Elin Gabriel

“I co-oped my way through school and held jobs during my active semesters. I know how hard it can be to afford an education and balance school – work – life time. My education at NC State has provided me with excellent opportunities. I want to help others have the same opportunities.”

Elin E. Gabriel completed a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at N.C. State in 1985. Following her graduation, she started as a semiconductor manufacturing engineer at Advanced Micro Devices in Austin, TX. In 1989 she moved back East to Honeywell International, starting as a process engineer in the Chemical Intermediates Business and advancing to manage plants in Chemical Intermediates (Hopewell, VA and Columbia, SC), Engineered Applications & Solutions (Sparta, TN), Performance Fibers (Moncure, NC); a corporate role developing the Operations Excellence (later Lean Six Sigma) program for Honeywell’s Specialty Materials Division; and global operations leadership as Director of Operations for Performance Products.

Elin then took on a series of corporate manufacturing and supply chain leadership roles in multinational companies: VP of Global Supply Chain at Alpharma Pharmaceuticals (2004), Executive VP of US and Western European Operations for Actavis Group Pharmaceuticals (2006), Senior VP of European Product Supply for Barr and Teva Pharmaceuticals (2008), Chief Operating Officer for Alvogen Pharmaceuticals (2010) and VP of Global Operations for H. B. Fuller (2014).

Throughout her career, Elin has traveled extensively, living in Iceland, Croatia and 8 U.S. States and traveling to over 60 countries. She is a strong believer that one of the best ways to learn is to get out of one’s comfort zone and experience different people, languages, foods, cultures, norms and ways of thinking. Her travel and work experiences, coupled with the foundation provided by N. C. State, developed her as a leader and a human being. With this investment in N. C. State, she aims to give back some of the same opportunities to CBE students before they begin their careers.