Neal Evans

Plant Director, General Motors

Years in current role: 22

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Watching our employees succeed and learn about new technologies. We are able to hire new graduates and they are eager to use tools and methods that are leading edge. We are always looking to make improvements in our business and that gives them an opportunity to expand their scope.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve dealt with over the past year?

Finding and retaining talent in a very competitive market. COVID has changed the way we have had to search for new employees, so we have had to adapt.

Our student programs have been helpful in finding new engineers that start with excellent experiences already.

What has been your organization’s biggest success over the past year?

We were asked to transfer the GM face mask production lines from Michigan to Rochester. We had to prepare and relocate all of the equipment in 30 days. We then had to find 300 people to staff the area to produce masks for use in GM North America. The Rochester team did a fantastic job with the equipment set up and we were making masks here on time. We have produced over 10 million face masks here in Rochester. This is not the precision type of work that we are used to with our Fuel System manufacturing, but it was still challenging.

What do you see as the biggest changes in the technology industry over the next year?

For our business, the transition to electric vehicles is full speed ahead. The changes in the transportation industry are beyond anything we have seen in decades. Many new innovations will have to be made to make this transformation successful.

What community organizations do you support as a volunteer and why?

Our organization works closely with Junior Achievement and the Holy Childhood. We also have been supporting the Boys and Girls Club here in Rochester. Working with organizations that support developing youth is important to our employees. GM Rochester has been successful in the past few years having the highest United Way participation in GM North America. We are very proud of the work that we are doing in the community.

This profile is part of Rochester Business Journal's Power 50 Technology list for 2022. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. View the full list at rbj.net.