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Congresswoman Beatty Leads COMTO Group of Women Who Move the Nation
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty Leads Group of COMTO ‘Women Who Move the Nation’
The Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) recognized the 2019 honorees of Women Who Move the Nation on March 20 in Washington, D.C. This year marked the eighth year COMTO hosted the Celebrating Women Who Move the Nation program, started in 2012 by former COMTO President & CEO, the late Julie Cunningham. The program celebrates and acknowledges the leadership roles women increasingly play in the transportation industry, and honors individual women who are making significant contributions to the industry. Ten additional honorees in 2019 brings the total to 75 women from the public, private and nonprofit sectors who have been honored by COMTO for making a positive impact in the transportation industry.
COMTO Celebrating Women Who Move the Nation honorees: (front row, l to r) – Jacqueline Dupont-Walker, Honorable Joyce Beatty, Jannet Walker-Ford, Carol Wise, Meshelle Howard. (Top row, l to r) – J. Somer Shindler, Gabriele Mack, Trudy Bartley, Debra Johnson, Elsa Ortiz. (Photo courtesy of COMTO)
“It is a privilege to recognize such skilled and dedicated nominees,” said Tanya Adams, Celebrating Women Who Move the Nation Chair and Vice President of Community Relations & Diversity at Central US, WSP USA. “When we selected this year’s honorees, we knew that each of them had a story to tell about strength, fairness and determination. In their stories we find the essence of equality and they help us to renew our dedication to achieving parity for all.”
The Honorable Joyce Beatty, U.S. Representative (D-Ohio), led the 2019 group of honorees and provided the keynote speech to hundreds of guests during a breakfast program at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Beatty received COMTO’s Shirley DeLibero Award, recognizing her leadership role in helping the city of Columbus, Ohio, win the U.S. Department of Transportation Smart City Challenge. Columbus received a $40 million grant from USDOT for winning the competition and is using the grant to leverage additional funding to invest $100 million in Central Ohio to become the nation's first city to fully integrate innovative technologies like self-driving and internet-connected automobiles into the transportation network.
Beatty also was honored for her efforts to help the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) secure a $37 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration for the CMAX Bus Rapid Transit line in the Greater Columbus area. The CMAX Bus Rapid Transit line connects more than 331,000 residents and 170,000 workers to jobs, healthcare, schools and communities. Congresswoman Beatty has been a stalwart advocate for diversity and inclusion in all aspects of society and is currently chair of the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion in the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. She is also the First Vice-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Beatty’s keynote speech referenced her own journey following in the footsteps of historic women like civil rights icon Rosa Parks in leading the nation forward in transportation. She recalled the struggle of Rosa Parks taking courageous actions of protest that got her arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus, an action that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott; a key moment in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Beatty encouraged women to continue to strive to make significant contributions in the industry and to ‘rise up’ to even greater heights to promote participation and equality in the industry. Beatty also shared her successful work within her congressional district to honor Parks by renaming a section of North High Street, a major thoroughfare in the center of downtown Columbus, as Rosa Parks Way – as a way to commemorate the role Parks played in the nation’s history.
“Women have been a leading force in transportation, and their stories of greatness are a significant part of American transportation history,” Beatty said. “Still today, women are helping ‘move the nation’ because of the dedicated efforts of COMTO and many others. That is why I was so honored to be recognized by
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio, 3rd District) was presented with the Shirley DeLibero Award during the 2019 COMTO Celebrating Women Who Move the Nation awards program.
COMTO as a 2019 ‘Women Who Move the Nation’ honoree, and in that spirit I will continue my efforts in Central Ohio and Congress to build new roads, highways, bridges, and the like all across this great country.” COMTO’s other 2019 honorees include a cohort of accomplished, professional women from a variety of industry segments, making their own impact on transportation.
“Our advocacy organization takes great pride in honoring these notable women,” said A. Bradley Mims, COMTO President & CEO. “Their leadership and commitment to the advancement of diversity and inclusion in the transportation industry boosts COMTO’s mission every day, all across the nation.”
From left, COMTO President & CEO A. Bradley Mims, 2019 Honoree Meshelle Howard and BWI Airport CEO Ricky Smith network after the Celebrating Women Who Move the Nation awards ceremony.
Photo courtesy of COMTO
