NEWS

1st woman chair of truckers’ board looks to enhance training, education

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 2/1/23

Debora Babin Katz has broken a gender barrier, becoming the first female to chair the Board of Directors in the 92-year history of the Rhode Island Trucking Association.

But that’s not what …

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NEWS

1st woman chair of truckers’ board looks to enhance training, education

Posted

Debora Babin Katz has broken a gender barrier, becoming the first female to chair the Board of Directors in the 92-year history of the Rhode Island Trucking Association.

But that’s not what Babin Katz is looking to be remembered for as she assumed her two-year term following her election a week ago Tuesday. She names the association’s foundation and its goal to support the education and training of tuckers a key goal of her administration. She is looking to build the foundation’s board of trustees, enhance education scholarships and develop programs.

Babin Katz is not a trucker, although she knows a lot about trucks and is intimately involved with the industry.

She and her partner developed a devise, TrucBrush, which clears the snow off the top of truck trailers, saving truckers from having to climb on top of their rigs and ensuring motorists following trucks from cakes of snow blinding them as they sent airborne. The first of the hydraulically powered brushes that attaches to a frontend loader was built in 2013 and by 2015 they were selling them to truck suppliers or directly to truckers.

This winter hasn’t been great for the sale of the brushes that cost $24,000 in these parts, but as Babin Katz says “thankfully” there’s been plenty of snow north of here.

RITA President Chris Maxwell points out this is not Babin Katz’s “first rodeo.” Maxwell said she was instrumental in the success of the Women in Trucking Foundation.

 “RITA's Foundation was a ship without a rudder until she came along, and now we have a Captain.  I look forward to watching her navigate with greatness. I am excited as the Debora Babin Katz era begins as her legacy, a first in so many ways, begins to take root.  With her leadership and talent in place, we can channel our energies to serve the greater good of trucking which has a pretty large impact on the greater good of all," Maxwell said in a statement.

Babin Katz did not care to talk about the truckers’ successful federal court challenge of the state’s truck tolls that were implemented to largely fund former Gov. Gina Raimondo’s $6.5 billion RhodeWorks program to repair or replace more than 250 state bridges. The state immediately shut down the toll gantries and has since appealed the decision.

Katz looks to put that issue “on the shelf.”

She said her focus is on “now” and it’s time “to move on.”

“We will focus on growing the foundation's fund to Move Minds by expanding our education scholarships including the Lena Daly/WIT Foundation Scholarship and the John J. Gill Scholarship, in the area of transportation; developing apprenticeship and career development programs and educating the public about the amazing career opportunities in the transportation industry,” she said in a statement. “We will continue to strengthen our relationship with URI’s Supply Chain program and the national Women In Trucking Foundation as part of these initiatives, which will assist our members in addressing a significant challenge they face today: labor shortages.”

The Rhode Island association is 500 members strong. She said there are – 17,520 trucking jobs in the state or one out of 22 jobs.

Babin Katz, who succeeds Attorney Michael Kiselica as Chair, will serve a two-year term for RITA, the exclusive Rhode Island affiliate of the American Trucking Associations.

truckers, chair

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