Janette Bombardier / Board Member Spotlight

Janette Bombardier is an accomplished engineering manager and community leader with experience at IBM, GlobalFoundries, Green Mountain Power, and now, Chroma Technology Corp. / 89 North. In this Q&A, Janette reflects on her journey from an aspiring engineer in high school to becoming Vermont Citizen of the Year in 2015. She also discusses her commitment to Vermont’s workforce development through the State Colleges System and her role on the VCET board.

Blaise: Janette! Thanks for your time. I want to start here: How did you find your way to Vermont? 

Janette: When I was in high school, I had a wonderful biology teacher who said, ‘Are you going to be a teacher or a nurse?’. Because in the 1970s, that’s what we did as women. When I said, ‘Neither’, he handed me a catalog for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He said, ‘Don’t look at the name of the school, but read about this program.’ He showed me the description of an environmental engineer. I thought, ‘I love math, I love science”, and ended up applying to a number of technical schools. A UVM catalog had arrived at the house, so I applied and ended up in Vermont. 

Blaise: What was your experience like studying engineering at UVM?

Janette: I ended up with a bachelor’s and a master’s in civil engineering from UVM. It was hard, but I liked it and did well. I studied a lot. We didn’t party very much. 

Blaise: After you received your degree, you got a job at IBM, where you stayed for 35 years. What kept you at the multinational tech company for so long? 

Janette: You are a little young to know who George Plimpton is, but he was this famous person who tried all these jobs. That’s what I did at IBM. I spent five years in civil engineering; I had the opportunity to be the project manager for a bridge that goes over the Winooski River to join both the Essex and Williston IBM sites. It’s as large as any highway bridge in Vermont. And then after completing that project, I decided I should go inside, literally. I finally got someone to hire me, mostly for my project management skills. From there, I kept taking on different jobs. I did product development work, quality work, production management, continuous improvement, semiconductor testing and operations management

Blaise: I was going to ask about career highlights at IBM. Building that bridge is a great one! Does anything else stick out?

Janette: We became well known, both with IBM and our legislative delegates under [Senator] Leahy, for our work and results on energy and water conservation. I went to a naval base in San Diego and worked with a base in Oklahoma to show them how to do energy management. Eventually, I became the senior site executive – the first woman to ever have that role at a large IBM location. There were thousands of employees who reported into different organizations, a number of tenants from other companies as well as the State of Vermont, and it was my job to ensure the location operated effectively and safely as well as manage all of the government and community relations, in addition to my responsibilities as site operations manager. 

The transition from IBM to GlobalFoundries was a significant event for employees and the State, and carried a lot of risk. As the senior location executive, I played a key role in the site transfer as well as internal and external communications and coordination of critical activities.  Both the importance of maintaining the semiconductor industry, the jobs and my community involvement resulted in the Vermont Citizen of the Year recognition. [in 2015].

Blaise: Being named Citizen of the Year is quite the accomplishment. I mean, surely that was the coolest year ever…?

Janette: Every year is a cool year, whether it’s from something like that or having grandchildren.

That’s what’s important about life: Recognizing that no matter where you’re at, there’s something important and impactful you can do. There are always results you can achieve and more importantly, people you can help and support along the way. Now, at Chroma and 89 North, it is exciting to be part of a team that develops and manufactures products that support and advance the science and technology we can enable with light.

Blaise: Besides your decades of work for IBM – and more recently, for Green Mountain Power and Chroma Technology / 89 North – you have also done a lot for Vermont education. In 2017, you were appointed to join the Vermont State Colleges System Board. Why does this work matter to you?

Janette: I always had a strong relationship with what was then Vermont Technical College and its technician program. After joining the Board, I developed an even greater appreciation for the State College System – it provides great access to Vermonters and is Vermont’s workforce university. There’s a place for Middlebury, there’s a place for UVM, and there’s a big place for Vermont State University. They are not in competition with each other, they all do very different things and serve very different people. When you think of VTSU’s economic and educational impact, we need to make it not only survive but grow and flourish. 

Blaise: You joined VCET’s board after developing a relationship with Frank Cioffi when you were at IBM. Why was it important for you to join this board? 

Janette: Vermont isn’t going to survive on pictures of cows, maple syrup, and Ben and Jerry’s. That’s lovely, but it doesn’t bring the vitality you need in a state. There was a big study…on what Vermont would look like if IBM had never come here. These [workers] came, but then they had kids, and then they cared about our schools, and then they got advanced degrees, and then they got involved in the community. It changed the face of Vermont to have a technology company. It’ll be very difficult to have another large-scale company, which means we’re going to need a whole lot of smaller ones. VCET is extremely important, because I don’t know where these companies would be going for assistance right now if they didn’t come to VCET.

Blaise: You mentioned IBM’s importance to Vermont. A side question, but I think an important one: How did the state attract a company of such stature?

Janette: It started in 1958 as a happy accident. TJ Watson [former Chairman and CEO of IBM] was a skier. His original home is still on the mountainside in Stowe. And it was GBIC, which is the development corporation that Frank Cioffi runs, that had a spec building out in Essex Junction. [Watson] moved part of IBM there in the heyday of early technology. At its peak, there were 10,000 employees there. That’s 10,000 people that had spouses, children, never mind all the contractors that supported it. Frank would tell you, for every job at the plant, there’s at least three other jobs in the state. The multiplier effect was enormous. And in 1958 there was a closing of the Woolen Mills with an unemployment rate around 18%. That is a significant available workforce.  Vermont would look a lot different if IBM had not started operations here.   

Blaise: Alright Janette, final question, and I ask this to every board member. How would you spend your ideal Vermont day?

Janette: My ideal Vermont day would start with biking on the Causeway early in the morning, before everybody else gets there. The rest of the day? We are blessed to have a seasonal dwelling on Lake Champlain, so just hanging out there with my children and grandchildren and enjoying the outdoors that is so unique to Vermont. And answering zero emails.

This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

You can follow Janette on LinkedIn here. For more on her Vermont Citizen of the Year award, click here.