished Engineer Citations

                 

Elizabeth F. Holland

Distinguished Engineer

2012

Degree

B.S., Industrial Engineering – 1984

 

Citation

At Time of Nomination in 2012

Elizabeth F. Holland is a managing partner at Medical Product Consulting, Inc. in Wadsworth, Illinois.

Holland, a Lubbock native, pursued a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Texas Tech after graduating with high honors from Monterey High School. She achieved Girl Scout, First Class - the highest award in Girl Scouting attainable.

While at Texas Tech, Holland was active in the student chapters of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers and served as president of Explorer Post 402. Dr. Richard Dudek, Dr. Mo Ayoub, and Dr. Jerry Ramsey were a few of her professors who mentored her and encouraged her to take on many challenges including her senior project, which was redesigning the plant layout for Gould Pumps.

Holland began her career as a manufacturing engineer, designing and producing RF-guided air-to-ground missiles for Texas Instruments (TI). While at TI, her team led the transition of a cutting-edge radar warning system for the ECR Tornado aircraft as part of a NATO program with the U.S., U.K., Italy, and Germany.

After eight years in defense electronics, Holland moved her career into the health care marketplace by joining Elscint MR, a start-up company that was developing a novel, low cost 1.5T MRI system. She managed a successful design completion and U.S. regulatory clearance and subsequently became the head of marketing. She was then recruited to join GE Healthcare, where she held a global leadership position in x-ray marketing and was promoted to general manager of Global Nuclear Medicine. She grew the business into the number one world market position. Her team executed the worldwide launch of the first Nuclear/CT hybrid imaging system.

In 2002, Holland joined Abbott Laboratories in its new cardiovascular business. She played a critical role developing the strategic plan with a blueprint of acquisitions that catapulted the division to the top of the field of cardiovascular devices. She personally negotiated a key guide wire contract, that continues to this day, and has led to several hundred million dollars in sales. She was presented the president's award for her contribution to the strategic expansion of the cardiovascular business. She was then promoted to general manager of the one billion dollar anesthesia franchise, where she navigated successfully through tricky business changes, securing critical contracts with large hospital networks and served on the boards for the American Society of Anesthesia.

Holland is actively helping medical device start-ups at the University of Wisconsin successfully commercialize research. She holds a position on board of directors for Echometrix, an innovative company developing novel musculoskeletal ultrasound products that measure tissue stiffness as a qualitative tool to evaluate injury recovery.

She enjoys sharing her talents pro-bono through Merlin Mentors, a group of experienced business executives who coach small businesses. In support of the Whitacre College of Engineering, she has served on the IE Industry Advisory Board, chaired the Industrial Engineering Academy, and is now a member of the Dean's Council. She also actively volunteers her time to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lake County and is a Cub Scout leader. She trains for and competes in triathlons and runs in local races.

She and her husband Neil live in the Chicago area and have three children: Evan, Stephen, and Katherine, and one grandchild.

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