McWane names Lea Ann Hjetland Vice President, Health and Safety

Lea Ann Hjetland joins McWane as Vice President, Health and Safety. She brings more than 24 years of experience shaping enterprise safety strategy, with a focus on positively elevating safety culture and sustainably reducing risk in complex, high-hazard operations across global manufacturing, heavy industrial, utility and supply chain industries.

“McWane has a strong commitment to safety, and I’m excited to build on that foundation through collaboration, learning, and continuous improvement. I’m passionate about partnering with employees, leaders, and safety teams across the organization to share what we’re learning, recognize what’s working, and identify opportunities to keep getting better,” she said. “Together, we can continue strengthening a culture where safety is owned at every level and every employee is supported and empowered to go home safe every day.”

Prior to joining McWane in 2026, she served as the Director – HSE, North America at CHEP, a global supply chain solutions company where she led HSE strategy across 17 service centers. There she directed the company’s HOP implementation to advance safety culture through employee engagement.

Lea Ann began her safety career in large-scale power generation and distribution at Southern Company and Alabama Power Company where she advanced Human & Organizational Performance (HOP) across multiple business units while coaching senior leaders for a multi-year culture transformation strategy. She then joined corrugated packaging company WestRock, where she led enterprise safety governance across operations in North America and Europe.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in occupational safety and health management from Murray State University. She is a Certified Safety Professional. In 2026 she was named Most Influential Woman in Safety by global safety forum Safety on the Edge.