Categories:

Rising Star of the Year Award
Commercial Driver of the Year Award
Director of the Year Award
The Warehousing Award
Industry Trainer of the Year
Team of the Year Award


Rising Star of the Year Award

2009

Rachel Beeken - Logistics Manager, Gist

Rachel started out by working a weekend job at a fresh flowers company and discovered she really enjoyed the logistics side of the business.  Rachel saw that Gist carried out the distribution for this company and so applied for their graduate scheme and had placements in three different departments and sites over a period of two years. During her time as Warehouse Operations Manager at the Hemel Hempstead depot her diverse night shift team responded magnificently to her leadership by pulling together to deliver exceptional customer service across the critical Christmas trading period for M&S, leading to them to win a 'Service Excellence Award'.  She also built colleagues' confidence in financial planning and analysis, which led to her promotion and she now has responsibility for multiple teams and managing large budgets. Other achievements include 33% and 50% reduction in accidents respectively across two departments and delivering a new planning tool into the M&S network. It can be a tough career, withstanding many moves and relocations, however Rachel has always earned respect from her colleagues and fierce loyalty from her teams.

Claire Hall - Marketing & Communications Manager, Kuehne + Nagel Ltd

With a joint honours degree in French and German studies and a masters degree in Marketing, Claire was eager to find a job where she could combine all her skills she had developed from her studies.  Claire joined Kuehne + Nagel in 2006 as Communications Manager and by 2008 her job remit was extended to include responsibility for the marketing function.  By the age of 29 Claire had created a department that is now an integral part of the company.  In an industry where communications and marketing can be overlooked due to a primary focus on logistics, Claire has managed to break the mould and influence perception of the department’s function.  Claire has the results to back up the importance of her role at Kuehne + Nagel with press coverage increasing by 30% (07-08) and journalist attendance at the annual press conference increasing by 44% (08-09).  Claire believes in the importance of building relationships at all levels, is extremely driven, and always strives to achieve the best.  By encouraging creativity and pushing boundaries, Claire’s flexibility and approachability make her a well liked employee, described as a joy to work alongside.

Tricia Madge - Trains Performance Manager - Central Line, London Underground

Tricia started out her career on the graduate training scheme at London Underground, undertaking a number of positions across support functions and operations, providing her with a good grounding of how the organisation worked. Working her way up through junior and middle management roles, she is now Trains Performance Manager for the Central Line, responsible for over 600 staff and ensuring that the train service runs effectively. Her role includes directly engaging with members of staff across all levels, leading her management team in communicating the organisation's key messages and ensuring that are carrying out the best performance that they can in order to drive customer satisfaction forward. With Tricia in charge, her team has seen success, including greatly improved staff attendance and reduced customer queuing time. Tricia attributes her achievements to her natural drive and energy and her ability to use her 'people' skills to drive through change and appreciates the support she has had from others in learning about the more technical side of the railway operations. In addition to her day to day role, she is very active in the development of TfL's graduate training scheme, as well as mentoring a number of junior staff, and is also currently undertaking an Executive MBA.


Commercial Driver of the Year Award

2009

Michelle Cubbin - Low Load Driver, J. Mallinson (Ormskirk)

Michelle started working for J. Mallinson (Ormskirk) ltd as a summer job on minimum wage.  Her diligence in these early weeks meant she was then kept on permanently and given the same pay as all the full time staff.  Michelle was able to support her colleague, a low-load driver, covering his work when he became ill and subsequently passed away.  Michelle really feels that she has shown strength of character and determination, being the first female in this role within the company, proving to her employer that she can step up to the challenge and thus being accepted by her colleagues. Michelle is highly motivated and has put forward ideas to encourage retail staff in warehouses and shop floors to have open days where they can try out driving vehicles for the day and have the opportunity to apply for licences and funding.  Michelle nominated herself for the award having read about last year’s winners.

Caroline Pugh - HGV Driver & Crane Operator, Pugh's Haulage Ltd

Caroline’s career started out by accident when she stepped in to move a unit in the yard with a truck mounted crane (lorry loader) for her husband’s company when the other male employees refused. Six years later, she is now a fully qualified HGV driver and crane (lorry loader) operator, responsible for delivering mainly portable units to the customer and ‘siting’ them, involving a great deal of physical labour. Due to the nature of the job, Caroline often has to spend several nights away from her husband and three children, but still manages to successfully excel in her career and run the household. She puts her success down to resilience and the fact she is always willing to tackle any obstacles to get on with the job in hand.  Working in a man’s world, customers are often surprised when a female driver arrives on site, but she regularly receives positive feedback that she is as good, if not better, than her male counterparts. As a small child, Caroline told her mother she wanted to drive 20 lorries when she grew up, but never believed it would happen. She believes the investment of obtaining the HGV licence is well worth the satisfaction she gains from her job, and would encourage anyone considering commercial driving as a career to ‘just do it’.

Melissa Young - HGV Driver & Director, MH Young Ltd

Following school, Melissa took on several different jobs to save money for university, including working in a department store and a pub, but then found herself supplementing her income by driving lorries for her father’s business. Realising this is where her passion lay, she investigated opportunities to gain qualifications to take driving on as a career. With determination and drive, Melissa has progressed and is now one of only two female timber haulage drivers in Scotland, no mean feat for someone who is just over five feet tall. Her youthful appearance also recently led to her being stopped by the police who did not believe she was old enough to drive an HGV vehicle! She acknowledges that the industry can be difficult for women, as driving on forest roads can be challenging, but believes it is important never to give up. Her achievements have led to her speaking at a conference in Glasgow promoting positive role models and setting up her own company.  Her long term goals are to purchase more lorries and employ additional staff, with the view to encouraging more women into the sector.


Director of the Year Award

2009

Mandy Bennett - Director, Chaucer Freight Ltd

Mandy has been involved in the transportation of freight since leaving school. After starting out with Seaborne Express she worked her way up before it was purchased by United Parcel Service and she was given the challenge to develop the European Insurance Department. Later moving to the Industrial Engineering Department she devised a number of transport and warehouse systems and management training courses.  In 2006 she started at Chaucer Freight, sourcing staff, premises and handling the complete company formation.  The company has flourished successfully under her direction and now has a projected group turnover of £15m for 2009 with healthy net profits. Mandy has opened overseas operations in the US and Middle East from scratch, sourcing staff, suppliers and generating new business. Mandy also organises training and actively encourages women to pursue careers within the sector.  Her awareness campaign has led to the company employing 52% women - considerably more than the national average.  The company is successful in industry awards, in part attributed to the reinvestments of profits back into the business.  Mandy has overcome personal challenges - she is registered disabled but has not let this put her back.  Other passions are the environment – Chaucer Freight was one of the first freight companies in the UK to publish a carbon footprint offset scheme for its customers and suppliers and is one of a handful of suppliers to achieve the ISO 14001 Environmental Award.

Vicki Davenport - Sales & Commercial Director, The Pink Link Ltd

Vicki toiled hard for a living, working her way up the career ladder, despite the setback of redundancy along the way. Not only was Vicki working within a male environment, she was working within her family’s business where the mantra of ‘work twice as hard to be considered half as good’ rang true. Vicki then moved to another company to widen her skills set, but when a management opportunity arose at her father’s business she returned to make her mark. Since then she has improved customer relations, ensuring that each client has an allocated Customer Service Manager and through this, the company is able to provide the best possible service.  Her motto is ‘get it right first time’ and she pays the utmost attention to detail. Vicki believes that her success is down to possessing excellent organisational skills, vital for a woman in a man’s world.  The company offers flexible working hours for women with families, employs part time and boasts high staff retention. As well as determination in her career, Vicki has also shown depth of character outside of work, working with local schools and demonstrating her competitive streak through a number of charity runs she has completed over the years.

Elaine Miller - Operations Director, Wincanton Container Logistics

Elaine, began her career as an accountant with Russell Davies and became the first and only female director in the company’s 21 year history.  When the business was bought by Securicor, she took on the role of Development Director with responsibility for identifying and implementing substantial cost savings and service enhancements throughout all the company’s activities and procedures, including operations.   After a sabbatical, Elaine joined Hanbury Davies with several former colleagues.  Under her guidance, profits increased to £3.3m and when the company was sold to Wincanton in January 2008, Elaine facilitated the integration.  Later in the same year, she facilitated a second integration, following the acquisition of the CEL group by Wincanton, resulting in a £1.8m cost saving and the company becoming the UK’s market leader in container logistics services.  Having become a Director at 30 years of age, Elaine is extremely driven and has always toiled hard to prove herself in a man’s world.  Her mottos are ‘treat others as you would like to be treated yourself’ and ‘realise that you can learn from anyone, regardless of their position’.  Throughout her career, Elaine has managed to maintain national level ladies basketball, having retired from the game only recently.  Her transferable team skills now help her juggle life as a full time working mum of a five year old daughter.


The Warehousing Award

2009

Loraine Greening - Senior Manager - Operations, FedEx Express

Starting her career in transport and logistics as a data entry operator in 1983, Loraine has since undertaken a number of roles including sales and secretarial positions and as a courier. She was head-hunted by Fed-Ex to be a manager, and has since been promoted to senior manager of operations, responsible for the sorting of all freight arriving into and leaving the UK at FedEx’s international hub in Stansted. Successes attributed to Loraine include a 45% increase in packages handled in a month, and reducing absence levels by 75%. In addition to her day job, she is also undertaking a degree in Environmental Development through the Open University. Her team of five managers include two women, and Loraine is passionate about making the industry more female-friendly. She is heavily involved in the coaching programme, training mentees for interview into management positions, which she finds extremely rewarding. Loraine attributes her success to her knowledge of the sector, having worked in various roles, affording her a holistic view, and the ability to relate to each individual.

Susanna Patton - Logistics Manager, Karndean International

Susanna started out in logistics, joining a graduate scheme for a well-known third party logistics company (3PL) and quickly rose to become Transport Manager, having previously undertaken work with local hauliers.  She then started in manufacturing logistics with Kingsmill where she was promoted to NDC manager aged 27. Here, she set up project days for employees to share ideas as to how they would improve the business – some of which amounted to £60,000-£70,000 profit. Now Susanna reports directly to the board of a multi-national company where the efforts of herself and her team have seen Karndean recognised as the market leader. In addition, she has led her team to OTIF (on-time in full) delivery results of 99.98% and 99.87% stock accuracy with minimal change during a site move with the transition being described by auditors as one of the best that they have seen. Furthermore, Susanna has renegotiated UK carriers’ terms and conditions and manages ITT (information technology transfer) processes for both national and international carriers. She employs staff who have successfully achieved a minimum NVQ level 2 in warehousing or administration in the last year. On a personal level Susanna completed an MBA with her dissertation focusing on the physical implementation of Warehouse Management Systems, which has since been published nationally, and she continues to work with warehouse development systems as well as being a member of ‘Women in Logistics’.

Sarah Ranshaw - Site Depot Manager, Norbert Dentressangle

Sarah entered into the industry almost by accident at the age of 18 when she started work as a Customer Service Clerk, however within eight years in the industry she has progressed from this position to General Manager and is manager for two sites.  In every role she has taken on she has delivered measurable innovations and improvements such as savings of £440k for the last financial year as well as saving CO2 emissions of 605 tonnes per annum.  Sarah is very driven and committed, believing in leading by example she is extremely career focused, determined to do well and exceed expectations with every challenge that comes her way.  She believes that women can, and do achieve outstanding success within the industry and hopes that she will inspire more women to follow her and start their own successful careers within transport and logistics.


Industry Trainer of the Year Award

2009

Lesley Howe - LGV & Classroom Driving Instructor, System Group Ltd

Having spent her entire career in the transport industry, Lesley has spanned roles including Sales and Marketing and also spent ten years running her own small haulage company, sharing the driving with her partner. She then took on several contract roles, where her natural ability for supporting and training other drivers was recognised, and she was encouraged to apply for the position as an instructor at System Group Ltd. She has since become the only female fully qualified LGV instructor, having passed her Part Two instructor test first time with a faultless score-sheet. Lesley feels being a female trainer often makes her more approachable, and that her calm, patient and open manner have helped her to excel. She is extremely determined, with a passion for ensuring quality in the sector, constantly setting herself goals and targets she insists on surpassing.

Tracey Rayner - Training Officer - Signals Division, Defence School of Transport Leconfield

Having been in the army for seventeen years, Tracey has worked her way up to be a training officer for the Signals Division, which has always been her goal. She has witnessed the transition from the wireless system to the digital system and advanced through basic to advanced latterly management training. Tracey organises the training of young soldiers in complex military communications faster than ever before by supervising fifteen military and civilian instructors with four support staff. She acts as a mentor to many of the instructors and has enrolled on an Education and Training degree at the local college. Now at the top of her field as Warrant Office Class I, Tracey is the first woman to have qualified in this position and has even taken over the responsibilities of Officer Commanding for four months. She now sees many more women attending her training courses, in part due to her being a positive role model. She has made an effort to profile herself within this heavily male dominated environment to ensure that those around her are aware of her full capabilities. On a personal level, Tracey participates in the corps female basketball team as well as playing hockey at regimental level. Plans for the future include her implementing the first apprenticeship scheme.

Joe Thorp - Training Manager, London Underground

Having spent several years working in the hotel and catering sector, Joe secured a temporary administrator position at London Underground (LU) in 1993 and has never looked back, having worked her way into management. Her role involves directly managing a team of six trainers – half of which are female, as well as overseeing the end to end development of front-line Duty Managers, of which LU has 800. Over and above her day to day job, she is passionate about ensuring the organisation’s staff accurately reflects the diverse population of its customers, and has helped to develop schemes to support the recruitment of more female, ethnic minority and disabled employees. Achievements include leading the ‘Positive Action’ campaign for learning and development in 2005 to encourage more women to become trainers, leading to a 6% increase of females in this department, and also helping LU to be listed as top ten employer for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff by gay equalities organisation, Stonewall.


Team of the Year Award

2009

Nina Hart - Transport and Warehouse Manager, Simarco International

Having a father who ran his own transport company meant it was inevitable that Nina would enter the sector, and she joined as an administrator straight from school. Eager to branch away from the family business, she moved to another organisation where she focused on imports and exports, and was then poached by her former colleague Simon Reed to work with him at his start-up company, Simarco International Ltd. Twelve years on, she has seen the company grow from just three individuals to having over 80 employees, and is responsible for managing and running over 25 vehicles throughout the UK. The only woman in her department, she has to have a ‘hands on’ approach, and under her guidance, turnover has doubled and profits gone from a loss in year one to well above industry standard net profit in 2008.  She has also saved the company costs by reducing the number of agency drivers used and by purchasing fuel efficient trailers. Nina has recently been promoted to the role of Transport Director, a fantastic achievement at the age of just 33.

Sharon Hignett - General Manager, DHL Supply Chain

Sharon's career started in an admin role, progressing into office supervisory, then onto finance managerial roles, currently working in a UK functional role in the Fleet engineering Department she is the only female within the senior leadership team. Sharon set up a new finance and compliance centre from her existing team of two, identifying skills required to recruit new staff. She has developed a closely-bonded and flexible team of 9, all with different attributes including mentoring of the younger staff.  This has enabled the team to develop initiatives and stretch new targets and challenges such as streamlining manual to new IT systems, creating new online auditing and the introduction of an electronic mailbox for compliance issues, all of which have played a key part in increasing customer satisfaction from 69% to 80%. In short, nothing is too much for the team and they have real integrity, remaining upbeat at all times and Sharon is extremely proud of the success of the team,  Sharon spearheads the company’s dealings with the relevant industry bodies such as the Freight Transport Association to ensure that DHL’s views are communicated. Moving forwards, the team is supporting two major projects which will significantly change working procedures.

Karen Vernon - Company Director, Stalkers Transport Services Ltd

Karen leads a virtually all female office which she advocates as ultra-efficient thanks to women’s talent for multitasking! After working in administration, credit control and accounts she moved to the London traffic desk where it was very rare to have a woman in a traffic office during the early '90's. It was also virtually unheard of, at that time, to have a female HGV driver too – which her colleague Nicola undertook but now manages the traffic office herself over the weekend, overseeing drivers and warehouse operations. Meanwhile, team-member Pamela began at Stalkers on the Young Training Scheme when she was 16 years old, progressing to being a Manager in the Traffic Office where she runs the vehicles in the south of the country. The other member of the team, Elaine, is in charge of pallet operations, instructing a group of local drivers and managing the company’s pallet network and sub-contracting activities.  They have had a huge impact on the company by implementing induction and training processes and changing how recruitment is undertaken, thereby ensuring they have a higher calibre of drivers. In turn this has reduced the number of accidents and led to a decrease in insurance premiums and lost days due to injury. This has had a positive effect on the way drivers view the company as there is mutual respect.