Hannover. The run up to the jury’s announcement was suspenseful: The winner of the Engineer Powerwoman title for 2016 is Herne Munoz-Galeano, Managing Director of HMG Systems Engineering GmbH. Dr. Wolfram von Fritsch, Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Messe, presented her with the €5,000 prize at the opening ceremony for the WoMenPower conference in Hannover, Germany. "The jury selected Ms. Munoz-Galeano because she is an accomplished entrepreneur and successful electronics and computer science engineer. We need more women in technical careers; we need to take advantage of the know-how and potential of nearly half of our total population. WoMenPower is an outstanding platform for career women."

For four consecutive years, an independent jury of experts has convened to choose the year’s Engineer Powerwoman. The competition is open to women from the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). This year’s winner, Ms. Munoz-Galeano, is distinguished not only by her expertise, but also as a leader who has placed great importance on promoting equal opportunities for staff members.

Ms. Munoz-Galeano holds Masters Degrees in both electronic engineering and computer science, and draws on 25 years of experience in designing, developing and managing engineering systems for telecommunications, automation and medical engineering. She leads HMG Systems Engineering GmbH (Fürth, Germany), which manages complex projects in personalized medicine and industrial research. For Munoz-Galeano, corporate diversity is not just a buzzword, but something she practices. Her team consists of 17 women and 18 men of eight nationalities covering 13 areas of expertise. HMG has a proven track record of promoting next-generation staff members and career women and is dedicated to continuing education for individuals and flexible, family-friendly working hours.

A total of 1,400 women and men took part in this year’s WoMenPower congress, which featured an array of talks, workshops and seminars on career issues, promising strategies for success and innovative employment models. The Engineer Powerwoman prize was one of the highlights of the congress, where a flanking exhibition provided attendees with information from more than 70 companies, associations, networks, organizations and trainers on topics such as careers, coaching, mentoring and trends in employment policy.

The main sponsors of WoMenPower are Audi AG, the Bundeswehr (Germany’s armed forces), Ericsson, the HARTING Technology Group, Robert Bosch GmbH, and WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG.