Estelle and Finn jacket, $300, and dress, $325, both at Glasscock/Glasscock Too.
Cinthy Fanning: Vice President, GE Appliances, a Haier Company
Written by Dawn Anderson, Rocko Jerome and Taylor Riley | Photographed on location at the Frazier History Museum by Kylene White | Styled by Christine Fellingham and Melissa Gagliardi | Hair and makeup by Sarah Allen, Kassandra Cazares Aldana, Kayla Greenwell, Breanna Peters and Michaela Reeves
The field narrowed from over 400 nominations to 89 nominees and finally to the 16 award winners you will meet on the following pages. Representing each of their categories with distinction, your 2023 Most Admired Women bring humility, grace and a great capacity for change to their roles as leaders in our community. We asked each of them to reflect on how they got to this moment, what your votes and this award means to them and where their journeys might take them from here.
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“The most important thing to me is that I’m able to make a difference for people,” says Cynthia “Cinthy” Fanning, Vice President of Kitchen Clean Up at GE Appliances. Over decades, she has provided tremendous experience in several different areas and played many roles, today finding herself a mentor to many, both formally and informally. “The most satisfying thing for me is helping others to be successful,” she says. “I hope that will be my legacy– that I gave back and made a difference.”
A sense of community has always been important to Cinthy. “The support I receive allows me to give back,” she says. “There are so many different ways to do that, and GE Appliances has always had this as a core value. We are encouraged to find our passions and follow them.” For her, this includes attending a downtown church where the mission is to help unhoused people, being on the Board of Family Scholar House, and being a member of the Tocqueville Society. “I hope that a spirit of community will be something my middle school-aged son will also love to embrace. He is my hope and joy for the future.”
“The most satisfying thing for me is helping others to be successful, I hope that will be my legacy– that I gave back and made a difference.”
Making her way through by making her own way at GEA has been a constant for Cynthia. “If I took the jobs on the path that was at one time prescribed, I’d not have a job today, because those old jobs no longer exist,” she reflects. “The bottom line is that a fast-paced environment requires evolution. Embracing change is absolutely a necessity. From my experience, leaning into uncharted territory is not only required, but fun.”
Cynthia’s evolution was from tech to sales to quality to product management. Ever since her first day in 1990, when she started at GE Appliances, the job has never been the same day-to-day, which was both exciting and challenging for her. “You just can’t let things get by you. There’s that quote from Wayne Gretzky about skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been,” she says. “Resiliency and risk are always key factors in getting to where you want to be.”
Applying her rural Iowa upbringing working on her parents’ farms into action, Cinthy’s commitment to excellence carries great weight, especially in building upon the things that set the GEA culture apart. She’s no stranger to getting her hands dirty– she’s worked on the assembly line in the factory when needed, even as the leader of the microenterprise. “We have an imperative to focus on the marketplace and putting that over and above any internal politics. It’s a unique culture that we’ve cultivated, much less stuffy than you might expect. It’s designed to make people feel as valued and important as they truly are,” she says. “Looking at what we have here, the GEA plant is like a microcosm of Louisville. It’s not faceless, not just a big machine; it’s real people working together to keep improving. There are real leaders here, and they’re improving every day. This is a place where individuals at every level can contribute and can be entrepreneurial. This company acts like a startup with big, fresh ideas. Everyone at GEA does their part, and in turn, I’m just very happy to be a part.” — Rocko Jerome
