Lisa’s career trajectory: As a child growing up in North Carolina, Lisa Lunsford toyed with the idea of being a writer. She decided instead to pursue a more lucrative degree in medicine from Bennett College, a historically Black women’s college in North Carolina. When she learned she had greater aptitude for and a love of chemistry, she switched tracks.

When meeting with a recruiter from Ford Motor Co., Lunsford fell in love with the hum of the plant, she said. She started as a research and development engineer in the plastics division and was program manager in the F150 design center when she left nine years later.

With her brother, she started i-Thinc LLC, an ISOQ organization and warehousing software company. Eventually, she pivoted and began doing more network design and architecture development software for companies.

Then she met Robert Gruschow, president of both the Deshler Group and Feblo International, and everything changed. The pair launched GS3 Global in 2010, offering supply chain management and integrated logistics services. In 2011, GS3 won an assembly project with FCA. By 2012, the company was officially a tier-one supplier.

“Our influence is felt when we’re building better teams and better leaders, when everyone feels that they have a stake in the result, and we do that by always operating in a way that ensures that everyone’s contribution is valued.”

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