Medtronic exec elected to elite post

Article by: JANET MOORE , Star Tribune
Updated: February 17, 2010 - 9:06 PM

Election to National Academy of Engineering was "a complete surprise."

Rebecca Bergman

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When Rebecca Bergman was a high school student in Allentown, Pa., she found her math and science courses "incredibly exciting."

So it's no surprise she chose a career in biomedical engineering. This week, that choice proved especially rewarding when the Medtronic Inc. executive was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, considered one of the highest distinctions in the profession.

Bergman, 53, vice president of new therapies and diagnostics in Medtronic's Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management business, was among 68 members elected to the engineering academy, part of the prestigious National Academies. The news came as "a complete surprise," she said Wednesday. "I am so thrilled."

Bergman has spent 23 years in various science and engineering positions at the Fridley-based medical technology giant. She's also the mother of four children, now ages 17 to 24.

She received her engineering degree from Princeton University and completed graduate work in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota.

Bergman graduated from Princeton in 1978, just five years after the Ivy League institution's first coed class graduated, and she was one of the few female students in the Engineering Department.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 1.6 million engineers in the United States -- but the National Academy of Engineering has just 2,267 members, all elected by their peers. Among the new members announced this week: Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke, as well as engineers from NASA, Harvard, Stanford and Brown, plus top companies such as Ford and IBM. Medtronic co-founder Earl Bakken and retired Vice President Paul Citron are also members.

As rewarding as her career has been so far, Bergman believes the future in biomedical engineering is just as promising. "The sky is the limit,'' she said Wednesday.

Janet Moore • 612-673-7752