Janeen Uzzell is an American global technology executive and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

National Society of Black Engineers The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is a society that was founded in 1975 at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. It is one of the largest student-run organizations in the United States, with core activities centered ...

Early life and education

Uzzell was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, and raised in

Plainfield, New Jersey Plainfield is a City (New Jersey), city in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Nicknamed "The Queen City",

, where she attended Mount St. Mary Academy. She has cited her family as an inspiration for her education and career. Her father, Jay Uzzell, was a musician in the band

The Corsairs The Corsairs were an American doo wop ensemble from La Grange, North Carolina. The group consisted of the three Uzzell brothers, Moses, Jay, James and their cousin, George Wooten. Initially they performed as The Gleems, and toured the East Coast, ...

, and her mother is Kate Uzzell. She earned a bachelor's degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

North Carolina A&T State University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public university, public, Historically black colleges and universities, historicall ...

and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University () is a private university with its main campuses in New Jersey, located in Madison / Florham Park and in Teaneck / Hackensack. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University offers more than 100 degree prog ...

Career

Uzzell joined General Electric in 2002, focusing on healthcare technologies. In 2016, Uzzell took over the Women in Technology programs at General Electric. Here she led the implementation of an

ad campaign An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ide ...

that showcased women engineers, including

Mildred Dresselhaus Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus''Mildred Dresselhaus'' was elected in 197 ...

. In 2021, after working for the

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, and registered there as foundation (United States law), a charitable foundation. It is the host of Wikipedia, th ...

as COO, Uzzell became CEO of the

. Uzzell serves on the advisory boards for

Mercy Ships Mercy Ships is an international charity based non-governmental organization that operates the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world, providing Christian humanitarian aid, surgical care and surgical education in Africa, community ...

and as an advisor to the Believers in Business Collegiate Organization of the

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) is an evangelicalism, evangelical Christianity, Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses in U.S.. It is a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students ...

Honors

''The Network Journal'' named Uzzell one of its "40 Under Forty Achievers" in 2005 and one of "25 Most Influential Black Women in Business" in 2016. She has received the General Electric African-American Forum's Icon Leadership Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uzzell, Janeen Living people Year of birth missing (living people) African-American engineers American Wikimedians Fairleigh Dickinson University alumni North Carolina A&T State University alumni Businesspeople from Newark, New Jersey People from Plainfield, New Jersey 21st-century African-American people Wikimedia Foundation staff members