FIRST Welcomes John Deere CTO Jahmy Hindman to Executive Advisory Board
Technology Executive from FIRST Strategic Partner John Deere Brings Leadership in Advanced Technology and Engineering to PreK-12 Nonprofit Executive Advisory Board
MANCHESTER, N.H., July 8, 2021 – FIRST®, an international not-for-profit organization with the mission to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators, today announced the appointment of Jahmy J. Hindman, Chief Technology Officer, Deere & Company, to the FIRST Executive Advisory Board (EAB).
Hindman brings guidance to the FIRST EAB from one of the PreK-12 nonprofit’s most dedicated supporters. He joined John Deere, a FIRST Strategic Partner, in 1996 as a test engineer working on backhoes and crawlers and rose over two decades at the company to executive leadership while also personally mentoring FIRST teams and helping to advocate for FIRST support at Deere.
As a FIRST Strategic Partner, John Deere has supported the international FIRST community in many ways over the years, from involvement by the hundreds of employees who serve as mentors, coaches, and event volunteers to financial sponsorship of teams globally. Most recently, John Deere increased its footprint and employee involvement in Germany. “We’re deeply fortunate to have Jahmy’s leadership on our Executive Advisory Board,” said Erica Newton Fessia, Vice President of Global Field Operations, FIRST. “We are eager to work together to inspire the next generation of leaders and innovators.”
Deere & Company provides advanced products and services to customers whose work is linked to the land – those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich, and build upon the land to meet the world's dramatically increasing need for food, fuel, shelter, and infrastructure. Through the John Deere Foundation, Deere invests in Bold Commitments to help lives leap forward. The Foundation prioritizes its education work by providing underserved youth with inclusive and equitable access to opportunities through programs like FIRST or other STEM related organizations.
As a FIRST sponsor, John Deere began involvement in 2011 by supporting 45 teams in the United States and grew its support over the years, becoming a FIRST Strategic Partner in 2017. Today, Deere supports hundreds of FIRST teams in its global home communities, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, Argentina, France, and Germany through team grants and deeply engaged employee volunteers. John Deere has also been a long-time sponsor of the FIRST Global Innovation Awards, which inspires youth to be the next generation of innovators.
The FIRST Executive Advisory Board is made up of a cross-section of individuals from business, industry, academia, and sciences whose role it is to provide advice, work on special projects, and interact directly with FIRST staff and the Board of Directors. Learn more about FIRST Leadership.
More information about Hindman is included in his bio below:
Jahmy J. Hindman, Chief Technology Officer, Deere & Company
Jahmy Hindman is Chief Technology Officer of Deere & Company, a position he has held since July 2020. In this role, Jahmy is responsible for building Deere's “tech stack,” the company’s intuitive end-to-end equipment solution made up of hardware and devices, embedded software, connectivity, data platforms, and applications. He will lead the company’s Intelligent Solutions Group, the global network of technology/innovations centers, and the shared engineering function.
Working in both the Agricultural & Turf and Construction & Forestry divisions, Jahmy brings more than 20 years of advance technology, artificial intelligence, product engineering, and manufacturing experience to the role. Most recently, Jahmy led the engineering team for Deere’s flagship product line.
His previous leadership assignments include Global Manager, Architectures, Systems and Modules; platform architect for the tractor product lines; Manager, Large Tractor Chassis; general manager and engineering manager at Deere’s construction-equipment factory in Tianjin, China; product marketing manager and engineering supervisor for four-wheel-drive construction loaders. He joined John Deere in 1996 as a test engineer working on backhoes and crawlers.
Jahmy holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University as well as master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. His doctorate focused on the application of artificial neural networks in heavy-equipment applications. Jahmy currently sits on the Industrial Advisory Council for Iowa State University’s College of Engineering.
About FIRST®
FIRST® is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages 4-18 (PreK-12) that can be facilitated in school or in structured afterschool programs. An international not-for-profit organization founded by accomplished inventor Dean Kamen in 1989, FIRST has a proven impact on STEM learning, interest, and skill-building well beyond high school. Boosted by a global support system of mentors, coaches, volunteers, alumni, and sponsors that include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies, teams operate under a signature set of FIRST Core Values to conduct research, fundraise, design, and build robots, then compete and celebrate at local, regional, and international events. High school students are eligible for more than $80 million in college scholarships. Learn more at firstinspires.org.