Marie Cole is an internationally recognized expert in electronic packaging materials and she shared her expertise and leadership as an active INEMI participant from 2003 until her retirement from IBM in 2021. She was a very active member of the INEMI Board of Directors from 2015 to 2021, volunteering significant time to the various activities and committees to ensure robust business strategies and processes.
Marie not only supported development of the INEMI Roadmap through her own contributions to five editions of the roadmap, but also by identifying and inviting other experts to participate. On project work, she encouraged, proposed, and supported many INEMI projects, particularly in new emerging technical areas such as environmental electronics and sustainability, high frequency applications and the use of AI for more efficient manufacturing and supply chain management. She was actively involved in 11 projects and, through her work with other consortia, she was able to guide the project teams to avoid conflict or duplication and maintain open communication and cooperation.
Marie was an excellent champion and role model for engineers to become involved with INEMI. She had the ability to identify and develop expertise within IBM, encouraging younger engineers to participate in INEMI projects, giving them recognition for their INEMI work within IBM and supporting them in promoting their work externally. Her efforts were invaluable in helping develop leaders and expertise not just for INEMI projects and IBM, but for the industry.