Passing the torch

A group dedicated to growing the number of women in the trucking industry has undergone a change in leadership.

In January, the Women in Trucking Association announced that Jennifer Hedrick would be assuming the role of president and chief executive officer. She will be taking over for the group’s founder, Ellen Voie, who has served as WIT’s president and CEO for the past 16 years.

“Through WIT’s mission, we have created a community of 8,000 members to advance gender diversity in a male-populated industry,” Voie said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to have an association executive like Jennifer Hedrick, who will continue to advance the critical mission of the association I started 16 years ago.”

With 17 years of association leadership experience, Hedrick has a background in the transportation industry. According to WIT, Hedrick “advocated on behalf of members to create efficiencies throughout the commercial freight transportation network” during her five years leading the National Industrial Transportation League. Before joining that group, Hedrick was the executive director of the Pellet Fuels Institute. In that role, she helped to develop the first national fuel standards program.

Hedrick officially assumed the role on March 16 during the group’s annual board meeting. While she has now handed over the reins, Voie said she will remain with the group through June to assist with the transition.

Hedrick said the decision to join the group as their new leader was an easy one.

“Women in Trucking is such a valuable organization, it has such a strong mission,” Hedrick told Land Line Now. “It’s doing terrific work on behalf of women in the transportation industry and really building and executing efforts to add gender diversity to the trucking industry. And that was really important to me, just the mission and vision alone. But the fact also that it provides such a service not only to women but to society as a whole.”

That mission, according to the WIT website, is to “encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments, and minimize obstacles faced by women working in the industry.” The numbers indicate that work is paying off.

In 2007, when the group was founded, women made up around 3% of the trucking workforce. In 2022, WIT reported that number had grown to 13.7%. Voie says the work of her organization has helped to reshape the way the industry thinks about diversity and inclusion.

“You wouldn’t hear the words diversity, equity and inclusion 16 years ago. You never heard those. Now companies are focused on embracing different groups,” Voie told Land Line Now. “Everything from women to formerly incarcerated individuals to other ethnicities … The industry is saying, ‘you know what? We do need to better understand the needs of these different groups so that we can make them feel welcome and appreciated.’ That’s the biggest difference. Back from 16 years ago, when they said, ‘Oh, we just hire the best person.’”

Over the past 16 years, WIT’s membership has grown to more than 8,000 trucking professionals. To further their mission, the group hosts their annual Accelerate! Conference and Expo. This year’s conference is scheduled for Nov. 5-8 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas.

Additionally, WIT honors drivers during the Salute to Women Behind the Wheel event at MATS every year. Voie says the support WIT has seen from the industry continues to grow.

“If you had told me in 2007 that when I walk into a boardroom I’ve got Amazon, Walmart, Daimler, Great Dane and just some huge names in the industry sitting there as my board of directors, I would have said, ‘Yeah, right!’,” she said. “I think that that’s one of the biggest things that I’ve really appreciated, is that all these large organizations in the trucking industry believe in our mission enough to support us at that level.”

Garnering that support has taken a considerable amount of work from Voie and the rest of the WIT staff. However, those efforts haven’t gone unnoticed, with Voie receiving a number of accolades for her work to diversify the industry.

In 2012, Voie was named a Transportation Innovators Champion of Change by the White House. On top of receiving awards from countless business and industry-related publications, she also is featured on the MATS Wall of Fame. In 2021, she was appointed to a two-year term on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee.

With an abundance of accomplishments in her career, replacing someone like Voie is no easy task.

Hedrick says she knows she has some big shoes to fill.

“It’s an understatement, honestly. Ellen has just done such terrific work, not only in the (transportation) space, but she has become a go-to speaker on issues of gender diversity and has such a depth of knowledge there,” Hedrick said. “She provides energy and excitement to this organization. … So, yes, indeed, I do have big shoes to fill, but I’m certainly thrilled about the opportunity.”

As for Voie, she’ll transition into a more difficult role – full-time grandma. With two granddaughters, and another on the way, she says she’s looking forward to spending more time with family. She also plans to spend more time in the sky, flying her Cessna 172. While she may have big plans for retirement, Voie says she isn’t going to just fade away.

“I plan on staying connected. I mean, there will be speaking opportunities because I’ll always be the founder of Women in Trucking Association. So I anticipate still being out speaking, and probably writing,” she said. “I want to serve on boards as well and use my 44 years of being in the trucking industry to help other organizations. So I’m not going away. I’m just handing over the title.” LL