Malena blazes path at Engel

As Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing turns 10, we're looking back at 10 people who made significant contributions to the industry during the past decade. Read more of our 10 People for 10 Years here.

By Bruce Geiselman

Vanessa Malena was named president of Engel North America in October 2022, an unusual accomplishment for a woman in a male-dominated field.  

“My biggest accomplishment is becoming the first female president in the industry [at a major injection molding machine company],” Malena told Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing shortly after her appointment. “You know, it says a lot for our future. It shows that we’re moving in the right direction and that we’re not just a male-dominated industry anymore.” 

Malena credited her father with instilling in her an interest in how things work, which led her to pursue what — at the time — was an unusual path, as she was the only woman in her engineering classes in college. 

She earned an associate’s degree in mechanical engineering from Naugatuck Valley Technical College, Waterbury, Conn., in 1994, then attended the University of Connecticut. 

“No women were in any of my classes at either the technical college or the University of Connecticut. That was one of the reasons why I left UConn. I felt like a fish out of water there.” 

She developed a passion for the plastics industry during an internship with Wittmann Robot & Automation, which designed automation equipment for the Polaroid camera company. 

“A couple of months in, they took me to Polaroid to see the production, and I finally saw my first molding machine there,” Malena said. “After that, I really understood what plastic injection molding machines did and how the robots interacted with them.” 

After she joined Engel in sales, she credited corporate leaders with seeing her potential and giving her opportunities often not afforded to women. Austria-based Engel is the biggest seller of injection molding machinery in North America.