Automotive News recently announced its ninth annual list of Rising Stars. The program honors automotive executives in the U.S., under the age of 45, on the manufacturing and supply side of the industry who have the talent and dedication needed to become industry leaders of tomorrow.  

Adient’s Julie Rudy, Director – Business Unit Purchasing Americas, was selected as a 2022 Automotive News Rising Star. 

Julie is a vital member and leader of the purchasing team. In her role, she manages an organization with seven managers and 23 buyers. She is responsible for sourcing all OEM program-specific components and cross-platform commodities for the Americas. She also manages program launch and engineering change management activity and supports cost savings initiatives and supplier diversity activities. 

Julie drives change, fosters innovation, and makes strong business decisions at Adient. Her accomplishments include:  

• Reorganizing the Business Unit Purchasing group from a global organization to a regional organization to better support the needs of the company and introduced commodity sourcing roles to focus on sourcing commodities across platforms
• Coleading the Purchasing & Supply Chain Student Buyer program, which targets hiring women and minorities to build a pipeline for entry-level Purchasing positions 
• Playing an instrumental role in supplier diversity sourcing activities that allowed Adient to be awarded Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council Tier 1 Supplier of the Year in 2020 and 2021 
• Establishing a new Sourcing Board meeting to review all sourcing activity with cross-functional team members in Supplier Quality, Program Management and Finance 
• Successfully leading the resourcing and de-consolidation activity for Adient’s largest global MRO supplier to drive savings across the plants

“On behalf of the Adient management team we congratulate Julie on this well-deserved recognition,” said Jerome Dorlack, executive vice president Americas. “She is a key contributor to Adient’s success via her ability to drive through obstacles, drive strategic sourcing and recruit world-class talent.” 

To read the full article on Julie, click here. 

Congratulations on the excellent work, Julie!