Page 40 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2020

INSPIRING WOMEN IN
story by Victoria Snyder photos courtesy of Mississippi Power and Ingalls Shipbuilding
Statistics show that while almost 50 percent of the workforce is made up of women, only 28 percent make up the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. However, here on the Gulf Coast there are some amazing women in STEM who are great role models for girls and women aspiring to go into STEM. Fran Forehand of Mississippi Power and Tania Johnson from Ingalls Shipbuilding are two such women.
40 | September 2020
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Fran Forehand
Fran Forehand is Mississippi Power’s vice president of customer service and operations, meaning that she is responsible for maintaining the electric system that serves Mississippi Power’s customers while also overseeing di erent divisions of the company. With a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alabama and an MBA in nance from Augusta State University, Forehand is a woman with a position of leadership in STEM. Her favorite part of her job? “No two days are alike. Every day is di erent with unique problems to solve.”
Forehand got into engineering because it’s what her family was doing. “I was fortunate to have siblings studying and working in several di erent areas of engineering and science growing up,” she said. “I feel blessed to have had such strong, awesome women believe in me early on as a teenager and motivate and encourage me to explore and get interested in science.”
As a woman in STEM, Forehand believes that giving people common ground is important. “Men and women genuinely want to solve problems together. Once you establish that common ground, people get over di erences – gender or otherwise,” Forehand explains.