Dana Myers
Global Product Manager, nVent,
MBA – Carlson School of Management
University of Minnesota
Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering
Michigan Technological University
Dana Myers has worked at nVent for nearly 8 years. She entered as an industry specialist following a six-year career in the functional and process chemistry consulting industry. During her time at nVent she has transitioned between several different roles and earned her MBA. She now works as a Global Product Manager. Dana specializes in building product portfolio strategies to solve unique customer application challenges. She makes an impact by developing and deploying new products and educating sales teams on how to best communicate and deliver the value-add to customers for the products she supports. Her favorite part of her job is the variety. No day is ever the same and she has welcomed the opportunity to work on projects that have pushed her and helped her grow her career at nVent. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with family and friends, photography, and exploring the world in a way that challenges her both physically and mentally. Her travel highlights include backpacking into Havasu Falls of the Grand Canyon and horseback camping in Botswana, Africa.
Talk about the culture of your company. What makes inclusive or supportive of women in engineering and automation?
As a female engineer, I have worked in some very challenging environments. Learning to navigate tough environments in a male-dominated industry is something everyone struggles with. When you find somewhere that truly supports women and shows that by tapping them for leadership opportunities, having them in the board room, having diversity at all levels—that’s the real report card to me. nVent is far and away ahead of many other companies in our industry. My management chain all the way up to the top are people I genuinely believe want to empower me to succeed. When the president of your company knows your name and asks how your son is doing, that should tell you something about how they value people.
Describe a recent company project that went particularly well. How did you and your team go about ensuring success?
I am fortunate to be surrounded by incredibly talented people. In the last few years we’ve had to challenge ourselves to get really creative troubleshooting supply chain and pricing challenges and not letting those things stand in the way of meeting customer commitments. We have been working for years on an innovative electrical enclosure for extreme environments. Knowing the customer problem and figuring out how to create a platform of products that clearly addresses those challenges in a technically advanced way is something I’m very proud of. From start to finish, our team was able to hold the paintbrush, innovate, develop the solution, and bring it to life.
What first drew you to engineering and this industry?
I have always enjoyed tinkering with things. I was exposed to STEM at a young age by my father and grandfather who were both tool and die makers. We would always take stuff, pull it apart, learn how it worked, put it back together. We are builders and doers and makers. It’s no wonder that natural curiosity and desire to solve problems led me straight into engineering. I also didn’t want to be stuck behind a computer. That’s how I got into product management—I like developing a long-term strategic vision for solutions, driving change and growth, and putting those ideas into practice.
Describe your biggest career challenge. How did you solve it—or what was the outcome and lesson learned?
My biggest career challenge was figuring out what I wanted my career to look like in the first place! As I’ve navigated through different roles and responsibilities, I’ve gained a better understanding of myself and where my natural curiosities are, and I’ve learned how to leverage those things to bring value to a business. That growth has led me to a career that plays to my strength, but I didn’t always know how to get there. I learned that for me, someone with a very mechanical mind, I like to create, I like strategy, I love working with people. I was fortunate to be able to find a workplace that values those things and puts me in a position to do them every day.
What career advice would you give your younger self?
Get uncomfortable—be OK with that discomfort. Understand that even though things can be hard, that’s what growth feels like. The more you can get better at doing hard things the better off you will be. Find your style and your recipe for tackling problems. The topics will change, but your approach and the way you execute on your ideas to solve the problems you see in front of you will be the framework for your success. Nobody has it all figured out, but you have the ability to put yourself in a position to succeed.
Filed Under: Engineering Diversity & Inclusion
