Female Leader Engineer

Hi everyone! My name is Clara Wernelind and today you will get to know me and what I do at KONE. I was an FLE participant back in 2018 and after 2,5 years at another FLE-partner company I joined the KONE Family.

So I started my journey at KONE back in 2022 as a Maintenance Supervisor. Where I was
responsible for overseeing the operations of the central Stockholm district. I was managing a team of 12 maintenance technicians, supporting them in their daily work, making sure they had what they needed to be able to deliver on our service promise to customers.

Since February this year, I returned after one year of parental leave to a new role at KONE. So today I work as a project manager in the Nordic Strategy, Transformation & Marketing team. Follow along in the stories where I tell you more about what that means and why I love working at KONE.

Quick facts about me:
- 33 years old lives in Sundbyberg with my family 👨‍👩‍👦
Mom to Walter 1 years old (who loves to ride the elevator) 🛗
- M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering from Luleå Tekniska University 👩‍🎓
- When I’m not at the office you can usually catch me on the mountain ⛷️ (here I am with 3 other FLE alumni that I got to know during my time in the program)

✨ Hi! 👋 I’m Sara Hermansson, Senior Vice President and Head of Scania Power Solutions.
 
My so called ”career” has been filled on ups and down but no regrets. My journey started at Scania through the Student Intro program, followed by the Female Leader Engineer trainee program; and I won the award in 2012. In 2014, I founded Female Leader Engineer together with three other winners, in my kitchen on a snowy January evening.  So it is amazing it is still alive and developing so well 12 years later 💪❤️
 
I joined Scania as a design engineer for customized trucks. Such a uncool title after such a cool program… yes I had issues with it. But(!) I loved what the job contained. I was responsible to develop a complete new fuel system for LNG and that on the other hand was supercool!! Later I started as a manager for hybrid and electric powertrain projects in R&D. I was in chock I got a job that I applied for but didn’t fulfill even half of the criteria’s: so lesson learned ALWAYS apply for the job you want, don’t filter out yourself!
 
Finally I left Scania in 2017 (picture #2 is me handing in my card in 2017) to join this strange startup building a battery factory in Europe. This guy called Peter Carlsson had reached out to me and I felt: why not give it a try? What is the worst thing that can happen?
 
Northvolt years lasted five intense years — the highest highs and the lowest lows. I joined when we were 20 people and left when we were 5000, with the first cells produced in 2022. During that time I went through a severe burnout and became a mom of two — a true rollercoaster. Northvolt felt like one of my babies, so even after I left, its bankruptcy was emotional.
A highlight, though, was when Scania acquired part of Northvolt — now Scania Industrial Batteries — and I got to welcome several people I hired back in 2017–2018. One of the coolest moments of my career. ✨Picture # 3 is from when our CEO visited their facility in Tomteboda right after our official launch in September last year.

Hi everyone! My name is Hannah Rosell and I work as a Development Engineer within fuel measurement technology at Scania, part of TRATON R&D 🌈 My journey here started thanks to Female Leader Engineer 2024 — an experience that expanded my network, exposed me to different leadership styles and gave me the opportunity to learn from an incredible group of talented, inspiring participants.

Sustainability and continuous innovation have always been passions of mine, which led me to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering for Energy and Environment at KTH. Those same passions also connected me to Scania. The company’s strong values, leadership principles and commitment to long‑term research and development really resonated with me, something I would not have discovered without FLE opening that door 🌱

One of my favorite memories from my time at Scania so far is the onboarding day for new employees. It is arranged several times a year and you get to meet colleagues from all corners of the organization, visit a production unit and, the highlight, drive trucks and buses yourself. It is hard to beat the feeling of sitting behind the wheel of a heavy vehicle for the first time 🚚

Today, I work closely with the internal combustion engine test cells, developing fuel measurement technologies based on evolving engine needs and future emission regulations 🧪 I love the mix of hands‑on work, data analysis, project management and problem‑solving — no day is the same.