FULL STORY: Elisabeth Smith named this year's Winslow Award winner

WOODCOCK TOWNSHIP — After graduating from Meadville Area Senior High School in 2000, Elisabeth Smith said she never thought she'd return to Meadville for a job let alone win a community award.

Smith, president of Acutec Precision Aerospace of Meadville since December 2014, was named winner of the 2018 Winslow Award at the 50th annual Greater Meadville Area Day dinner for her contributions to the community.

"I'm incredibly surprised," a visibly surprised Smith said after coming to the podium at The Country Club of Meadville Thursday night to accept the award.

"I thought some day it would be cool if Acutec won — I still think it would," she said, which drew laughter from the crowd.

"I left here never really intending to return," Smith told the crowd of about 200.

But after embarking on an educational and business career that had her traveling to different parts of the world, Smith opted to return to Meadville to work at Acutec.

Smith calls Meadville a "fantastic community" and considers herself from Meadville though she moved there when she was 12 after her family lived in other places.

"I felt like we've been welcomed here, and I'm happy to say I'm from here," Smith said. 

Smith is the first woman named recipient of the Winslow Award but not the first in her family to earn it. She's the second-generation of her family and second president of Acutec to win. In 2010, her father, Rob Smith Jr., the then-president of then-Acutec Precision Machining, was recipient of the award.

Given annually by the Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County, the Winslow Award honors an individual, group, business or industry that has made a significant contribution to the economic growth of the greater Meadville area.

Greater Meadville Area Day was started in 1969 by the former Meadville Area Industrial Commission, a predecessor of the Economic Progress Alliance, to commemorate the 85th birthday of Dr. Harry C. Winslow, a Meadville area surgeon and business leader.

Winslow’s business interests included being chairman of the board of the former First National Bank of Meadville; a founder of WMGW-AM radio station; and a vice president and director of Conneaut Lake Park.

Following the award presentation, Smith told the Tribune it's the people in the community who make her want to be involved in Meadville.

"The team we have in the community here is tremendous," Smith said. "We see each other everywhere — people from all walks of life, all the time. I think we look out for each other and I want to do my part to look out for the people here."

In presenting the Winslow Award to Smith, Bill Bragg, president of the Economic Progress Alliance, said Smith, like other Winslow winners, is involved in both community and economic service.

Smith was salutatorian of her class at MASH, a musician and athlete. An accomplished violist with the Erie Junior Philharmonic, she was a member of the All-East U.S. Orchestra and played in New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1999. She also was starting center midfielder on the Meadville girls soccer team for three years.

A 2004 graduate of Haverford College with a bachelor’s in economics and mathematics, Smith spent her junior year attending the London School of Economics and interned a number of summers at Acutec.

Following her college graduation, Smith worked three years as an aerospace and defense industry analyst in Washington, D.C., at Charles River Associates, a global consulting firm.

She then left the firm to enter the University of Michigan, earning a master’s in business administration in manufacturing operations in 2009.

After getting her MBA, Smith entered the operations leadership program at United Technologies Corp., rotating through its aerospace divisions, holding positions at Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton-Sundstrand, and Sikorsky Helicopter.

She then spent two years as a manager on the Blackhawk UH-60M Medevac helicopter final assembly line for Sikorsky before returning to Meadville in 2013.

In mid-2013, Smith became director strategic operations at Acutec and later its quality director.

Since December 2014, Smith has been Acutec’s president, chief executive officer and majority owner.

Under Smith’s direction, Acutec changed its name from Acutec Precision Machining to Acutec Precision Aerospace and the firm has grown another 33 percent, adding 90 employees.

Acutec is expected to grow another 20 percent in the next two years, which would put employment at more than 500.

Acutec Precision Aerospace has become one of the world's leading privately owned aerospace and power generation components and sub-assembly companies.

In 2016, Smith was honored by the Manufacturing Institute in Washington, D.C., as one of its STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) award winners.

Smith also has served on a national panel for manufacturing cyber-security for the Aerospace Industries Association; an Allegheny College Economics panel on the opioid epidemic; and will serve on a panel on using data in manufacturing at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago this fall.

Smith also serves on the board of the Crawford County Heritage Foundation, the board of corporators for Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, and board of corporators for the Economic Progress Alliance.

She also participates in a number of community development organizations and is co-owner of Lojic LLC, a software and information technology company for manufacturers.

Smith gave birth to daughter Sophia last October. Smith, her wife Mariana and Sophia reside in Meadville.

Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.