The trucking industry is full of worthy individuals and organizations. This week, a few of them were honored with various awards. Read more about each winner and finalist in this week’s Five Good Things.
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Prime’s Dee Sova honored with Trucking Cares Foundation’s John Lex Premier Achievement Award
American Trucking Associations’ Trucking Cares Foundation recognized Dee Sova, a professional truck driver with Prime Inc., with the 2024 Trucking Cares Foundation’s John Lex Premier Achievement Award.
“Dee is the real deal, someone whose personal and professional story has been assembled throughout her adult life,” Chris Spear, ATA president and CEO, said. “As a life coach to women in the industry, mentor to grieving parents and widows, and a professional driver with 33 years and 3 million safe driving miles under her belt, she starts each day with the goal of making a difference in other people’s lives. Dee has given a face and voice to the more than 350,000 independent contractors across the country who chose to support the trucking industry and our nation’s economy.”
In 2017, Sova was one of three Real Women in Trucking Queen of the Road award winners. Sova also received Prime’s 2017 Highway Diamond of the Year award and is a member of Prime’s Driver Advisory Board. She is the founder of Trucking Divas Rock, an online community for female truck drivers, and has held several leadership positions with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Truck driver named TCA Highway Angel for rescuing flood victims
The Truckload Carriers Association has named truck driver Michael Dorsey from Porter, Texas, a TCA Highway Angel, for using his trailer to attempt to keep flood victims afloat and alive. Dorsey drives for Mercer Transportation out of Louisville, Kentucky.
On Sept. 26, 2024, around 10 a.m. in Erwin, Tennessee, Dorsey was loading his flatbed semi truck with piping for a company called Dura-Line in an industrial park. The town was hit by flooding after Hurricane Helene made landfall.
The industrial park is just a few hundred feet from the Nolichucky River, which swelled with a rush of water comparable to nearly twice what cascades over Niagara Falls, according to USA Today. As Dorsey was finishing loading up his flatbed semi truck, water was flowing, and 10 people from a neighboring business asked if they could climb atop his truck to find refuge from the flood.
“I said sure,” Dorsey said. “So I let everybody get on my trailer.” Dorsey also offered shelter to one frightened woman he called ‘Miss Bertha’ by allowing her to sit in his truck.
“She sat in the cab with me and like 15 or 20 minutes later, we were overrun by water,” Dorsey said. “It flipped my truck—I ended up having to lift her out of my truck.”
Dorsey and another man helped put Miss Bertha on the trailer as the water rose quickly.
The waters were so strong that they separated the trailer from the truck and carried the 12 terrified hangers-on downstream. At one point, the truck capsized, and Dorsey and the others floated in the water, hanging onto the materials that had previously been strapped to the truck.
“Something hit me in the head and knocked me out,” Dorsey said. “When I fell in the water, I guess it was so cold that it brought me back, too.”
Dorsey and others rode the current until they could grab onto a bush in the flood and hang on. Eventually, they were rescued by emergency personnel. Dorsey said of the 12 people who sought refuge on the truck, six survived. Miss Bertha’s body has not been found, he said.
A former Marine, Dorsey lost everything, and he is dealing with his insurance company now. He also struggles with pain in his head and neck and numbness in his legs and feet.
“I can’t hardly sleep because I keep thinking about Miss Bertha and all of the people that died,” Dorsey said. “If I wouldn’t have been there, those people that survived wouldn’t have made it—it would have been impossible. God had me there for a reason.”
ATA honors three organizations with Mike Russell Image Award
American Trucking Associations honored three organizations for their commitment to improving the image of the trucking industry with the 2024 Mike Russell Trucking Image Award.
“Since it was first handed out in 2007, 61 individuals and companies have been honored with the Mike Russell Award,” Nikkia Thomas, ATA VP of industry affairs, said. “We are excited to add this year’s winners to our list of those who are as passionate about promoting the industry’s image as we are at ATA. The applications this year were true testaments to the power of storytelling and innovation.”
The Mike Russell Trucking Image Award is presented annually to an individual, motor carrier, trucking organization, and industry supplier who has demonstrated excellence in illustrating the industry’s essentiality, professionalism, and commitment to safety on and off the highways.
This year’s winners are:
“Great West Casualty Company is proud to sponsor the Mike Russell Trucking Industry Image Award. This award celebrates companies, organizations, and individuals who generate awareness of the trucking industry. We’re honored to support an award as significant as the Mike Russell Trucking Industry Image Award,” Steve Ponder, SVP of Great West Casualty Company, said. “Thanks to the influence of past and future award winners, the image of trucking has become increasingly positive each year.”
See also: Economy continues to be trucking’s top concern going into 2025
Women In Trucking Association announces finalists for 2024 Influential Woman in Trucking Award
The Women In Trucking Association announced three 2024 Influential Woman in Trucking Award finalists. This award, developed in 2010, recognizes female leaders and attracts and advances women in the trucking industry.
The award highlights the achievements of female role models and trailblazers in the trucking industry.
The 2024 Influential Woman in Trucking Award finalists are:
- Lisa Gonnerman, vice president of Enterprise Services, TA Dedicated
- Sheri Aaberg, chief operating officer, Transport Enterprise Leasing
- Tracy Rushing, executive director of safety, RE Garrison Trucking Inc.
Lisa Gonnerman, VP of Enterprise Services, has more than 32 years of experience in trucking, leading safety and operations and playing an instrumental role in shaping safety practices and policies nationwide. From 2019 to 2021, she served as the National Chair of the American Trucking Association Safety Management Council and was named the ATA National Safety Director of the Year in 2016. An active member of Women in Trucking, she continues to inspire others while making a positive impact on her community through her involvement with organizations like Make-A-Wish.
As the chief operating officer of Transport Enterprise Leasing, Sheri Aaberg has been instrumental in TEL’s growth and operating excellence since she joined in 2014. Under her guidance, TEL’s lease portfolio has grown from 1,200 truck and trailer assets on lease to more than 9,300 vehicles. Aaberg has served on the board of the Used Truck Association and is a member of the Heavy Truck Blue Book Advisory Committee.
Tracy Rushing began her career nearly 30 years ago in Forest, Mississippi, weighing trucks and calculating driver timesheets. Since then, she has advanced through various roles in the transportation industry, learning safety management, FMCSA regulations, and driver relations. Rushing has earned certifications from the North American Transportation Management Institute as a certified director of safety and as a NATMI instructor. In 2023, she was honored as the Alabama Safety Director of the Year Runner-Up.
The award finalists will participate in a panel discussion at the WIT Accelerate! Conference & Expo to be held in Dallas, Texas, November 10–13, 2024. The winner will give a HERstory speech following the panel discussion.
Bridgestone helps expand girls flag football through donations
Bridgestone Americas celebrated International Day of the Girl by announcing $200,000 in new donations to support the nationwide growth of girls flag football. These contributions include $40,000 for local programs through the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots, and Tennessee Titans.
Teams are utilizing the funds to meet the needs of creating or expanding girls flag football programs in their local communities. Common examples include equipment, training, transportation, and technology.
Over the past two years, Bridgestone’s collective donations and related girls flag football activities total more than $300,000. These efforts have helped more than 5,200 young women gain better access to the sport.
“We believe that leading on the field helps prepare girls to lead in any field. But first, they need the chance to play,” said Caitlyn Ranson, senior manager of partnership marketing, Bridgestone Americas. “Right now, 12 states have sanctioned girls flag football as a high school sport, and 19 more have pilot programs. This growth is exciting, but what really matters is creating more opportunities for girls to develop life-long skills through sports and empowering them to pursue their dreams.”
Bridgestone also partnered with nonprofit Play Like a Girl and the five professional football teams to organize interactive field days in September and October. Hundreds of girls flag football players gathered across events in Los Angeles, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; and Dallas, Texas, to run football drills with team representatives. Each event also featured a leadership panel with female executives who shared how their experience in sports has positively impacted their professional careers.
