The last time we checked in with Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) veteran Cindy Svestka, she was the executive technical assistant and business process manager at General Motors. Three years later, Cindy is the engineering group manager of the Cranking Systems and Electronic Sensors Group at GM. “I get the pleasure of supervising 13 engineers on a daily basis and ensuring that they have the support they need to get the product they’re responsible for to market,” she said.
Even after assuming a role on GM’s organizing team, Cindy is still involved with EcoCAR 2.
“For General Motors, AVTCs are the main opportunity we have to work with students while they’re developing their skills before they get to industry,” said Cindy. “We get a very unique opportunity to work with them over a multi-year timeframe while they learn to operate on a vehicle development process cycle, and then we get the opportunity to offer them jobs in our industry.”
Cindy notes that the AVTC program helped shape her career path. “AVTCs allowed me to get not only a job in the automotive industry, but jobs doing the things that I want to do to promote sustainability – working on ethanol vehicles, working on hybrid vehicles, working on future electric vehicle technologies,” she said. “I think the AVTCs are the most amazing competition that is available to students. I feel honored to have been a part of them, as well as inspired by the fact that they are still relevant and on the leading edge of development.”
Learn more about Cindy and where she is now!
