Michelle Witthun

MichelleMeet Michelle Witthun

Michelle Witthun is a Sr. Graphic Design Specialist at Yaskawa. She recently shared some insights on her tenure with us.

I was hired at MagneTek on June 12, 1989. I was scared to death. The company seemed so big to me – so many people! My past companies were very small – under 25 employees. I started as an administrative assistant for Tom Doll, also working with John Steiner and Ed Butte. I thought I'd stay about 3 years and move on.

When I started, only admin people had computers (am I really THAT old – shoot!). At the time, Marketing Communications (Marcom) had one Macintosh computer and I was the backup person who was selected to help create presentations using Aldus Persuasion. I fell in love with the Macintosh, Adobe software and MarCom. I saw what they were doing in that department and knew I wanted to switch jobs. Lucky for me, I was able to do just that. I worked for Al Hubing and Ken Gniot, who mentored me with some on the job training. I also attended classes and other training – I loved learning new software. What a geek! I was fortunate to move into Marcom, they believed in me! That is when I knew I would stay longer than 3 years.

I don’t think you can find a better work environment. My co-workers are all pretty awesome. I think MagneTek/Yaskawa has done a great job hiring people who meld together very well. I feel like we are one big happy family. I’ve been able to establish real friendships, as well as professional relationships. I feel the company treats their employees very well. Now, with almost 29 years under my belt, I can't imagine I'd find something better elsewhere - it never crossed my mind to look either.

And as they say, the rest is history!