An increase in female representation across various industries including road transport is evident based on this year’s record number of Women in Industry Awards finalists.
The 2020 Women in Industry Awards recognise and reward the achievements of women working within the mining, engineering, manufacturing, process control and road transport industries.
This prestigious annual event also aims to raise the profile of women within industry as well as promote and encourage excellence.
Through acknowledging these incredible achievements and individuals, the program, according to Prime Creative Media General Manager – Events, Simon Coburn, hopes to shine a light on these industries as great career choices for other women.
“This year has seen a record number of nominees across all 10 categories,” said Coburn.
“This year’s nominations come from the highest number of businesses and organisations the program has ever seen, demonstrating the broad reach and increasing awareness of the Awards.
The quality of the nominations was exceptional again this year, and the judges will certainly find it tough to award winners,” he said.
The finalists for the Excellence in Transport award are:
Dannani Haulage owner and Managing Director, Danielle Kempton.
With 20 years of experience managing Dananni Haualge, Kempton is familiar with the safety and compliance levels needed to keep all road users and employees safe and cares about her employees and the people they drive against on the roads. She encourages younger, less experienced drivers to be mentored by experienced driver operators and sharing of skills, knowledge, ensuring that industry know-how is passed on to the next generation.
Women In Trucking Australia CEO, Lyndal Denny.
As part of the heavy vehicle transport industry, Denny established a new organisation to focus on gender imbalance and safety issues within the transport industry called Women in Trucking Australia.
As a heavy vehicle driver qualified to drive a quad road train, she now juggles both roles, with weekday mornings as the CEO of WITA then mid-afternoon she dons her hi-vis gear and steel-capped boots to jump up behind the wheel for a 10- to 12-hour shift transporting South Australia’s finest produce from the farm gate to the Adelaide Harbour for export.
Lindsay Australia Manager – Safety, People & Culture, Melissa Strong.
Strong has worked in the road transport industry for 25 years, beginning with McCafferty’s Coaches P/L before moving to Roadmaster Pty Ltd as a manifest/operations clerk and finally to her current role as Manager of Safety, People and Culture for Lindsay Australia Limited.
She has advocated for better conditions for drivers, improved road safety, campaigned to change the image of the industry and attract a more diverse workforce including women and youth. Strong has also engaged with schools and departments of education to introduce the industry to school children resulting in Roadmaster Pty Ltd winning the ‘Best Regional Business for School Work Experience’. She also included the Roadmaster team into a school breakfast scheme operating in western Sydney during her tenure at Roadmaster.
Transport for NSW Acting Head of Commercial, Performance & Strategy, Camilla Drover.
Drover has been instrumental in her leadership across stakeholder groups to realise the delivery of major Transport projects in line with the NSW Government’s vision to enable more efficient journeys for our communities & and their businesses further promoting economic growth across NSW and Australia.
As Executive Director Motorways, Drover has led the development and delivery of over $40 billion of new motorway projects for NSW including asset management of the E-Toll tolling business which has over 50 per cent of the retail tolling business in NSW.
Arup Senior Consultant, Jane Gillespie.
At Arup, Gillespie is a lead author and project manager of the first network planning documents for Rail Project Victoria’s flagship rail projects. Jane has also played a key role on major rail bids and business development strategies as well as project management roles on government and private clients.
As Arup’s Power of Engineering representative in Victoria, a non-profit organisation that promotes STEM careers to girl and students from low socio-economic backgrounds, Jane co-ordinates Arup volunteers to take part in workshops, site visits to construction projects, and tours of Arup’s unique Melbourne office.
Outside of her role at Arup, she is a passionate advocate for diverse individuals from all socio-economic backgrounds to join this growing industry and at an industry level is involved in many initiatives such as the PACE disability mentor program with Australian Network on Disability – a weekly meeting with a mentee with disabilities looking to gain confidence, network and experience in the professional context.
Elgas Regional Scheduler, Agnes Leeson.
Leeson is reported to hold one of the most challenging roles in the transport industry. In just nine years, she has made a made a significant impact on both the wider transport sector and within Elgas, focusing on planning and scheduling orders which range in the thousands each week.
She has risen to the challenge of establishing tighter control of the scheduling process, which in turn has saved the business money and reduced waste within the company. Her contribution to the transport sector through the amendment of the scheduling process has meant Elgas has developed stronger relationships with the contracted driver group. Additionally, Leeson’s work has ensured a reduction in internal issues management as a result of a more streamlined process.
The award-winning leader of Transport Women Australia Limited, Jacquelene Brotherton, is also in the running for the Industry Advocacy Award while Denny is also up for the Safety Advocacy Award. The winners of the 2020 Women in Industry Awards will be announced in late August 2020.