Finalists Selected for 3rd Annual ‘Distinguished Woman in Logistics’ Award
(PRWEB) February 28, 2017 -- Women In Trucking Association (WIT) has announced the three finalists for the 3rd Annual Distinguished Woman in Logistics award (DWLA) established to promote the achievements of women employed in the North American transportation industry. Finalists for the award include Andra Rush, Karen Duff, and Lacy Starling. The winner will be announced by the DWLA program sponsor, Truckstop.com on behalf of WIT on Friday, April 7, during the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) 2017 “Capital Ideas” Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The award highlights the vital roles of leading women in the dynamic and increasingly influential field of commercial transportation and logistics, which encompasses both logistics service providers as well as motor carriers.
The finalists for the 2017 DWLA award lead businesses or operating units that have achieved significant regional, national and/or global scale and which serve many of the industry’s premier shippers as transportation service providers. Each has demonstrated superior leadership within their company as well as with other professional, educational or philanthropic organizations.
Andra Rush is chair and CEO of Rush Trucking Corporation, CEO and president of Dakkota Integrated Systems, and chair, CEO and president of Detroit Manufacturing Systems. As founder, chair, CEO and president of Rush Group, which owns and operates Rush Trucking, Dakkota and DMS, she leads the largest woman-owned business in Michigan, and one of the largest Native American-owned enterprises in the U.S. Her mission from the very beginning has been to create sustainable job opportunities in underserved communities. In 1984, she borrowed $5,000 from her parents and used her credit cards to launch Rush Trucking Corporation with one van and two pickups. Today, Rush Trucking transports goods for Fortune 100 companies across the U.S. and Canada with 1,100 trucks and 700 drivers.
Karen Duff is the Founder, president and CEO of International Express Trucking, Inc. (IXT), and its family of businesses – IXT, LLC; IXT Leasing, LLC; and National Permit Services, Inc. Her global transportation experience and expertise positions her for success encompassing all facets of the transportation business – import, export, and domestic drayage, brokerage, leasing, permitting and drive away. Today, IXT is the largest woman-owned intermodal drayage business within the six-state Midwest region and has twice been honored with the Kansas Woman-Owned Business of the Year – Distribution in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, IXT received regional recognition as a Top 25 under 25® small business within the Kansas City area.
The daughter of a truck driver and a part-time librarian, Lacy Starling grew up seeing first-hand how the logistics industry affects working-class Americans. When the opportunity came along to open Legion Logistics, it felt like the right move. Lacy was able to combine her knowledge of freight, gleaned from years of watching her dad earn a living driving tanker trucks, with her beliefs about how company culture should be formed and nurtured. Legion is now a $26 million company with 51 employees. Lacy also finds time to teach sales at the University of Cincinnati and has started the Fast Growth Roundtable, a group of business owners who are focused on the same kind of rocket-ship growth Lacy has fostered at Legion.
Finalists were selected from an extensive field of high-performing women representing warehousing, traffic and shipping, third-party logistics, supply chain management, and related functional disciplines. Members of the judging panel were: Dr. Stephanie S. Ivey, Director of Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute, Southeast Transportation Workforce Center, and Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Memphis; Shelley Simpson, chief marketing officer and president of ICS & Truckload, J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. and recipient of the 2016 DWLA; and Ellen Voie, CAE, president and CEO, Women In Trucking, Inc.
The winner of the 2017 award will be announced Friday morning, April 7, during the TIA Capital Ideas Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Women In Trucking Association, Inc. is a nonprofit association established to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments and minimize obstacles faced by women working in the trucking industry. Membership is not limited to women, as 17 percent of its members are men who support the mission. Women In Trucking is supported by its members and the generosity of Gold Level Partners: Arrow Truck Sales, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Daimler Trucks North America, BMO Transportation Finance, Expediter Services, Great Dane, J.B. Hunt Transport, Ryder System, Inc., U.S. Xpress, and Walmart. Follow WIT on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. For more information, visit http://www.womenintrucking.org or call 888-464-9482.
Ellen Voie, Women In Trucking Association, Inc., http://www.womenintrucking.org, +1 920-312-1350, [email protected]
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