Lisa-Jayne Cook named as Rising Star

UK: Lisa-Jayne Cook, a service sales manager at GEA, and Steve Gill, founder of the Women in RACHP network, have been named as winners in this year’s Rising Star Awards.

Now in their eighth year, and backed by the Royal Bank of Canada, the Rising Star Awards focus on the achievements of women below senior management or director level – representing the female talent pipeline and the next generation of future leaders.

Cook was chosen from over 1,000 individuals by a panel of over 40 independent judges as one of five winners in the Science & Engineering category of the 2022 awards. Over 30,000 public votes were received for the 200 shortlisted nominees for the 24 categories.

Lisa-Jayne Cook was previously named in the Top 50 Women in Engineering list in 2019 and was honoured as a Fellow of the IoR earlier this year. Actively involved in encouraging STEM initiatives with young people and promoting careers for women in RACHP, Cook is also a STEM Ambassador and member of the IoR’s Women in RACHP group, as well as being a trustee of the IoR and director of ACRIB.

Former IoR president and founder of World Refrigeration Day Steve Gill was also a winner at the awards, in a new category – Men for Gender Balance. Gill has been a champion of a number of industry causes and initiatives in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector and was founder of the Women in RACHP network – an RAC industry wide network started in 2016.