[L-R] Jacquelene Brotherton, Trish Pickering Memorial
Award winner Frances Ross and Coralie Chapman.
Image: Westend Photography
At the Transport Women Australia Limited (TWAL) Living the Dream Conference held from May 30 to June 1 in Melbourne, TWAL celebrated it best conference ever.
We kicked off with a pre-conference lunch and tour of PACCAR Bayswater and concurrently ran a Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds session at the Hyatt Place.
These were followed by the Volvo welcome drinks where Senator Bridget McKenzie, Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, and Senator for Victoria, opened the conference.
Day One started with the opening keynote, Cindy Parker, director of operations for Americold Arkansas.
Cindy was followed by speakers from our Foundation Business Partners, Volvo and NTI and the TWAL partner organisations, NRWC, AGEC and HHTS.
We had a standout panel of Trish Pickering Memorial Award winners Phyllis Jones, Hazel Whitmore, Merry Manton, and Sharon Middleton.
They shared their amazing stories and brought laughter, tears, and inspiration to all.
The afternoon speakers were rounded out by RT Health, Viva Energy Australia, the NHVR and our joint venture partners Wodonga TAFE and Volvo.
Our first auction dinner was sponsored by Viva Energy Australia and conducted by veteran auctioneer, Denis Robertson, assisted by our MC, Natalie Loughborough.
The audience was cheered on to greater heights by Ellen Voie telling the story of the Green Bay Packers in two parts while we auctioned the Jordan Love jerseys and Cindy Parker leading everyone in the Arkansas Razorbacks cheer as we sold the Max Fletcher #31 jersey. It was an inspiring sight amid lots of laughter.
Day Two started with our Driving the Difference Scholarship sponsor Daimler Truck Australia Pacific represented by Lauren Tormey interviewing two former recipients – Joana Feiteira and Ainsleigh Thomas.
This was followed by NHVR’s Sal Petroccitto and cyber security expert, Hannah Bloomfield before a career panel about attracting people wanting to change careers led by former director, True Sawrey who was joined by the president of human resources, Linfox – Lauren Pemberton.
We had a TWAL update session which included myself, Coralie Chapman, and Samantha Palmer, TWAL co-founder and general manager, customer relations at Ron Finemore Transport and Raman Badekar an international consultant and TWAL mentor, frequent volunteer, and ardent TWAL supporter.
The penultimate session was a trade panel from PACCAR and Cummins about the amazing women in trades and how we attract and keep them.
Our closing keynote was the founder and former president and CEO of Women in Trucking USA, Ellen Voie on her amazing dream journey from the conception of her dream for the organisation and then building it to the incredible organisation it is today and the hard work and fun she has had along the way.
The conference was rounded off with the inaugural awards dinner on the Saturday night.
We started by announcing the 2024 Photo Winner – Corrina Riley.
Coralie Chapman and Lora Miller, on highway product manager Asia Pacific at Cummins South Pacific presented the inaugural Young Gunnette Award to Ainsleigh Thomas, NSW/ACT linehaul manager at StarTrack. Ainsleigh is an outstanding young woman and a deserving recipient of this award.
The final award was the 2024 Trish Pickering Memorial Award presented to Frances Ross.
She has devoted her life to the trucking industry, her family, Ross Transport, and her Illawarra community.
[signup]
The post Lots to celebrate at TWAL’s Living the Dream conference appeared first on Big Rigs.