Part 1: Why Women in Reliability Matters Now More Than Ever

Reliability has always been about more than assets and uptime. It is about people. As maintenance and reliability organizations face growing complexity, workforce challenges, and rapid change, the industry is being asked to rethink who leads, how teams are built, and what good work really look like.

That is why, at Xcelerate 2026, we are proud to host our first-ever Women in Reliability panel. This conversation brings together women working across reliability and maintenance roles to share practical, real‑world perspective from the floor. The focus is not on comparing women to men, but on what becomes visible when professionals closest to the work are heard, especially in male‑dominated industrial environments where certain operational perspectives are often underrepresented.

Front‑line reliability professionals experience failure differently than those who only see it through reports or dashboards. They notice early warning signs, workarounds that become normalized, and gaps between documented processes and how work actually gets done. Reliability failures rarely start with major events. They usually begin with small signals that are easy to miss.

Many practitioners on this panel have built credibility in environments where their work needed to speak for itself. That often leads to a strong reliance on data, documentation, and evidence‑based decision making. In reliability, letting the evidence lead is a performance advantage.
This panel highlights how diverse operational experiences help reduce blind spots and improve outcomes. The behaviors discussed are not about gender. They are about high‑performance reliability practices that support safer, more resilient operations.

Aligned to Xcelerate’s Pillars

• Connection: Strong reliability teams are built on trust, collaboration, and shared ownership across roles.
• Resilience: Diverse leadership strengthens organizations’ ability to adapt, respond, and sustain performance.
• Intelligence: Experience-led insight, paired with data, drives better decisions and better outcomes.

Meet the Women in Reliability Panel

Niccolette Hyland – Moderator
Global ABM Marketing Manager, eMaint
Niccolette Hyland is a marketing leader with a passion for advancing women in marketing and technology. She brings more than 10 years of experience in traditional coding and web design roles, fields historically dominated by men, along with five years of people leadership experience. Niccolette holds an MBA in Marketing and Leadership from Gonzaga University and is deeply committed to creating space for diverse voices in technical and industrial industries.

Vickie Hale
Maintenance System Administrator, Atlas Roofing
Vickie Hale serves as the Maintenance System Administrator for Atlas Roofing’s Molded Products Division, where she supports maintenance systems across 14 locations. She has been with the division for six years and plays a key role in driving system standardization and adoption. In 2023, Vickie led a plant implementation that earned the Best eMaint Development Award, reflecting strong user adoption and data-driven maintenance practices. She also partnered with a her teams to integrate eMaint with PeopleSoft ERP, a first for the division. Vickie enjoys sharing knowledge, supporting others, and is currently working toward CRL certification.

Jenn Kilpatrick
Corporate CMMS Business Owner, Columbia Forest Products
Jenn Kilpatrick is an experienced Corporate CMMS Business Owner specializing in maintenance systems and asset management strategy. She works closely with cross-functional teams to improve reliability, reduce downtime, and align maintenance programs with business objectives. Jenn began her CMMS career in 1998 and founded a consulting practice in 2009, supporting organizations such as Boston Logan Airport, Altria, and Ecolab. In 2022, she joined Columbia Forest Products to lead the implementation of eMaint X5 across 11 mills. Jenn holds a Certified Professional Maintenance Manager credential and currently serves as a regional AFE Board President. She is passionate about collaboration, innovation, and turning process and technology into measurable results.

Kim Cipollina
Senior Major Accounts Customer Success Manager, eMaint
Kim Cipollina is a Sr. Customer Success Manager with three years of experience helping organizations optimize their use of eMaint CMMS. She partners with customers to align maintenance strategies with corporate KPIs, maximize ROI, and drive measurable results.
Previously, Kim supported Connected Reliability initiatives at Fluke Reliability, specializing in predictive maintenance technologies such as vibration monitoring. She is a certified Level 2 Vibration Analyst and brings a strong technical foundation and collaborative approach to every engagement.

Nikki Smith
Maintenance Systems Manager, Lineage Logistics
Nikki Smith is the Maintenance Systems Manager at Lineage Logistics, where she leads the rollout and standardization of the X5 CMMS platform across North America. She has more than 17 years of experience in the cold storage industry, beginning her career at Versacold Logistics prior to its acquisition by Lineage. After earning her Refrigeration Operator Certificate from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, Nikki transitioned into engineering and developed a passion for building scalable, structured maintenance programs. Today, she works closely with site teams to simplify systems, improve reliability, and turn maintenance data into practical decision-making tools. She is known for bringing structure, energy, and humor to complex operational challenges.

Join the Conversation at Xcelerate

The Women in Reliability panel is an open conversation about leadership, impact, and building stronger reliability teams together. Whether you work in maintenance, operations, engineering, IT, or leadership, this session is designed to leave you with practical insight you can apply right away.

📍 Attend the Women in Reliability session at Xcelerate in Austin
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