Through her work as Vice President of Automation Alley, Cynthia Hutchison engages constituents from industry, business, academia and government into innovative public-private partnerships and programs too complex for any one entity to do alone. Through creative product architecture across business lines, she drives companies toward ongoing progress in the rapidly moving Industrial transformation. She has played a significant role in the company’s journey to becoming a globally renowned technology and networking industry 4.0 knowledge center. Earlier in her career, she worked in the burgeoning technology sales field before founding Band of Angels, an international outreach organization dedicated to helping individuals with Down Syndrome reach their full potential. Through that work, she was appointed by both Republican and Democratic Governors to serve in Lansing on non-partisan commissions and named a Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News in 2007 and one of Woman’s Day Magazine Women “Who Inspire Us” in 2006. More recent awards include Crain’s Detroit Business Notable Women in STEM in 2018.