"Women in Transportation: Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement," hosted by the University of Denver’s National Center for Intermodal Transportation, is set for Wednesday, April 9, at the Cable Center in Denver.

Sherri LeBas, Louisiana's secretary of transportation, will keynote the opening session, while Marcia Ferranto, CEO of the Women’s Transportation Seminar, will keynote the close. The summit runs from 1-6:15 pm. Registration is $50 at ncit.msstate.edu/events/events_16.html.

The conference is designed to showcase the best practices that industry leading organizations and companies have developed to recruit, retain and promote women in the transportation industry. Highly successful women will describe their path to achieving their goals within the transportation industry and outline lessons learned and best practices for others interested in replicating their results.

Panel sessions will discuss women in transportation in public, private, and academic sectors. Moderating those panels will be Michelle Livingstone, vice president of transportation for The Home Depot; Kathryn Waters, executive vice president of member services for the American Public Transportation Association; and Karen Philbrick, Ph.D., deputy executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University.

Other scheduled speakers include Adriene Bailey, vice president of business development for Yusen Logistics; Anita L. Doney, senior manager, international logistics & transportation for Walmart; Jill Hough, PhD, adjutant professor at North Dakota State University; Marie Lacertosa, senior vice president of supply chain for JCPenney Corporation; Natalie Putnam, vice president of marketing for Ryder Systems; Patrick Sherry, PhD, executive director of NCIT; Pauletta Tonilas, director of public relations for RTD-Denver; and others.

Besides NCIT and the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver, sponsors for the event include the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University, the Mountain Plains Consortium at South Dakota University, and the Women’s Transportation Seminar.