From a career inside trucking to building a movement for greater opportunity, Ellen Voie has spent decades challenging assumptions and creating new pathways for women in transportation.
The transportation industry is built around movement. Trucks move products, supply chains connect businesses, and drivers keep essential goods traveling across communities and borders.
But industries can only move forward when the people working within them have opportunities to move forward too.
For Ellen Voie, that idea became a professional mission.
A longtime transportation professional, speaker, author, and advocate for gender diversity, Voie founded the Women In Trucking Association (WIT) in March 2007. Her goal was straightforward but ambitious: encourage more women to pursue careers in trucking, help remove barriers that could prevent them from succeeding, and recognize the women already making a difference across the industry.
What began as an organization founded by twelve women has developed into an international movement representing women across trucking and the wider supply chain.
A Career That Started Before the Movement
Voie's connection to transportation did not begin with Women In Trucking.
Her early career included working as a traffic manager at a steel fabrication company, followed by experience as a dispatcher and co-owner of a small fleet. She later became a freelance transportation consultant, helping Wisconsin carriers with licensing and permitting for more than 16 years.
Those experiences gave her something that cannot easily be learned from a textbook: an understanding of transportation from several different perspectives.
She understood the operational side of the industry, the administrative demands placed on carriers, and the realities faced by people working within trucking.
Her academic background also developed alongside her professional experience. Voie earned a diploma in Traffic and Transportation Management and later completed a Master's Degree in Communication. She eventually obtained her Commercial Driver's License in 2008, an intentional step that helped her better understand the experience of professional drivers.
That combination of practical experience, communication expertise, and curiosity would become central to her leadership.
Recognizing a Gap
When Voie founded Women In Trucking, she was addressing a problem that extended beyond the driver's seat.
Women were already contributing to trucking and logistics, but many faced obstacles related to recruitment, workplace culture, equipment, training, recognition, and career advancement.
Voie recognized that increasing women's participation required more than encouraging them to apply for jobs. It required creating an environment where they could build sustainable careers.
WIT was formed around three central ideas: increasing women's employment in trucking, removing obstacles that hinder their success, and celebrating their accomplishments.
The organization also made it clear that its mission was not about excluding men. WIT has historically welcomed men who support greater participation and opportunity for women in transportation.
That inclusive approach helped position the organization as an industry initiative rather than simply a women's networking group.
“Real change begins when an overlooked possibility becomes an opportunity someone can actually pursue.”
Building More Than an Association
Under Voie's leadership, Women In Trucking developed programs designed to make its mission practical.
The organization introduced recognition programs, educational resources, networking opportunities, conferences, driver-focused initiatives, and programs designed to introduce younger generations to transportation careers.
Its history includes the launch of the WIT Scholarship Foundation in 2010, which provides financial assistance to women pursuing training as drivers, technicians, safety professionals, or advancing their careers in supply chain.
The organization also launched its Accelerate! Conference & Expo, recognition programs such as Influential Woman in Trucking, and the Women In Trucking Show on SiriusXM.
These initiatives reflect a broader philosophy: representation improves when people have access to information, education, financial support, professional connections, and visible examples of success.
Learning the Driver's Perspective
One of the most telling moments in Voie's story came when she decided to earn her CDL.
She had already spent years working within the transportation industry. But rather than assuming she understood the driver's experience, she chose to experience more of it herself.
Obtaining her CDL in 2008 gave her another perspective on the industry and strengthened her understanding of the challenges faced by professional drivers.
That willingness to keep learning has remained part of her professional identity.
It also reflects an important leadership lesson: expertise does not mean knowing everything. Sometimes leadership means being willing to step into another person's environment and learn from the experience.
Giving Women a Larger Place at the Table
Voie's work has never been limited to encouraging women to become drivers.
The broader transportation ecosystem includes people who design trucks, manufacture equipment, manage fleets, develop technology, handle safety, oversee logistics, own businesses, and lead organizations.
Women In Trucking has consistently promoted women's participation throughout that wider ecosystem. The association's current mission emphasizes both employment and advancement, recognizing that representation in leadership is just as important as representation in entry-level positions.
That distinction matters.
Getting more women into an industry is only the beginning. Creating pathways for them to become managers, entrepreneurs, executives, technicians, owners, and industry leaders creates a much deeper form of change.
A Voice Beyond the Industry
Voie's influence has also extended beyond organizational leadership.
She is an internationally recognized speaker who has addressed audiences in the United States and countries including Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, France, Mexico, and Canada. She has also been featured by major media organizations including Fox News, Fox Business News, Bloomberg News, and Voice of America.
Her speaking work focuses on women in non-traditional careers, gender diversity, leadership, and creating more inclusive workplaces.
That message has attracted organizations across transportation and business, including companies such as Schneider, Navistar, C.H. Robinson, Walmart, Uber, and PepsiCo, according to her official website.
Her role as a communicator complements her work as an advocate: she is not simply identifying barriers, but helping organizations understand why those barriers matter and what can be done differently.
From Dispatcher to Disruptor
Voie's professional journey has also become the subject of her book, From Dispatcher to Disruptor, which chronicles her path from transportation roles to founding Women In Trucking and advocating for gender diversity.
The book reflects a central theme of her career: meaningful disruption does not always begin with a dramatic technological invention. Sometimes it begins with a person asking why an established system works the way it does—and whether it could work better.
That mindset is particularly relevant to transportation, an industry experiencing significant changes in technology, automation, workforce expectations, sustainability, and logistics.
The future will require new skills and new perspectives. Voie's work suggests that diversity should be viewed not simply as a social objective, but as part of preparing an industry for that future.
A Legacy Still Moving Forward
Voie's formal leadership role at Women In Trucking has evolved. She served as President & CEO from 2007 until March 2023 and now serves as the organization's Founder, while the association continues under new executive leadership.
But stepping away from day-to-day executive leadership does not erase the foundation she created.
The organization continues to promote women's employment and advancement, recognize accomplishments, provide professional resources, and encourage broader participation in transportation.
That may be the most meaningful measure of Voie's contribution.
A leader's impact is not only visible in the position they hold. It can also be seen in what continues after they have moved into a different chapter.
The Road Ahead
Transportation will continue to change. Trucks will become smarter, logistics networks more connected, and the skills required across the industry will continue to evolve.
But technology alone cannot create an inclusive industry.
That requires people willing to question old assumptions, organizations prepared to create opportunity, and leaders who understand that progress becomes stronger when more voices are included.
Ellen Voie's journey reflects that kind of leadership. She entered transportation, learned its challenges from multiple perspectives, identified an opportunity for change, and built an organization around the belief that women deserve a stronger place in the industry.
The road she helped open is no longer only about getting more women into trucking. It is about ensuring that wherever transportation is headed next, women have a meaningful opportunity to help drive it there.
Company at a Glance
Organization: Women In Trucking Association
Industry: Transportation
Founder: Ellen Voie
Website: https://www.womenintrucking.org/
