Sherri McCleary is Executive Director of Penn State's Digital Foundry, where she has led the center since 2020 as a regional innovation hub and a national model for advancing manufacturing through technology adoption and workforce development. With 38 years of experience as an executive leader, engineer, and innovator, she has worked across aerospace, defense, automotive, commercial transportation, and energy sectors.

Before joining Penn State, Sherri spent more than 30 years at Alcoa/Arconic, where she held senior leadership roles including Director of Research & Development and Vice President of Technologies & Operations for Alcoa Defense Inc. In these positions, she led work across advanced materials, engineered surfaces, computational modeling, automation, and additive manufacturing. She also served as Director of the Additive Manufacturing Business at Kennametal, where she launched a business unit focused on 3D printing for high-performance industrial materials. Her work has earned numerous U.S. and international patents, publications, corporate honors, and an R&D Magazine Top 100 award.