Sowards brings over 15 years of manufacturing experience, including as former head of Business Operations and Quality of Eviation Aircraft in Arlington, Washington. Kelley has served on the Impact Washington Board of Directors for seven years, most recently as the Center's first female Board Chair.
Before joining Eviation, she was the VP of Operations at METER Group, Inc., a Decagon Devices and UMS combined company in Pullman, Washington. Kelley joined METER in 2009 after working at WSU’s Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. METER connects science, engineering, and customer-centered design to provide precision data solutions for food quality, environmental research, agriculture, and sustainable production applications.
Kelley has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in Education, both from Washington State University.
Kelley uses her combined experience in engineering, design, and organizational learning to provide executive leadership in the development of lean and connected business systems, from manufacturing and ERP to ISO 9001:2015 and international project management.