DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, Inc., Team Members Earn CADIA Impact Award for Initiative Supporting New Mothers
Christine Gray and Haley Penney led project to establish and standardize lactation rooms across campus facilities, increasing access to comfortable and secure spaces for working moms
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Christine Gray accepts the CADIA Impact Award on behalf of Haley Penney and herself during a May 21, 2025, award ceremony.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (May 28, 2025) ― CADIA, an organization dedicated to driving opportunities for all in the automotive industry, has awarded Christine Gray and Haley Penney of DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, Inc. (DMTN), in Maryville with a 2025 CADIA Impact Award. They earned their honor in the Systemic Change category.
Gray, an electrical controls engineer, and Penney, a quality engineer, were recognized for their efforts to establish and standardize several lactation rooms across DMTN’s expansive campus, helping ensure that working moms at the location have equal access to secure spaces that help them perform their role as caregivers while balancing their careers.
“This started as a grassroots effort within our facility to meet the needs of our team members, and we recognized our ability to improve accommodations and contribute to a more inclusive culture,” Gray said. “The project began with a request for one room in the Electrification Systems Division but quickly grew into a campus-wide initiative as we recognized the broader need.”
In December 2022, Gray and Penney began working with fellow members of the DENSO Women’s Associate Resource Group and site leaders to evaluate how they could better support new mothers. Over time, they identified spaces that could be converted into lactation rooms and developed common standards for each that would provide team members with private, comfortable and safe experiences. One particularly innovative feature of this activity was the two-in-one design concept of each room, which separated milk storage and retrieval spaces, helping mothers maintain privacy and avoid disruptions during the pumping process.
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Christine Gray and Haley Penney stand in front of the future site of a DMTN lactation room. By fall 2025, six rooms will be available to new mothers across the location's campus.
Today, DMTN has four lactation rooms across its campus, with two more expected to open this fall. Once complete, there will be at least one lactation room in each building that houses manufacturing or office spaces on the DMTN campus.
“We’ve come a long way in this effort, and while there’s still more to do, we appreciate all the collaboration and support we’ve gotten from various departments and site leaders,” said Penney. “To be recognized by CADIA is very meaningful, but working together, we’ll continue to do all we can to support working moms.”
In addition to this project, through their roles in the DENSO Women’s Associate Resource Group, Gray and Penney are also active in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) activities aimed at encouraging local students to explore technical fields.
CADIA gives the Systematic Change Award each year to an individual, team or organization that breaks down systemic bias and addresses organizational barriers to inclusion and equity in the workplace as part of its annual CADIA Impact Awards.
Gray accepted the award on behalf of Penney and herself during a May 21 award ceremony in Troy, Michigan.
“DENSO strives to be a place where all can succeed,” said Chuntao Ye, president of DMTN and leader of the North America Peace of Mind Business Group at DENSO. “To do that, we must work to help people of all backgrounds feel welcomed, valued, respected and heard. Christine and Haley embody these values, and we are so appreciative of their efforts.”
Victoria White of DENSO Manufacturing Athens Tennessee, Inc., won a CADIA Impact award for Creating Inclusive Cultures in 2022 and former DENSO Manufacturing Michigan, Inc., team member Christina Khim earned runner up honors in 2023.
To explore opportunities at a leading manufacturer committed to supporting the needs of its team members, visit densocareers.com.
About DENSO
Globally headquartered in Kariya, Japan, DENSO is a $47.9 billion leading mobility supplier that develops advanced technology and components for nearly every vehicle make and model on the road today. With manufacturing at its core, DENSO invests in around 180 facilities worldwide to provide opportunities for rewarding careers and to produce cutting-edge electrification, powertrain, thermal and mobility electronics products, among others, that change how the world moves. In developing such solutions, the company’s 158,000 global employees are paving the way to a mobility future that improves lives, eliminates traffic accidents, and preserves the environment. DENSO spent around 8.6 percent of its global consolidated sales on research and development in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. For more information about DENSO’s operations worldwide, visit https://www.denso.com/global/en/.
In North America, DENSO is headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, and employs 27,000+ team members across nearly 50 sites in the U.S, Canada and Mexico. In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, DENSO in North America generated $12.5 billion in consolidated sales. To learn more about DENSO operations in the region and explore career opportunities, please visit https://www.denso.com/us-ca/en/.