Sheila Marie Velazquez- Segui

I currently serve as Plant Controller at a CRH cement manufacturing company in Sumterville, Florida, where I've been for one and a half years after relocating from Puerto Rico. In this role, I work closely with the finance team and collaborate with managers across all departments including production, maintenance, and environmental. What makes my background unique in this industry is my diverse manufacturing experience. While 98% of my coworkers have spent 12, 15, 20, or even 30 years exclusively in cement manufacturing, I bring knowledge from multiple sectors. In Puerto Rico, I worked at Medtronic in Juncos, where they manufacture medical devices like insulin pumps. I served as Plant Controller at Silgan, which produces Vienna sausage cans that are essential for Puerto Rican families during hurricane season, as we experienced after hurricanes Irma and Maria when we were without electricity for at least 6 months. I also worked at Amgen Puerto Rico, where the company produces 85% of the medication that cancer patients around the world need. Before transitioning to manufacturing, I spent 20 years in the communication industry as part of GFR (Grupo Ferreranjer), which owns two of the most important newspapers in Puerto Rico: El Nuevo Dia and Primera Hora. I graduated from the University of Puerto Rico, the most important university in my country, with a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance administration, and I'm so proud to be part of that community. Throughout my career, I've chosen to work for companies that help improve the lives of millions of people, whether through healthcare products, essential food supplies, or cement that makes highways safer and shortens people's commutes from home to work. This diversity of experience allows me to both learn from my coworkers' deep expertise in cement manufacturing while sharing my knowledge from other industries with them.