Feature Focus: Nancy Gougarty – “I Always Wanted to Make Things”

As Westport’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Nancy Gougarty focuses on leading Westport on a path to profitability. We’re taking a look at what put her on the path to leadership at Westport.

When Nancy joined the Westport team in August, she brought with her 35 years of experience in the automotive industry, with multinational public companies such as Delphi, General Motors and TRW Automotive Corporation. Her key areas of success in operations and international product sales at these companies made her the perfect fit for the job.

Her path to engineering success started with her education at the University of Cincinnati where she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in industrial management.

“I always wanted to make things,” she says.

Her career began in 1978 when she started with General Motors’ Packard Electric Division, first as an industrial engineer and later in various roles in application engineering, finance, operations, sales and engineering. 

In 1997 she became the Managing Director for General Motors’ joint venture in Shanghai, after which she spent three years leading Delphi’s largest account as Global Account Director at General Motors. She went on to become the Vice President for Delphi Automotive Systems, Japan and Korea.

“I always worked in long-standing automotive companies that were, for example 100 years old,” she says. “I know what it’s going to take to walk us down that path to reach maturity.”

Nancy Gougarty: "I know what it's going to take to walk us down that path to reach maturity."

Based at the Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai, China for TRW, she oversaw the operations of more than 30 plants in the region. Nancy also directed the development and implementation of strategic and operational plans and worked to enhance strategic relationships with customers and joint venture partners in the region.

Five months into her tenure as President and COO, her focus is on ensuring customers are happy with Westport’s products and service.

“Keeping a customer happy is a series of happy experiences,” she says. “I am an advocate for our company to our suppliers and technical partners and I am focused on making sure we execute to perfection every day.”

Nancy’s career has taken her overseas to Asia, and back to North America, but in all of her positions she’s strived for and achieved profitability and success.

“What I enjoy most about Westport is that the people are very passionate about natural gas – they’re not here just doing a job”, she says. “They’re passionate about the technology and the natural gas industry. It bubbles through in their energy.”