Nicole Baxter, 37

By Barbara Connors

Nicole Baxter makes a big difference in a “little” company called Hamilton Sundstrand. As a founding member, and now president, of the company’s Rockford Leadership Club, the 37-year-old helps employees, many of whom come from other parts of the United States, learn about the assets of Rockford and take on leadership roles in the community.

“When Sundstrand was bought out in the late 90s, and the corporate offices moved out, followed by the reorganizations and plant closings, people were getting a different impression of Sundstrand,” Baxter said. “The Leadership Club is redeveloping the connection between Hamilton Sundstrand and the community.”

As one of the biggest aerospace companies in the area, getting Hamilton Sundstrand involved in the Chicago Rockford International Airport’s annual AirFest has been a natural choice according to Baxter, and the Leadership Club has been instrumental in getting hundreds of volunteers and creating displays highlighting Rockford’s contributions to aerospace.

In addition to her “day job” as manager of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 gearbox program, Baxter arranges networking events and programs to get Leadership Club members to use their engineering and managerial skills to advise on important initiatives like RockStat and Freedom Field, the renewable energy research and demonstration complex at the airport. Club members also reach out to A.C. Thompson elementary school students; tutoring in math, reading and science, and painting hallways, landscaping and fixing playground equipment.

A Milwaukee-native and avid UW Wisconsin-Madison alumna/fan, Baxter has served on the UW Alumni Club Board for seven years and chaired the UW Scholarship fundraiser as part of On-the-Waterfront for three years.

Why does the mother of two children, 5 and 7, do it? “It’s really rewarding to be involved in something bigger than yourself.”