Dr. Isabel Yang brings extensive R&D credentials to industry

FORT COLLINS — Innovation and leading the digital transformation of a major manufacturer in Northern Colorado are among the credentials that Isabel Yang brings to the table.

Yang, the senior vice president and chief technical officer for Advanced Energy Industries Inc. with a manufacturing facility in Fort Collins, is the manufacturing category winner of this year’s BizWest’s Women of Distinction.

Yang has a long track record in manufacturing, a category of business that has few women who have risen to the top ranks of their industry. For Yang, the VP or director titles have appeared before her name for many years, starting in the early part of this century.

Yang has been with AE since July 2018 and in her role with that semiconductor company she leads innovation and the creation of new technologies. She puts her degrees — she has a Ph.D in electrical engineering — to good use. All of her degrees are from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

Much of her career was with IBM, where she had multiple vice president titles over areas such as research and development, strategic partnerships, corporate strategy and worldwide research. She worked from 2000 until 2018 with IBM, one of the world’s largest computer manufacturers.

“I have found great joy in mentoring several of my colleagues for many years, creating sponsored research programs at leading local colleges such as Colorado State University and Front Range Community College, and inspiring young people, especially women, to strive for a career in STEM,” she said in her application for the WOD award.

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