Life at GE Plastics

Laura Wayne Sherry Antonella Kazunao Kay

Antonella Dall'Osto
Cinisello Balsamo, Milan, Italy
Account Manager, Sales

When Antonella Dall'Osto first started working for GE Plastics in her home country of Italy, she thought that there was a lot to learn in the company.

After four years, her perception has changed somewhat. "Now," she begins, "I think that I have a lot more to learn in this company..."

Antonella comes to GEP with a lot of experience - starting in a small company called Tecniplast, moving to ICI Polyurethanes, Rohm & Haas and then HPP Champion, before arriving at GEP Sales in 1996. And this Account Manager is no technological neophyte - she has a degree in Technology of Plastics Material and a specialization in macromolecular chemistry and technology.

"Having a managerial position," Antonella says about her next steps, "I would like to move forward in a more technical environment." That kind of confidence is what her years at GEP have taught her. "That you can drive your career yourself if you have clear ideas of what you want. I've seen a lot of examples of this."

Some of those examples come from her involvement in the European Women's Network, one of many internal, employee-driven forums to provide support and networking opportunities. As the EWN's Country Coordinator for Italy, Antonella takes part in the forums, "because I like doing something for myself and for all the women working at GE." The EWN also gives her a larger global network of friends and colleagues, expanding her boundaries of work and increasing the exchange of cultural and business information.

One of the dialogues about opportunity and support for women in GEP Europe led to an unexpected result - and a much wider initiative to enact change. "Surprisingly, we discovered that the existing challenges are not really gender related," she says, "so our ambition is to find a way to improve the work-life of any GEP employee."

And she has no doubts that anything not quite right can be fixed. "The company has a multinational environment, with an open mindset and a non-bureaucratic approach," she explains. "People here are dynamic, enthusiastic, determined and pragmatic."

Of course, it'd be hard to convince her to leave Italy. "It is my native country," she says, "so I like everything here - the culture, the climate and the creativity." No wonder. From her desk - past her colleagues, and behind some molded plastic parts she developed during her first job in GEP - she can even see the Alps.

But one of the most memorable parts of her job happened during a EWN meeting in London in January 1999, when she met GE CEO Jack Welch. "He introduced himself to every one of the fifty women present, just saying, 'Hi, I'm Jack Welch.'" she says. "Like it would have been possible that somebody did not know him."