Women In Trucking Announces Finalists for 2020 Influential Woman in Trucking Award

The award highlights the achievements of female role models and trailblazers in the trucking industry

The Women In Trucking Association (WIT) and Freightliner Trucks announced six finalists for the 2020 Influential Woman in Trucking award. This is the tenth year for the award which was developed in 2010 as a way to honor female leaders and to attract and advance women in the trucking industry.

The award highlights the achievements of female role models and trailblazers in the trucking industry.

The 2020 Influential Woman in Trucking award finalists are:

• Crystal Anderson, owner, Donald D. Anderson Jr. Trucking 
• Kristy Knichel, CEO, Knichel Logistics
• Katrina Liddell, president of global forwarding and expedite operations in North America, XPO Logistics
• Vana Matte, senior vice president of engineering & technology, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. 
• Jodie Teuton, vice president, Kenworth of Louisiana/ Hino of Baton Rouge and Monroe
• Michal Yariv, vice president and general manager of strategic initiatives, Omnitracs, LLC

Crystal Anderson is the co-owner/partner of Donald D. Anderson Jr. Trucking. She continues to actively work the many roles within her trucking company alongside her husband who also drives for the company. Anderson has over 40 years of experience in the transportation industry. She is the daughter of a truck driver, the wife of a truck driver, the mother of a truck driver, and a driver herself.

Anderson attended Buena Visa College where she obtained her B.A. degree in Business and Finance. She also holds an Associates degree in Risk Management and Certified Director of Safety and still maintains her commercial driver’s license.

As an active member of the Nebraska Trucking Association, Anderson currently serves as the Executive Chairman.  She is also a member of the Nebraska Trucking Association’s Logistic Council and Nebraska Trucking Association’s newly formed Women’s Council where she actively participates in mentoring youth. 

Kristy Knichel, a lifelong Pittsburgh native, is a second-generation logistics executive. Since taking over as president of Knichel Logistics in 2007, Knichel has been the driving force behind their yearly growth and reputation as one of the top service providers within the IMC community. As of 2019, Knichel Logistics has grown to $83 million in revenue.

Knichel’s proudest accomplishments are winning the inaugural Distinguished Woman in Logistics Award from WIT and her appointment as the Intermodal Logistics Conference Chair on the TIA Board of Directors. She has recently been featured in Pittsburgh Magazine for Women in Business. For the second year in a row, she has received an award for the top 50 fastest growing companies in Pittsburgh.

Today, her focus is on expanding Knichel Logistics’ footprint via strategic development and continuing to offer her team members the opportunity for growth and self-improvement.

Katrina Liddell is president of the global forwarding and expedite operations of XPO Logistics in North America, and is the first woman president within the North American transportation group. Prior to her current role, she led XPO’s sales organization for North American transportation, including the national account management team. Liddell made the transition to the supply chain industry from the industrial technology sector, where she was initially one of the few woman executives with an engineering background.

During her 14-year tenure with Johnson Controls International, her positions included general manager of the global building automation systems business and senior roles in enterprise account management, vertical market development, operations and customer relations. She earned a juris master degree from Emory University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Vana Matte, senior vice president of engineering & technology at J.B. Hunt, is a global technology and digital transformation executive who leverages business-centric technology leadership to scale growth while safeguarding the business through cybersecurity expertise. Vana is a strategic, innovative leader with over 20 years of experience delivering competitive edge solutions on a global scale.

Vana leads the J.B. Hunt 360 digital freight matching platform infrastructure and operations, cyber security, cloud, network, business continuity, databases, unified communications engineering, digital workplace solutions, enterprise information management, software development and IT operations (DevOps) continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), quality assurance, and performance and tuning. Vana ensures J.B. Hunt driver technologies and shipper integration technologies are running effectively. Vana was instrumental in enabling J.B. Hunt employees to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jodie Teuton is the co-founder of Kenworth of Louisiana, a heavy-duty truck dealership group representing both Kenworth and Hino truck brands with seven Louisiana locations. Before devoting her professional career to the retail auto and truck business in 1997, she practiced law locally in South Louisiana. Teuton is a native of Terrebonne Parish where she currently lives with her husband and business partner, Scott Oliphant. She is also “Wonder Woman” to their daughter, Victoria, a Junior at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. 

Teuton received her B.S. in Business from Nicholls State University in 1987 and her J.D. from Loyola University in 1990.  She is passionate about business and proud to carry on her family’s legacy.  She is a past President of American Truck Dealers – ATD (a division of the National Auto Dealers Association) and currently represents Kenworth Dealers on the Board of Directors at ATD.        

Michal Yariv serves as vice president and general manager of strategic initiatives for Omnitracs. In this role, Yariv focuses on the development and implementation of value-added services and applications that can be deployed on top of the core Omnitracs products. Her teams utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and data capabilities to explore new avenues that continue to drive efficiency for Omnitracs customers in addition to top-line revenue growth.

Yariv brings a wealth of market knowledge, product strategy, and leadership to the team. Yariv has over 20 years of experience in transportation and technology. Prior to joining Omnitracs, she held leadership roles at Coyote Logistics (acquired by UPS) and Expedia. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Master of Science in IT, both from Northwestern University.

The judges for the 2020 award are Ellen Voie, WIT president and CEO; Deborah Lockridge, editor in chief, Heavy Duty Trucking; and Ruth Lopez, director of TMC North/ OMC Operations, Ryder Supply Chain and 2019 Influential Woman in Trucking award recipient. All six finalists will participate on a panel at the WIT Accelerate! Conference & Expo held virtually, Nov. 12 – 13, 2020. The winner will be announced after the panel discussion, “How Remarkable Women Unleash their Leadership Potential” on Friday, Nov. 13 at 9:15am CST

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