Illinois Tool Works Inc.

The Asian Professionals Engagement Network (APEN) was first envisioned by Sharon Lin, a senior strategic sourcing analyst at ITW Corporate and one of the co-chairs for APEN, in the spring of 2021 after the U.S. saw an uptick in violent crime against Asian-Americans since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, in conjunction with AAPI Heritage Month, ITW marks the start of a brand-new employee resource group (ERG) designed to appreciate and celebrate the accomplishments of our colleagues who identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian, and/or other Pacific Islander.

To help create APEN, Lin initially put out a call to action in November 2021 to 27 colleagues across ITW’s seven segments to see if there was interest in starting this ERG.