The pressure is on for Priya Almelkar, the innovator charged with leading Wolfspeed’s digital strategy – and that includes automation for its new factory under construction in Chatham County.
On Wednesday, Almelkar was named Wolfspeed’s chief information officer, the seat vacated by David Costar. And the task ahead in Chatham County, where the company has already broken ground on a semiconductor materials plant expected to create 1,800 jobs, is complex.
Wolfspeed (NYSE: WOLF) has done it before – having automated its Mohawk Valley plant in New York. But the $5 billion facility in Chatham County is an entirely new beast –Wolfspeed calls it the largest plant of its kind.
“Now we’re going to have to do brand new automation for the materials facility in Siler City,” Almelkar said. “I think there are a lot of possibilities for us to do things that have never been done before – not only for the business side, but also for the IT side. We’re going to be automating something that has not been automated before.”
Amelkar said her entire career has been leading to this moment.
In an interview, she tells Triangle Inno how she got here, and what advice she has for female technologists looking to make their own impact in the C-Suite.
From math kid to CIO
Amelkar was “always a math kid.”
“I liked the fact that within IT you see a problem and you solve it,” she said. “You see an impact right away. … I think the instant gratification was definitely something that excited me.”
Amelkar was born in India but spent much of her young life in Indonesia. When it came to picking colleges, she wanted to go to the U.S. – “wherever it snowed the least.” She ended up at Oklahoma State University – a “culture shock.” She considered moving home after graduation. But her parents told her to “work for a year and see what you like.”
That turned into a 25-year IT career, starting at Sprint as a server engineer.
“I realized pretty quickly that sitting in dark, cold data centers wasn’t my thing,” she said. “So I moved into project management because I love working with people and partnering with business stakeholders to deliver solutions.”
Amelkar’s career took her in several different directions. Prior to Wolfspeed, she spent six years at GlobalFoundries.
There, she came to respect Wolfspeed. And when the opportunity presented itself, she leapt to become part of an even higher-tech operation, she said.
It was the impact that reeled her in.
“We as a company are looking for Silicon Carbide, looking to change how the power industry is going to be looking in a few years, and that’s what got me excited,” she said.
She has advice for other women looking to evolve their careers: Network.
“Think about how you are building your network … there are a lot of women like me who have gotten to a place where we can kind of carve the path for others,” she said. “Be that helping hand. Be that lending ear.”
And advocate for yourself, she said.
“Be yourself,” she said. “Be fearless. And be okay with setting boundaries.”
