For more than 70 years, generations of families have been working for GE Appliances in Louisville, and in fact, several can trace their history even further back than that. Please post your families' story and photo in the comments below.

Walter Pozgay, Senior Manager, Engineering Lab

For Walter Pozgay, his family legacy with appliances started with his grandfather, Stephen Pozgay, who worked for the GE Microwave Division at GE Electronics Park in New York where they designed, sold, and built television stations throughout the mid-west.

His father-in-law, John Hill, also worked at Appliance Park where he spent most of his years working on stamping presses in AP1, but also spent time in paint, AP10 and his last five years were spent driving the train in the "Back 40" or what people call the buildings behind the five main production buildings at the Park. Mr. Hill retired in the mid-1990's after 34 years of service.

The Pozgay tradition lives on at GEA, not only through Walt, but through his daughter Clara who works in AP2 as a Contract Testing Technician in the Electronics Lab since 2021.

Walt has supported a variety of product lines ensuring the quality of our product over his career in roles such as a Quality Test Engineer, Lab Manager – Cooking, Air Conditioning, Water Heater, Refrigeration and Ship Test.

Jordan Julius, Senior Advanced Manufacturing Engineer and Christian Julius, Supply Chain Development Program

In third grade, Jordan Julius toured Appliance Park with her classmates. Fast forward many years, and she joined the Advanced Manufacturing Engineering team. Her uncle, Alan Butler, spent much of his career in Advanced Manufacturing Engineering too before retiring recently. The family tradition continues as Jordan's brother, William "Christian" Julius, has been a co-op and recently joined the Supply Chain Development Program.

Sean Simpson, Mechanical Engineering Development Program

Sean Simpson's mother Patricia Simpson is also a graduate of the Edison Engineering Development Program. She graduated from Clemson University in 1986 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and joined the Edison Program through GE Armament Systems in Burlington, Vermont. She graduated Edison in 1990 with a Masters in Electrical Engineering and continued to work for GE (Armaments, Fanuc, and Transportation) for 22 years. She received the GE Women in Engineering Award in 2006 and inspired Sean to pursue a path in engineering. Sean is graduating from the Edison Program and ready to start his career at GEA!

Samantha Brockman, Edison Engineering Program and Sherry Brockman, Principal Program/Project Manager for Cooking

Sherry Brockman, currently works at GEA in the Cooking Technology Organization. She started in 1992 as a Design Engineer for dishwashers and has been in Cooking for nearly 27 years of her 31 years. Samantha Brockman is currently an Edison Engineer and began her career in 2022 But their family story goes beyond the two of them.

"In the early 1960’s, my Papaw, Harold Payne (my mom’s father and pictured holding Samantha), began working at Appliance Park as an operator on the line and moved around to various roles until he retired in late 1992," said Samantha. "My mom also had two uncles and multiple cousins work at Appliance Park. My mom began working at GE after graduating with her Master’s Degree in Engineering from UofL Speed School and was attracted to the company because it had a great reputation for opportunity, being a creative company and was recognized as a great place to work by current employees."

Samantha had a similar experience. "I learned [from mom] that GEA had a lot of great opportunities and did some really cool and innovative stuff because I attended the Bring Your Child to Work Days that were hosted at Appliance Park while I was in middle school. That experience combined with the learning opportunities provided through the Edison program, I knew that I would be able to gain experience in multiple different role types and product lines."

Zouza Al Chalabi, Edison Engineer and Arvid Roach, Senior Industrial Designer

Zouza Al Chalabi joined the company on the Edison Engineering program in 2022. A few months later her husband, Arvid Roach, joined GEA's Industrial Design Operation (IDO). This husband and wife duo uses each other's strengths and knowledge to do an even better job at work.

"As a mechanical engineer and industrial designer, respectively, we help fill in each other’s knowledge gaps and share different perspectives on how to solve problems," said Zouza. "Our overlapping networks allow us to reach across disciplines and facilitate new connections. We also enjoy carpooling together and the convenience of having the same work schedule. Our favorite moments at work are when we learn from each other. We aspire to bring our different teams closer together because we recognize the power of a shared vision.”

Kyle Brandewie, Dishwasher Design Engineer and Joseph Brandewie, Edison Engineer

Brothers Kyle and Joseph Brandewie have found GEA to be a good fit.

"I came to GEA for two main reasons," said Kyle. "The first is that I had two great co-ops while in college - in AP5 with Steve Paul, and in AP2 with Dusty Henderson. Both of my co-op assignment leaders were great role models, and took a lot of time out of their day to guide me in my roles. The second reason was that I loved the idea of the Edison program. Attending classes taught by experts around the company, while also working full time in six-month rotations sounded like it would be a great experience (which it was). I think the Edison program is one of the best things we do at GEA, and my time in it led me to encourage my brother Joseph to apply to the program as well!"

"I started working at GEA in the Fall of 2019 after my freshman year at Rose-Hulman," said Joseph. "I really enjoyed the people I worked with as well as the work environment that was geared towards learning. My boss, Karen Edberg, always encouraged me to ask all the questions I had and to sign up for all the Week-of-Learning classes that interested me. During that time, I lived with my brother, and we had a blast. We enjoy hiking, running, and talking about different podcasts we’re listening to such as Huberman Lab. The Edison program was an easy sell from Kyle to me. Learning how different parts of GE Appliances operate while obtaining a Master’s degree sounded like quite the deal. I’ve enjoyed it so far and encourage any co-ops reading this to apply!"