Winners 2021

Barbara’s rapid elevation through the auto industry began in 2012 when she joined Jaguar Land Rover as a purchasing manager from utilities firm Severn Trent Water. She rose to business development manager within manufacturing after a stint helping JLR expand its manufacturing to Brazil. After a year spent in purchasing at Dyson’s cancelled electric car programme, Barbara moved to Lotus in 2020 where she’s now in charge of a £37 million budget overseeing projects directly related to manufacturing, in particular for the new Emira sports car. In less than a year she has impressed her boss, manufacturing engineering director Charlie Overton, who cites her resolution of an issue surrounding key in-house manufactured parts, praising her “dogged persistence” in helping solve it.