Canadian driver recognized for her commitment to trucking, community, safety; award sponsored by Walmart

By Al Muskewitz
 
In a time of national emergency and worldwide uncertainty, Susie DeRidder was looking for some really good news to come into her life.
 
It arrived the middle of last week in a call from Ellen Voie, the president and CEO of the Women in Trucking, confirming her selection as the association's inaugural Female Driver of the Year.

“Oh, my, you should see the look on my face,” DeRidder said when told the news. “I am overwhelmed. I feel like I’ve won the Golden Globes in trucking. This is unbelievable. I really, really am so honored to represent Women In Trucking and everything Ellen does for us. 
 
“It really raised new height to my day with all the stresses we’ve been dealing with and trying to get the deliveries and everything done and dealing with all this virus right now … We’ve had so many down days and everybody trying to stay safe and all the social distancing and that’s been really hard trying to deal with all that and then to get that news it just uplifted my day to the top of my world.”

Voie announced the winner in a video on social media. She had hoped to make the announcement during the WIT's annual Salute to Women Behind the Wheel at the Mid-American Trucking Show, but those plans were scuttled when the Louisville show was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It still plans to salute women in the industry at the Great American Truck Show in Dallas this summer.
 
DeRidder was selected from a field of more than 100 nominees from across North America. The award is open to any female driver or contractor nominated by the motor carrier to which they’ve been leased or employed for the past three years, driven at least one million consecutive accident-free miles and been a positive role model for all drivers.
 
DeRidder has been driving for more than 40 years, the last seven hauling groceries and commodities throughout the Canadian Maritimes for Armour Transportation, with approximately 4 million accident-free miles. She got the news about winning the award on her way to making a delivery in Nova Scotia.
 
A former board member for the Women in Trucking Federation of Canada, she actively promotes the industry in media, speaking engagements and panels and conducts ride-alongs for lawmakers. She also takes apart in the Convoy for Hope Atlantic, last year raising a record $3,300 in donations for cancer research and awareness and leading the 35-truck Convoy – the first for a female driver – checking off a box on her bucket list after missing out on the honor the year by a mere $22 when the event's 50-50 winner donated his winnings to another driver’s fundraising effort at the last minute.
 
Armour president and CEO Wesley Armour called DeRidder “a great ambassador” for the company and the industry as a whole.

When she’s not on the road, DeRidder is talking up opportunities for women in the industry. She’s a huge proponent of the WIT’s Where’s Clare initiative that promotes careers as a professional driver to young girls.
 
“Trucking every day, I always like to say I’m carrying on my dad’s legacy,” she said. “I’d go on the truck with him, that’s how I got started. I used to look around and on the highways I would always see men behind the wheel; you’d never see a woman behind the wheel.
 
“I used to ask the question why isn’t there more women driving trucks and kind of carried that with me for the rest of my life. When I linked up with Ellen that really gave me a big opportunity to promote more women into the industry. It was always my legacy to do this.”
 
Women in Trucking is a non-profit association with nearly 5,500 members in 10 countries whose mission is to empower, encourage and support women in the trucking industry. Interestingly, more than 15 percent of its members are men.
 
The other finalists for the award were Carmen Anderson, a company driver with America’s Service Line, and Sarah Fiske of FedEx Freight.
 
Anderson, the first woman to be named Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association Solo Driver of the Year (2019) and winner of the 2015 South Dakota Truck Driving Championship, is trained to recognize and prevent human trafficking and has 2.5 million safe-driving miles. 
 
Fiske has logged nearly 1.2 million accident-free miles in her 14 years with FedEx Freight. She participates in numerous industry initiatives, including Trucker Buddy, Trees for Troops and the Drive for Freedom truck rodeos benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project. For the past seven years she has been playing Mrs. Claus to her husband's Santa spreading Christmas cheer to a variety of organizations in her community.
 
“All three of the women have done some amazing stuff, all were very well-deserving,” said Lori Furnell, Walmart’s director of supply chain talent acquisition and a member of the judging panel. “To hear (DeRidder's) excitement to know she’s being appreciated for her career was something.

"It is a tough environment and historically not a job a lot of females are willing to do, but these women show you can have the family relationship, a community relationship and a professional career. I just don’t think (women) know that’s available to them and what it means to them financially.”
 
The award is sponsored by Walmart, and is extension of the company’s commitment to supporting the advancement and recognition of women in the trucking industry. There are several women on the Walmart Road Team of professional drivers.
 
“We wanted women in the industry to know we’re here for them,” Furnell said. “We support them, we’re proud of them, we want to see the growth of women in the transportation industry and anything we can do to help that we want to be a part of.”
 
Walmart is looking to bring on 150,000 associates throughout its system nationwide. It is looking to grow its fleet of experienced professional drivers by more than 500, especially in the Northeast and Northwest, and women are encouraged to apply.
  
Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com

Click here for available truck driving jobs with Walmart.