The SIAM team continues to expand with our newest addition, Aaron Zacharia, as SIAM’s first Human Resources Manager.
Aaron joins SIAM after leaving a Warehouse Operations Manager position at McMaster-Carr Industrial Supply Co. He graduated from Lehigh University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and industrial psychology. Though industrial psychology lends itself to HR, after college, Aaron utilized his engineering degree in a rotational leadership program with General Electric. For three and a half years, he worked on the manufacturing of gas and steam powered turbines before leaving to pursue a managerial experience at McMaster-Carr. Most recently, he earned his master’s degree in organizational dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania in May 2023.
In this role, Aaron manages the entire employee life cycle including recruiting new hires, performance evaluations, benefits administration, onboarding and offboarding, employee relations, policy implementation, and employment law compliance.
Get to Know Aaron
Q: Why are you excited to be working at SIAM?
A: It has been an amazing experience working in Human Resources (HR) for SIAM so far. I would describe my management style as an empathetic leader who puts people first. Now that I am in SIAM’s HR department, I get to help foster environments where people can truly thrive.
Q: What part of SIAM’s mission statement do you connect with?
A: I strongly believe that there are so many problems in the world that can be solved with better solutions, and I believe applied mathematics along with engineering and science can help solve some of our toughest issues. The first that comes to mind is food scarcity. The world’s population is continuously growing, and it is thanks to advancement in farming science that have allowed food production to keep up with current demands.
Q: Why do you think STEM is important?
A: STEM is important because some of the world’s most critical problems are actively being worked on by those in STEM. We just survived a global pandemic with COVID-19. It is thanks to scientists and researchers who were able to create a vaccine that helped us get this virus under control.
Q: What is one thing that most people do not know about you?
A: I am a dual citizen between the U.S. and Canada. I was born in Edmonton, Alberta.