Creating Powerful Engagement and Relationships through Employee Resource Groups (Panel Discussion)

Melissa Villanueva Jass is a values-driven leader on a mission to passionately advocate for the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women and all underrepresented groups, to inspire and motivate leaders at all levels to create a culture of inclusion, equity, belonging, recognition, and appreciation, and to courageously collaborate with honesty, integrity, and relentless enthusiasm. 

Throughout her career, Jass has always been fascinated by stories that speak to the human heart and touch the mind. Her natural ability to connect with others allows her to create trust with her clients, business partners, interview subjects, and teams. Throughout her career, she has flourished under the pressure of live broadcast events, training and facilitating workshops, and interviewing and working with talent from store clerks and truck drivers to executives and celebrities. She has contributed to a broad spectrum of programs and events, including custom designed leadership development programs, high potential mentor programs, women's focused development initiatives, corporate broadcast events, and more. She is capable and comfortable in the roles of Consultant, Business Partner, Producer, Writer, Director, Project Manager, Client Liaison, and Stage Manager. 

Tami Allensworth began her career with J.B. Hunt in 1987. During her 30+ years at J. B. Hunt, she has held a variety of positions in Marketing Services, Marketing & Customer Service, and Sales. In 2007, Allensworth became a part of J. B. Hunt’s fourth business unit, Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS), as a Director of Transportation and quickly moved into the Vice President of Transportation role. During her time in ICS, she helped lead the Talent Management Team, which focused on building out processes and programs that would help facilitate a startup workforce which now consists of more than 1,000 employees. Allensworth co-founded J. B. Hunt’s first Employee Resource Group in 2014, GROW which stands for Growing and Retaining Outstanding Women. In addition to her role as Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, she is currently serving as the President of GROW. Allensworth resides in Cave Springs with her husband and daughter Sydney.

Sarah Statlander is an accomplished Human Resources Leader with over 20-years of human resources experience and a proven record of leveraging business and technical knowledge to provide customer focused business solutions that align with corporate values & goals. Sarah is a thoughtful leader & communicator with an acute focus on problem solving and providing multi-faceted, customer-focused solutions that ensure the needs of the business are met, while also ensuring that actions are living up to the commitments to an organization’s most valuable resource – their people. Her extensive background includes: expertise in change and transition management, strategy development & execution, talent management & succession planning, results-oriented change management, process improvement & implementation, policy development, employee & labor relations, and compliance.  

Statlander has spent most of her career as an HR Generalist & Business Partner providing support to a variety of client groups in a variety of industries. Upon returning to Yellow in 2015, she also had the opportunity to provide leadership to many of the HR functions including Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Corporate & Field HR, HR Compliance Programs, Recognition Programs, and Compensation. A pivotal point has been the opportunity to provide leadership during the transition and integration of the Human Resources function for the organization as we’ve transitioned to Yellow. 

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Minnesota State University, Mankato and a Master’s Degree in Human Resources/Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. 

Seville Marquez is a Senior Transportation Quality Management Leader with Amazon, where she supports national transportation teams in CDL operations, trailer yard, and line haul management. Seville assumed the position as the first President of Women in Transportation, an Affinity Group officially established at Amazon in 2021.

For 12 years, Seville has contributed to diverse transportation and supply chain roles at various multinational companies including Nestle-Purina, Conagra and Harley Davidson prior to joining Amazon in 2017.

While her expertise ranges from carrier management to logistical supply chain, Seville is most passionate about mentoring of women and underrepresented minorities.

Outside of work, Seville loves hiking various trails in the Texas Hill Country with her Husband, 4-month-old son and two fur babies.