Oregon Trucking Association

6 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 “We don’t work with CDL schools per se,” says Jarvis. “We are more of a finishing school. That’s the best way to describe it. We work with management at the trucking companies: their safety directors, their HR directors, folks who are involved in the industry at those kinds of levels in terms of everything from improving their professionalism, helping them be better speakers at their company meetings or how to manage more effectively their specific skill sets and understanding what all is involved in the job that they’ve been hired to do. We are focused on the company management pool rather than training drivers. But we work alongside the CDL schools.” Several trucking schools are members of the OTA. Jarvis advocates for them on their behalf at the level of the state legislature. Why is there a shortage of female drivers in the industry? Being a woman, Jarvis says she speaks for the industry. “I hope that helps,” she says. “I have five women- owned trucking companies that are members of our association. One is a former chairman of our organization inrecent history. One of them is an Oregon state legislator, so we have women in leadership in this state, focused on transportation and the trucking industry.” “They’re getting increasing visibility for their roles in doing that, and I think it’s a great start. If you think about trucking as a traditionally male-dominated industry, there are some very practical reasons why that was. If you look at the older trucks, it took a lot of strength to be able to drive a truck. It just did. I can tell you that, because many years ago when I first started my career, I was in the manufacturing industry, and we had a trucking division. I tried to drive one of those in our parking lot, and it took a lot of strength to be able to shift the gears!” Jarvis further highlights that truckers of all types are more valued nowadays, certainly post-COVID. “I think that we are much better appreciated as an industry today,” she concludes.