Ellen Voie

Ellen Voie (Voy-a) is an internationally recognized speaker and authority on gender diversity and inclusion for women working in non-traditional careers in transportation. She has been invited to speak to audiences in Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, France, Mexico and Canada in addition to being a popular speaker at conferences throughout the United States.

Voie founded the Women In Trucking Association in 2007 and currently serves as the nonprofit organization’s president and CEO. The Women In Trucking Association was formed to promote the employment of women in the trucking industry, to remove obstacles that might keep them from succeeding and to celebrate the successes of its members. Voie also currently serves on the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) to provide recommendations and advice to the FMCSA on motor carrier safety programs and motor carrier safety regulations. Voie’s background in the trucking industry began as the assistant and later traffic manager for a steel fabricating plant in the upper Midwest. She then worked as a dispatcher for a grain hauling carrier before becoming co-owner of a small fleet.

After starting a family, she used her background to become a freelance transportation consultant to carriers in Wisconsin, licensing and permitting trucks for more than 16 years. Voie also served as the executive director of Trucker Buddy International, Inc. — a pen pal program between professional drivers and elementary students.

Voie holds a master’s in communication degree from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where she completed her thesis research on the complex identities of women married to professional drivers. She also hold a degree in traffic and transportation Management from LaSalle Extension University. Voie has earned the certified association executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives, the leading authority in association management.

 

Session

Session 3A: "Gender Diversity in the Supply Chain"