No More Idling: From Lip Service to Real Progress for Women in Trucking

Beth Potratz, Co-Founder and CEO for Drive My Way, has over 20 years of experience. Potratz is an innovative, forward-thinking HR professional who is disrupting truck driver recruiting by treating the driver as a consumer in the employment relationship and making recruiting personal again. Potratz is passionate about helping people find a meaningful career that fits their lifestyle.

Prior to Drive My Way, Potratz built a successful HR consulting practice serving organizations in a variety of industries and held senior positions at Unilever, Rockwell Automation and Helene Curtis.

Potratz earned a Master of Labor Relations and Human Resources from Cleveland State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communication from Loyola University of Chicago. Potratz resides in Cleveland, Ohio and enjoys spending time with family.

Leigh Sauter is a co-founder of Spark Change Lab, founder of Glass Ball Consulting, and serves as Director of Customer Success and Strategy at Virago Marketing. Sauter brings more than 15 years of expertise in a variety of areas, including strategic communications, branding, employee experience, change management, and marketing.  

Previously, Sauter held roles at Comcast, NFI, and Tucker Company Worldwide. With a collaborative approach and diverse skillset, Sauter thrives on rallying cross-functional teams to bring purpose-driven plans to life.

Through her consulting practice at Glass Ball, Sauter helps companies transform their cultures and employer brands. She excels at crafting clear roadmaps, building team engagement, and developing strategies that shape supportive environments where employees can grow and thrive.

Jennifer Hedrick, CAE, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Women In Trucking Association (WIT). Her responsibilities are to work closely with WIT’s board of directors and staff to oversee initiatives that support WIT’s mission to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments and minimize obstacles faced by them. 

Hedrick has 17 years of association leadership experience and is an accredited executive by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). For five years she led the National Industrial Transportation League (NIT League) focusing on issues across highway, rail and ocean freight transportation. In that role, she advocated on behalf of members to create efficiencies throughout the commercial freight transportation network.

In addition, she previously served as Vice President, Association Solutions, for MCI USA, where she served as Executive Director and Strategy Manager for several associations, providing full-scale management of operations, staff teams, and outside contractors. In these capacities, she also served as spokesperson for associations on Capitol Hill, before federal regulators, in trade and national press, and at conferences and other engagements. 
Hedrick holds a Master of Arts degree from Virginia Tech and a Bachelor of Science degree from Bridgewater College.

Carol Nixon is a professional truck driver with over 30 years of experience. She has driven for Walmart for nearly 10 years hauling general freight. Her work schedule is typically 5 days on and 2 days off. She is a certified driver trainer (CDT) since February 2019 through NATMI and teaches Walmart’s safety course which is close quarter maneuvering and pre-trips at their Bentonville, AR warehouse since September 2021.

Carol has won many awards from Walmart for MOST Inspirational and Safety every year employed. She was also nominated and chosen for the TA Petro Citizens Driver Award in 2018, having a TA truck stop named after her in North Bend, Washington.

She gives back to her community by having been a Living Organ Donor to a fellow driver’s spouse (Kidney) and by volunteering overnights when available at Safe to Sleep Women’s Shelter.

Eileen Dabrowski has a PhD, ABD from the University of South Florida in Curriculum & Instruction and is a leader and member of the Werner Enterprises Learning & Development Team. Dabrowski has been in the transportation/logistics industry since 2016 and oversees the development and facilitation of all logistics-wide training programs, new employee onboarding, leadership development, employee culture, morale, and retention. She spearheads company philanthropy initiatives and works hard to maintain and improve employee culture and morale to drive workforce efficiency and employee satisfaction.

Dabrowski serves the Chair of the TMSA DEI Task Force and on TMSA BOD, as well as the Chair of the TIA Programs Committee and is a proud member of the TIA Foundations Board. Outside of work, Dabrowski lives with her spouse and 4 dogs in Tampa and enjoys traveling, staying active, and volunteering in the community. Running, boxing, lifting weights, surfing, and reading are some of Dabrowski’s favorite self-care activities.

Ellen Ingram, Certified Transportation Professional, is currently the Senior Director of Human Resources and Safety for America’s Service Line, a top company for women to work in transportation and the private fleet for American Foods Group, one of the nation’s largest beef processors. Ingram is dedicated to fostering transparent relationships with employees, actively listening to their needs, and reinforcing compliance and accountability within an employee-centric culture. Her approach enhances safe business practices, employee engagement, and promotes a collaborative workplace. 

Ingram started her career in Operations with Hormel Foods Corporation before moving into Human Resources and Safety; she further advanced her profession with JBS USA. She now leads fleet and employee safety, talent acquisition, employee relations, benefits, leadership development and payroll with her current Company.

Ingram is a founding member of her parent company’s Women’s Network and serves on the National Private Truck Council’s (NPTC) Board of Governors. A member of Women in Trucking, Ingram is also a content facilitator for NPTC’s Private Fleet Management Institute and co-chairs the Talent Taskforce for the Greater Green Bay Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, she is an active member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Ingram earned her bachelor’s degree in human resources with a minor in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Platteville. 

Sarah Kate Robinson is “just a Recruiting Girl in a Transportation World.”  Robinson is a trusted thought leader with a focus on people and a passion for building genuine connections. Getting more women involved in trucking and working with our country’s service men/women has been and continues to be the driving force behind her career path. Robinson worked her way up through carriers like Knight Transportation, Marten Transport, and Ozark Motor Lines before growing into her current role as Director of Recruiting with DB Schenker, where her goal is to invoke lasting change to propel recruiting forward.

Kelsey Hartman is the Vice President of Fleet and Transportation for Frito Lay US, a division of PepsiCo Foods North America. In this role, Hartman leads one of the largest private fleets in the US comprised of more than 3,700 transportation and fleet professionals including 2,200+ drivers, 500+ mechanics, and 400+ leaders across transportation terminals and maintenance shops. She leads the PepsiCo fleet sustainability agenda and is responsible for the safety, financial, and service performance of her organization while driving employee engagement and growth through team culture. During her twenty-years at PepsiCo, she has held many roles within the supply chain, with her last ten years focused on driving excellence in the Frito-Lay Private Fleet. Hartman holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Auburn University.