By Andrew Chang ’26

Patricia Rennert ’99, a pioneer for anyone inspired by her journey, said every student should “change uncertainty to curiosity.” Rennert has proven that doing what seems impossible is possible. Her journey has taken her across multiple institutions, roles, and continents. She has ventured worldwide, stepping into roles she wasn’t expected to fill. 

Immersing herself in unique situations this way propelled her to the top of Porsche AG, making her one of the automotive giant’s few female leaders in the mechanical engineering field. From Porsche, Rennert ventured to a startup in digital transformation in Berlin and fostered an expertise in software development as well as exploring technologies such as various artificial intelligence approaches. Combining those two fields, she rejoined the Volkswagen Group to become the vice president at Cariad, a Volkswagen subsidiary, focusing on building the technology stack for automotive software. 

Adaptability has been the key to Rennert’s ride to the top of the automotive industry.

“I sometimes dive deep into solving a problem and want to find the technological answer, but then again, it’s the big-picture organizational change where you must consider how it affects people. I really do enjoy the versatility of my job.”

Looking back, Rennert said she couldn’t have done it without Mercersburg. Rennert came to south central Pennsylvania from Germany in 1995, allowing her to experience the first of many unique and life-changing endeavors. Being abroad in a different country is something only a few of her peers had experienced. 

“Not being prepared for this and not knowing anyone and trying to master the language, it was just really about coming to
know who you are and staying true to yourself,” Rennert said. “My English was not as good back then as it is now, but I remember saying, ‘It’s overwhelming. It’s overwhelming. It’s overwhelming.’ That’s all I said on my first day.”

With every challenge came a unique opportunity, and Rennert took minimal time seizing each and every one, giving them her all. Some challenges, shared among generations of Mercersburg students, have their way of bringing people together.

“We used to do uphill sprints on Tippetts Hill during track season. It’s not a favorite memory, but it’s a good one. That’s something I remember still, 25 years plus,” said Rennert, reflecting on her earliest high school memories. 

As time passed, she followed in the footsteps of many Mercersburg students before her, discovering passions she never knew she had. “I think one of my favorite classes was chemistry. I enjoyed working in the lab and doing my filtrations,” she said. 

Her exploration and discovery weren’t limited to school borders. She recalls her first U.S. Thanksgiving: “My friend Amy Jones (Satrom) ’98 took me home to her family because I couldn’t go home during that time. She told me to ‘just come along for the ride. It’s my sister’s birthday, and we’re going to celebrate Thanksgiving!’ So I went with her and then really got to experience a Thanksgiving because, in Germany, we don’t celebrate it the same way—or back then, it wasn’t as common.”

Inspired by everything she found possible, Rennert completed her senior project on Balancing Family and Profession for Female Businesswomen. Since then, Rennert has focused on women in STEM, passionately expressing her joy in “empowering people, and especially women, to achieve what they want in a technical field. Female empowerment and not being afraid to pursue a career is important to me.” Unbeknownst to her, she would revisit this passion several times in her career. 

When asked how Mercersburg prepared her for the next stage in life, she said, “Leaving the ’Burg, I think, I was very much rooted in myself. I had been abroad for two years, speaking a different language, getting to know new surroundings and people, and knowing I could lean on myself and trust who I was. That prepared me for ... well, everything that came after, as I still embrace new situations and meet them with curiosity.”

Every pioneer’s long and outstanding journey starts with a single step, and for Rennert, that step was made on the campus of Mercersburg Academy. “Mercersburg taught me how to process knowledge and to find my own way of working—how I need to study, remember things, put things into perspective, and gather the basic approach to work scientifically. The style or how I work (scientifically) and what I need to do to understand something and find my approach for that is what Mercersburg taught me.” 

Andrew Chang ’26 of Kirkland, WA, was an intern in the Communications Office during the fall term.