Katie Merrill : Council of Early Career Engineers - 2021

Katie Merrill grew up in Hillsboro, Oregon, and as a Beaver fan from an early age, she was very excited to attend Oregon State University. She spent her freshman year studying business and rowing, then learned about the College of Engineering over the summer between her first and second year at the university. Industrial engineering piqued her interest, and she decided to double major in finance and industrial engineering. Merrill considers her time studying engineering to be “one of the best decisions that I have ever made.” She learned how to think critically and collaborate to solve complex problems. Earning that major opened the door to her future career at The Boeing Company. Shortly after beginning her studies in engineering, Katie attended an on-campus career fair and met a Boeing manager, which brought her to an internship on the company’s 787 program. Her enthusiasm for aerospace and engineering blossomed as she supported the mechanics in the Everett factory. This work experience led to two additional internships at Boeing and, after graduating from Oregon State, she was admitted into the two-year Business Career Foundation Program with rotations across finance, operations and strategy in Seattle and Washington, D.C. Over the last four years, Merrill has worked as a strategist in both the Commercial Airplane and Corporate Divisions of Boeing. She feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from and support a wide variety of teams, while working on projects that will help shape the future of Boeing. Katie recently completed her MBA at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, married and relocated to Washington, D.C. from Chicago. She enjoys volunteering at a therapeutic horseback riding facility and looks forward to growing a garden at her new home.