Unstoppable Women in Trucking You Must Know About

As a Detroit native, Tracy Mack-Askew has built an impressive career within the automotive industry. With more than 20 years of industry experience, she offers expertise in the areas of innovation, business scalability, revenue generation, and organizational leadership. She leverages her extensive experience along with her strong engineering foundation to raise the bar of excellence and set the standards for new product and consumer trends.

Since 2014 Tracy has made a name for herself at Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), a $25B heavy-duty (HD), class 6-8 OEM truck and tractor manufacturer. She was first hired as the vice president of engineering of the Thomas Built Buses (TBB) OEM subsidiary of DTNA, where she established the strategic mission, vision, and engineering culture of the organization. Under her leadership, TBB introduced a suite of safety technologies into the product portfolio that became a significant enabler in driving increased revenue. Her next role was as general manager of the HD vocational platform, where she was responsible for delivering $220M in annual contribution. In this role, Tracy streamlined a $600M bottom-up budget and cut the production timeline by two years. Her success in this role led to her 2021 promotion to Chief Engineer of Chassis and Vocational Engineering, leading the team that designs, develops, and integrates battery electric trucking solutions while concurrently ensuring continued dominance in traditional diesel technologies and niche vocational segments.

Prior to joining DTNA, Tracy called General Motors Company her home for 16 years, advancing through the ranks in roles that began as project and design engineer, with increasing roles of responsibility, to her success as vehicle line director of the Chevrolet Malibu, chief interior engineer for midsize crossovers, and global commodity leader. Her contributions to the GM brand include overseeing global procurement on chrome, carbon fiber, and other functional black plastics and delivering the Chevrolet Malibu to market six months ahead of schedule, subsequently selling 200K+ vehicles throughout the US and Canada, contributing $5B in annual revenue.

A results-driven servant leader, Tracy is a consummate professional who inspires confidence in everyone around her, from her peers and colleagues in the senior executive ranks to her direct staff and cross-functional staffs across the entire organization. In addition to providing direct leadership within DTNA, Tracy is also an avid philanthropist, speaker, writer, and board member.

Tracy is an Independent Director on the Board of Qnovo, a privately held battery management system company. Tracy also held an Independent Director role on the Board of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ: COLB), serving on the Audit Committee, the Nom/Gov Committee, the Trust Company Board, and the M&A Committee. At Daimler Trucks North America, Tracy is on the Steering Committee for the Supplier Diversity Council, the Sustainability (ESG) Council, and sits on the Corporate Diversity, Equity Inclusion, and Belonging Council. Further, she previously chaired the Executive Women’s Round Table and was the Executive Sponsor for the African-American Employee Resource Group.

Tracy received a master’s degree in management from Harvard University, a master’s degree in engineering from Purdue University, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She published an anthropological study on social group relationships (Kindle Publishing, June 2014) entitled “What Can You Learn From A Rainbow?” and was the featured leader for a media campaign (2012 Chevrolet Malibu Mom). She holds a certificate in mergers and acquisitions from Harvard Business School, and is certified by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as a governance fellow.

In addition to being a powerhouse professionally, in her personal time, Tracy enjoys learning about culture and politics, and traveling—she has been to six of the seven continents so far. Family is also incredibly important to her as she describes herself as a proud wife and mother to her three children.

Trina Norman is the SoCal Division Manager with UPS and has been with the company for 32 years.

Norman has proven to be a well-rounded leader and a global citizen. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, where she has served as an activity member for 24 years. She also mentors and sponsors young college students to achieve their academic goals while attending college. In October of 2016, she attended UPS Driver Training School (DTS) in South Holland, Illinois where she became a Certified Feeder Driver Trainer. 
 
Her mission is to recruit, empower, mentor, and encourage women to join the elite women behind the wheel at UPS and women in the trucking industry.

In 2019, Norman helped to lead the charge and was instrumental in charting the first Women in Operations business resource group in the South Cal. In honor of her leadership and game-changing methodology, she was granted the game-changer award in March of 2022. Additional accolades this year include being the recipient of the corporate trailblazer award for both Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Women In Operations. As well as In July of 2022, she was the recipient of the Visionary Leader Award for excellence in undertaking extraordinary efforts to enhance the operational experience.  In November of 2022, Norman was awarded the Women in Trucking most Influential Woman in Trucking for 2022.

Tori Blake, Chief Financial Officer and Co-Owner of WLX and Western Logistics Express “WLE”, has made it her mission to mentor women in all facets of her business. In her role, she is responsible for financial management, talent acquisition, employee development and strategic visioning. WLX|WLE have been recognized as one of Kansas City’s fastest growing companies each year Tori has been on the team, as well as one of Kansas City’s best places to work. She was also named Kansas City Business Journal’s 2023 CFO of the year.

At the start of her career, Tori was an auditor at Ernst & Young, one of the four largest accounting firms in the world. Over her 16-year career as an executive leader, she has led startup companies and has a true passion for entrepreneurial endeavors.

Tori has a heart for serving others. She was instrumental in supporting Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City through “Sunshine Taggie” blankets for patients, handmade by WLX|WLE employees. She has also served as chairwoman of her church board, has been a children’s church teacher for over a decade, and is serving as the church mission trip leader. Tori is also a coach of two youth sports teams where she has the honor of coaching and guiding 25 young female athletes and leaders each year. 

Shelley Simpson is President of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. Her 29-year career at J.B. Hunt reflects the company’s continued progression as an innovative leader in the transportation and logistics industry.

Since joining J.B. Hunt as an hourly customer service representative, she has held multiple positions for business segments across the company, including most recently serving as Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Vice President of People and Human Resources.

In 2007, Simpson was named President of Integrated Capacity Solutions, a business unit she helped create. While continuing to develop ICS, Simpson assumed sales and marketing executive responsibilities in 2011 and was appointed Chief Marketing Officer. She took on additional leadership in 2014 as President of J.B. Hunt’s Truckload business segment, helping improve the efficiency of the company’s fleet, and in 2016 when she began overseeing customer experience. In 2017, to support the company’s ability to provide comprehensive solutions, J.B. Hunt combined the management of Truckload and ICS services by creating Highway Services, of which she was named President until December 2020.

Simpson was named Chief Commercial Officer in 2017, leading strategic direction of marketing, sales, customer experience, and external product development, including J.B. Hunt 360°, the company’s technology platform for freight matching and operational efficiency. As the company evolved J.B. Hunt 360 and its technology-driven services, Simpson was also responsible for commercializing them on a global scale as the leader of International Services. In 2020, she was named Executive Vice President of People and Human Resources, leading the company’s efforts to create a more inclusive culture and work environment.

Simpson was named President in 2022, and currently provides management and performance oversight for all company business units, in addition to emerging technology, developing services and People and Human Resources. 

Simpson serves on the board for multiple organizations, including the Mercy Health Foundation and the Dean’s Executive Advisory Board for the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, in addition to serving on the DSA Selection Committee for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

In 2016, she received the Distinguished Woman of the Year award by Women In Trucking and was named 2017 ATHENA Woman of the Year at the NWA Business Women’s Conference. In 2020, she received the Power50 Award by the National Diversity Council and was named a 2020 Top Influencer by Arkansas Money & Politics. In 2021, she was named one of the Top 100 Women in Supply Chain by Supply Chain Digital and has been named one of the top 100 HR Professionals by the National Diversity Council in 2022. She recently received the 2022 Woman of the Year in Innovation award by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and the Excellence in Free Enterprise Award from Economics Arkansas.

Originally from Russellville, Simpson graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. She lives in Rogers, AR with her husband David and three children.