Laura Kiley, Continuous Improvement Manager on Influential Women

Influential Woman · Food industry

Laura Kiley

PMP

Continuous Improvement Manager, IFF

Carrollton, TX

2026Years experience

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Engineering degree with minor in manufacturing from school in Chihuahua Degree Mexico Cert PMP Cert Green belt (Lean Six Sigma) Cert AutoCAD certification Member PMI group

Her Story

About Laura

Laura Kiley serves as Continuous Improvement Manager at IFF. In this role, she oversees all capital projects on site as well as engineering and continuous improvement activities across facilities and production processes. Her work involves collaborating with teams to identify needs for equipment renewal to enhance operations and safety. She began her tenure in the food industry in January 2025 as a process engineer and was promoted to her current position after a few months. Kiley earned an engineering degree with a focus on electronics and a minor in manufacturing from a school in Chihuahua, Mexico. She maintains professional certifications in PMP for project management, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and AutoCAD for drafting. She participates in the PMI group and draws on her background to drive impactful process improvements and project execution.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Laura

01What do you attribute your success to?

I think them, you know, like, being, trying to be the best version of myself with them, you know, to show my... my two daughters that, you know, it's possible whenever you dream about something and you work for it, you can actually achieve it. So... Try to be a good role model for them.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

I think it's, you know, like, follow your passion, because there is a lot of noise in the background where they tell you, or, you know, like, people that is your mentor, or that you trust, oh. You know, like, the market is going this way. or... you should do that, but if you're not really feel it, and you don't feel, like, passionate about it, why pursue it, right? So... You, you need to find. Find, your true passion, where you can be yourself. independent, and see that impact that you are creating, and then... Yes. You won't know that that's your path.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Yes, so I... I will... I will actually tell them. Not to do math. master's degree. right away. Because sometimes we... as soon as we finish college, we want to pursue a master's, but they don't know about what, because probably they haven't found that true thing that they're passionate about. So... they need to find that first, and then decide what type of master's is going to help them get to that stage later on in life. ... For them to try to, find those people who actually can influence their careers with good advice. And... pursued those, You know, like, career goals, such as certifications, and keep studying and all that, once that they know exactly what they want to do. And then they will get there faster.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think finding... The correct people for your team. Because... these days, AI does everything for you, right? So... and that is also building resumes and building these amazing profiles. And, Whenever you'll have that interview with them. you can only see a fraction of who they really are, and then once that you hire them, you see the impact. Is it good or not? Because, you know. No, that's... I think that's a big challenge, just people-wise. And try to find the correct person for the team who actually has the same values or shares, you know, like, that same way to see the responsibilities that we have, the same way as me. Or the business needs. And also, another thing that is very challenging, at least for this facility right now, and what I've seen is, communication, right? Because, leadership... Or every single team across the organization has some gaps in communication, and that causes a lot of issues.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

The values that I have, I mean, personally, will be in my family. So, I... I wouldn't be trying to be the best version of myself, either at work or personally, if it wasn't for them, for my kids, for my husband. So, you know, like, the loving... aspect of things that I... I believe sometimes the... the world is losing now. Win in. was love in... in this week. Nope. And, unprofessionally, I will say, you know, being compassionate, being understanding. you know, like, where everybody's coming from, because we, at the end of the day, we all have the same goals, right? We want the organization to be successful, we want to be successful in our roles. But then learning in how... Understand each other. will help us meet that goal, because if we are against each other, and there's always going to be, people that we're not aligned with, right? But we have to. How to work. with that, so just... just having those values in terms of, okay, what I'm doing is because this means success for the business, and being aligned with my peers, you know, like, with my team, and the sense of responsibility, because I see that nowadays, that it's just younger generations. They are like, okay, if you don't like how I work, I'm gone. So, just, they... they don't go, you know, like, all the extra mile anymore. It's... it's... I haven't seen that in a while, but...

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