Kelli Vallieres, president and chief executive of Sound Manufacturing Inc. in Old Saybrook, has been elected the second president of the Eastern Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, following in the footsteps of founding leader Raymond Coombs Jr.

Vallieres said Monday that she appreciates Coombs' direction as he took the reins of the Quinebaug Manufacturing Institute and then brought a group of southeastern Connecticut manufacturers under his wing, forming the EAMA two years ago. The alliance has helped local businesses gain more traction in getting the state to align educational programs with manufacturing needs.

"He's a hard act to follow," Vallieres said in a phone interview Monday. "Ray has had a profound impact on eastern Connecticut since he founded EAMA."

Now that several of Coombs' major priorities have come to fruition with a solid alliance between manufacturers and local community colleges, he decided to step down to EAMA vice president, which will give him more time to run his business, Westminster Tools Inc. of Plainfield.

"I'm going to be driving you guys crazy in a different manner," Coombs vowed during the EAMA's annual meeting last week. "We've done a lot this year, guys, we've done a ton. ... Manufacturing in Connecticut is a really hot topic."

Among EAMA's priorities for the coming year are increasing awareness of manufacturing as a career, improvements in manufacturing education and the reinstatement of EAMA scholarships. The alliance currently has 46 member companies, which is about a 50 percent increase from last year's numbers.

Major accomplishments of last year included EAMA's sponsorship of a video contest "What's So Cool About Manufacturing" that invited local schools into local manufacturing sites for an inside look. Eleven schools visited 13 manufacturers as part of the program, which significantly increased hits to EAMA's website.

EAMA also had a big hand in the announcement that Connecticut’s community colleges won a federally funded $15 million Connecticut Advanced Manufacturing Initiative grant to expand  manufacturing training by offering high school students a free associate's degree program.

Vallieres, who has a background in education, said she was particularly excited about focusing on the skill-building aspect of manufacturing training.

"We're looking for the community colleges to be the backbone of that classroom component," she said. "We have an aging workforce. We need to replace retired employees but also need to build up to meet demand."

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow