Zella McBerty

Zella McBerty (née Helwick; 1879 24 May 1937), was an American businesswoman and engineer, a “better mechanic than any of the other men that she worked with” at Packard Electric. McBerty held the position of chief financial officer of the company and represented it internationally at conferences. In 1923 article the New Castle (Pa.) Herald, commented that “when you hear Mrs. McBerty talk ohms and amperes as well as any electrical engineer, there’s hardly a business realm that a capable woman cannot invade.”

McBerty was also one of very few women to be members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

She died of a heart attack on 24 May 1937 at the age of 58.