CHICAGO—Elizabeth (Liz) Moon of Kaman Industrial Technologies Corp. is the inaugural winner of the Power Transmission Distributors Association's Wendy B. McDonald Award, which acknowledges a woman who has established herself as a critical contributor to her company's success and has affected positive change within the power transmission/motion control industry.
The PTDA also honored John Masek—senior vice president, Bearing Service Inc. in Livonia, Mich.—with Warren Pike Award for lifetime achievement in the power transmission/motion control industry.
Both awards were presented at the recent PTDA Industry Summit, held Oct. 21-24 in Chicago.
The PTDA Foundation has established the McDonald award in memory of McDonald, one of the power transmission/motion control industry's pioneers.
Moon began her career at Western Bearing, Inc. in June 1975 and was responsible for inventory and purchasing. Kaman acquired Western Bearing soon thereafter, and Moon has been with Kaman ever since.
She was promoted to operations manager in the Salt Lake City Distribution Center and then moved into the role of director materials management. As Kaman continued its growth, Moon was chosen to lead the company's first centralized purchasing group.
In 2001, with Moon serving as distribution center manager, the facility's team became the highest performing DC operations group at Kaman. For the last three years, she has served as director of purchasing.
McDonald's son, Scott MacPherson, presented Moon with the award.
The Pike Award, named for PTDA's co-founder and first president, was established in 1984 to honor individuals who have demonstrated outstanding, continuous, long-term support of PTDA and the PT/MC industry. It is only presented when an individual's achievements merit this prestigious recognition.
Masek has been an active PTDA and PTDA Foundation volunteer for more than 20 years, beginning his service on committees such as the Employee Relations, Industry Relations and Communications committees. He served as a trustee for the PTDA Foundation from 2003-05 and will be serving again in 2016.
He was elected to the PTDA Board of Directors in 2004, continuing in additional officer positions during the years, culminating with a term as president in 2008.
Warren Pike Award recipients are selected by the PTDA board and are not informed of the honor in advance.
About 600 from the power transmission/motion control industry attended the summit, whose theme was “Spark a Movement: Inspire. Motivate. Lead.”
The PTDA is a global association that represents the power transmission/motion control distribution firms, which generate more than $16 billion in sales and span more than 3,400 locations.
The PTDA Foundation, whose work is funded by donations, was founded in 1982 to enhance knowledge, education, professionalism and productivity within the power transmission/motion control industry.