Meet Angela - Chief Transformation Officer, ArcelorMittal Dofasco North America

Located in Hamilton, Ontario, ArcelorMittal Dofasco is a steel company with nearly 5,000 employees.

Experience in the manufacturing sector:

30 years

Making a difference:

Pappin is committed to helping to ensure girls and women pursue STEM careers. She also believes being a role model is so important: “Having women see me and how I can manoeuver through and I am integrated, that to me is important. It is the only way women can really say, ‘I can do this’.”

In addition, she says to be inclusive it’s crucial to get the fundamentals right.

“Listen to feedback and actively ask what needs to be done to make the environment more inclusive for women. Proximity of washrooms, or the size of workwear and gloves are the basics in a manufacturing environment. If you don’t have these things addressed, that’s what exclusion looks like. Also, key is respect in the workplace – a culture of inclusivity is key to success.

How she does it:

Pappin is a proud Hamiltonian, whose father was an electrician at Dofasco. She earned her engineering degree from McMaster University. Her role modeling is paying off, as daughter graduated from McMaster and is in the steel industry; her son is at McMaster now studying computer engineering and management.

She says that most senior executives recognize that diversity is important both for the bottom line and because it’s the right thing to do. “Now we just have to figure out how we do it, and how we can do it faster.”

Advice for her younger self:

“Be bold and trust in your abilities. I think women are hesitant to be bold and just go for it.”

Outside of work:

Pappin is working on “learning to play golf better.” She also likes to swim.

Favourite book:

Pappin was inspired by the book, Beyond Performance. It speaks about the two sides to a great organization – performance and results and, also, the health and culture of the organization, and how you treat your employees. “Giving people that inclusiveness … taking care of that side. That is something I have really taken away.”