Stephanie Henley
Stephanie Henley is a dedicated worker safety advocate and emerging voice in occupational health, currently leading efforts with The HAV-Sentry System at Exactaform USA. With a background rooted in entrepreneurship and psychology, she brings both strategic thinking and human-centered insight to her work. Stephanie is deeply committed to addressing one of the most overlooked risks in industrial environments—hand-arm vibration exposure—and is passionate about helping organizations better understand and mitigate its long-term impact on workers.
Before stepping into her current advocacy role, Stephanie spent nearly a decade in manufacturing and operations, where she played a pivotal role in establishing and expanding U.S. distribution and manufacturing for Exactaform. One of her most significant accomplishments was successfully bringing operations from the UK to the United States, building infrastructure, and helping launch full-scale manufacturing despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her leadership during this time demonstrated resilience, adaptability, and a strong sense of ownership.
Now, Stephanie has transitioned into a consultative and mission-driven position, where she combines sales, education, and advocacy to raise awareness about vibration-related injuries such as Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS). She works closely with frontline workers and industry leaders, using real-world insights and storytelling to influence safer workplace practices and drive change in a regulatory gray area. Known for her independent spirit and passion for protecting others, Stephanie continues to champion innovation and accountability in worker safety, determined to make invisible risks visible and prevent long-term harm across industries.
• Middle Tennessee State University- B.S.
• East Tennessee State University
• West Hall High School Booster Club volunteer
What do you attribute your success to?
Definitely grit. I've got to have some thick skin to keep pushing and building, and coming back day after day, especially in the beginning when I was in operations and distribution. For the first couple of years, it was just me doing the distribution, pushing and doing everything I can to maximize profit. It takes a lot of grit and intuitiveness to show up every day knowing it's going to be hard, and there's nobody else there to pick up the slack but yourself. You definitely learn something there over time. It's kind of the way that I was raised - just a hard work ethic and sticking through things when times are tough. COVID was another hurdle that we had to jump over. We bought a building in 2020 thinking that we were going to begin manufacturing in 2020, but we couldn't get machines brought over, we couldn't get anything done until mid-2021, so just trying to hang on financially through that time was obviously a challenge too. There's just another hurdle to jump through.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of my first mentors, Kellum Ferree, always said to me, set yourself up for success. And what does that mean? That sounds so cliche. But when you think about it, timing is everything. Do you set yourself up for success the day before or do you start that morning? She really stressed going into your next work week - set yourself up for success on Friday afternoon. Instead of slowing down and preparing for your weekend, prepare for the next week. That way you're not thinking about it over the weekend. Go ahead and run through your schedule. Check through your personal and professional schedule to make sure you don't have anything sneaking up on you. Check what meetings you have. Go ahead and prepare an outline if you've got to present. Just little things you can do to get yourself ready so that Monday is not your prep day, because if you're starting on Monday to prep, well, there's some wasted time in the week. That's one of the things that I like to advise people too - prepare on Friday. It's like sharpen your axe on Friday afternoon. If you want to cut down a tree faster, you need to sharpen your axe. It's boring and monotonous to take the time to slow down and do that, but it gets better results at the end of the day.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Definitely ask questions. Educate yourself, and use the 80-20 rule of listening more than you're speaking, especially in going into a sales role, or especially a worker advocate role. You want to definitely listen to what the workers are telling you, to really understand and get meaning out of what you're actually doing. They're the ones that fuel what I'm doing, because at the end of the day, the hands that build our cars, our city skylines, they deserve protection.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The challenge right now is definitely just getting the name out there. It's a brand new product to the U.S., and also raising awareness for the issue that the product resolves. So that's kind of a double-edged sword - how do you approach the market with that sort of product? But the biggest opportunity is that honestly, vibration is in so many different industries - construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, landscaping, even. There's so many different opportunities where we can really get to people and help them understand the damage that vibration can cause over time, and how this can help them prevent that long-term damage.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Definitely taking ownership and accountability. Anything that I do, and I teach this to my sons as well, you go all in. We're not going to do anything halfway. You're going to claim ownership for what you do, and take pride in what you do. That's something that I carry with my work life and home life. And then, of course, taking responsibility for your actions. If you've made a mistake, we're all human. Let's pick up the pieces, learn from it. Definitely not slipping off or trying to minimize your impact if you've made a mistake. Those are two very important things that I carry in both work life and home life.