Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/566726
Industry insider CHANGING LANES 16 SEPTEMBER 2015 // WWW.CHANGINGLANESDIGITAL.COM goals within J.B. Hunt by providing them with resources to help boost their careers and personal connection to J.B. Hunt. GROW has four pillars: Recruiting and retaining women, professional development, community involvement, and collaboration and connection. "I have a lot of passion around females and leadership," Simpson said. "Particularly when you're working in an industry that is more male dominated just by sheer nature of what we do. A lot of it comes down to education, connection and understanding what is really possible. We can have great, long careers and being a female is not something that would hold you back." Voie of WIT again noted the challenge of breaking free from the image of the industry being solely a place for men. "Most of us got here because they were in another position and either got promoted or were offered an opportunity," Voie said. "So our biggest challenge is saying there's great jobs here. Whether it's in dispatching or accounting or computers or whatever, there's great jobs in the trucking industry. We've got to get more women looking at trucking as a career potential." Shannon Newton, the first woman to become the president of the Arkansas Trucking Association, also noted that people are generally unaware of the opportunities available at trucking companies in accounting, human resources, and engineering