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1. Dana Achartz: An Inspirational Woman to Watch
in the Trucking Industry
Passion and work ethic can drive you to become a leader in your field. Good
leaders are hard to find. In this evolving world, more and more women are
climbing their way to the top of the ladder and taking on leadership roles.
Women leaders have created history. Breaking the stereotypes, discovering new
career paths, and setting new benchmarks, women leaders have become
unconventional and inspiring. Women in upper management and leadership
roles develop their stories and build empires that are setting the path for the
future.
Today, one such courageous and compelling woman leader, Dana Achartz is
the Director of Safety & Compliance of Commercial Transport, Inc.
Dana Achartz started her career in trucking safety almost two decades ago. An
out-of-the-box career option for women, she started auditing driver’s logs and
monitoring hours of service. She quickly discovered her passion for safety and
the desire to help truck drivers be safe on the roadways.

2. Her determination for her career didn’t let her sit ideal at all. She loves working
in the trucking industry and made herself available 24/7/365. As time
proceeded, she quickly become eager to learn more and be able to do more for
her team.
Dana Achartz believes, the littlest things are appreciated, and if she can help
make someone’s life easier and help everyone be safer on the road, that brings
her happiness. She is always willing to help.
Dana Achartz went on to obtain her CDS (Certified Director of Safety Certificate
from NATMI-North American Transportation Management Institute.). From day
one of her career in trucking, she has always been very driven to learn more and
to do more.
The love she has for her work has helped her grow her network and learn from
experts and leaders in her field. By hard work, dedication and long hours, she has
mastered her skills in problem-solving and public speaking.
Dana Achartz spills the beans of reality with her honest statement, “
We all go through trials and tribulations, good or bad everything has a lesson to be
learned. Every moment has a takeaway in it, you just have to figure out what the
lesson is in the moment.”
About Commercial Transport
Commercial Transport, Inc. is located in Belleville, IL. The organization is within
St. Louis, MO commercial zone and has easy access to Interstates 55, 64, & 70.
Its corporate office is also home to its central maintenance facility, a state-of-the-
art food-grade “Kosher Certified” tank wash, and its central dispatch operation.
In addition to its Belleville corporate office, the company operates terminals in
Cape Girardeau, MO, Indianapolis, IN, Mt. Vernon, IN & Muscatine, IA.
It currently operates approximately 125 tractors and 250 trailers. The largest
part of its trailer fleet is food-grade pneumatic trailers that are “Kosher Certified”
and dedicated to hauling food-grade dry bulk products. It hauls primarily food-
grade flour products. The balance of its trailers is dedicated to the hauling of
alcohol and petroleum products. Its food-grade fleet covers 48 states and Canada
while its liquid fleet is more regional and specialized.
Helping Your People Do The Right Thing

3. Dana’s goal has always been to help people. She works with a people-first
approach. Her key mantra lies in helping and growing together. She aims to be a
resource for all of her team members. As a leader, Dana has new standards of
leadership and teamwork by enabling complete transparency between her team
and her.
She states, “Whether it’s advice, another prospective, a call for help, or something
else, I always encourage them to call me regardless of what time it is or how silly
they think the question might be.”
Dana Achartz says “you never know until you ask.” Curiosity and engagement
will help one grow and do wonderful things. She is a firm believer that everyone
needs to step out of their comfort zones or they’ll never grow.
Dana Achartz is more than willing to help any day any time, no matter what, she
truly cares for everyone and wants them to succeed. She rather have them call
her for a quick five-minute conversation which brings them clarity opposed to
having them not know what to do and violate a regulation or a law because they
simply were not sure what the proper step forward would be.
She respects those she works with as they all teach or have taught her another
life lesson. Every day, she learns new things and it’s so exciting to see things from
a different perspective and another’s point of view. We’re all so different and we
see things differently.
Dana Achartz wants to do the right thing. We all should do the right thing. It’s the
right thing to do. You should always make the time to do things the right way and
you will have no regrets.
Not All Hero’s Wear Capes, Some Drive a Truck
The challenge Dana Achartz faces in her day-to-day operation is she always has a
ton of things to do. Most weeks, she has to reprioritize her to-do’s to see what
takes priority and what can wait until the next day. Her main focus is and always
will be the drivers. They’re the front lines and she will do everything she can to
help them with whatever they need to be safe on the road while they’re away
from their family.
Everyone in trucking has a job because of the drivers. They’re the reason we all
have a career. It’s important that we respect and appreciate them. Like the saying
goes, “Not all hero’s wear capes. Some drive a truck.”

4. The Importance of Teamwork
Dana Achartz reiterates that as a leader, it’s important to empower your team
and help everyone succeed in their careers.
A leader needs to do everything in their power to make sure team members have
the tools they need to be successful and guide them when they stumble. “Stumble
moments” are great because they provide growth. It feels great to conquer a
challenge. If a leader empowers their team, they thrive to be better and will be
energized to do more.
You have to emphasize the importance of teamwork. No one succeeds alone.
Everyone needs help getting there. As a team, we need to work together, share a
similar vision, and push everyone to move forward and achieve greatness
together. There’s no “I” in team.
Accomplishment is a beautiful thing. There are so many different personalities in
the workplace, and each one can contribute uniqueness to whatever problem one
is trying to solve as a team. Never take anyone for granted. Each role plays a vital
part in your team’s success. Every team member is a valuable resource and
contribution to that organization. By bestowing them with a sense of confidence,
the leader can assist them in excelling to their maximum potential.
My Team is my Second Family
Dana Achartz treats her work team like a second family. Her compassion towards
them is the same as that for her family. She states that we spend so much of our
lives at work, and happiness is essential there. It’s a great opportunity to learn
from each other, grow together, and help the company as a whole succeed. A
team is not merely just a value addition to an organization, it is one of the biggest
assets to the organization. And Dana Achartz is well-aware of this, treating her
team with utmost respect and appreciation.
Upcoming Aspirations
Dana Achartz has got three goals that she will start working towards this year.
She has got a couple of aspirations for which she is very excited.
1. Dana Achartz has taken on a few more new mentees. She mentors a few young
professionals who are either fairly new to their careers in the trucking industry
or those who desire guidance to be better in their careers. We talk about work

5. experiences, career development, personal and professional growth, and what
are the goals they aim to achieve. She gives them advice and insight on staying on
the path to success.
She enjoys this. It reminds her of coaching basketball years ago with the
Minneapolis Eagles Special Olympics. At the start of the season you help the
athletes build their skills, then by the end of the season, you watch them succeed
and apply what they’ve worked so hard for, new skills. It’s so amazing to watch
others grow and do wonderful things. Watching them build skills and grow their
career path is so rewarding. We need to celebrate every little achievement.
Everything has some sort of sacrifice we took to get there. Enjoy those moments.
ALWAYS!
2. Dana Achartz is going to take online classes and work towards getting her
ARM-Associates in Risk Management degree. This will help her view her role as a
leader in safety in a different light. She thinks it’ll bring a fresh new perspective
for her. Another opportunity to grow, learn more and be a better resource for
others.
3. Dana Achartz plans on writing a leadership book about Safety. After all, safety
is her superpower. She has so much knowledge and experience, and she would
love to help others better their careers and learn from her disappointments. In
her spare time, she reads leadership books and she always has many takeaways
she can apply to her career.
Encouraging, Supporting, and Representing Women
Outside of her day-to-day job, Dana Achartz is the President and a founding
member of the Women’s Coalition of the Illinois Trucking Association, which was
formed to bring more women into the industry. The coalition’s main purpose is
to serve as a resource for women and motor carriers in Illinois. As an industry
leader, she is an ideal example of an inspirational leader to watch for.
“When I was growing up, you didn’t see women around in the industry. Now,
women are realizing we can drive the trucks, we can work on the trucks, and can
run companies. There is so much opportunity for personal and professional growth
in our industry. Trucking is an amazing career; it’s inspirational, I love it.”
When it comes to recruiting more women into trucking, Dana Achartz states to
include more women in advertising and have women more active on the
marketing side of the business. The industry needs to do a better job at making
trucking more appealing towards women.

6. At the end of the day, safety remains the golden rule in commercial trucking.
Dana Achartz sees technology playing a vital and large role in preventing
fatalities on the roadway than it does today. She also emphasized the importance
of driver training and safety awareness.
“Training is different for every single individual, and the newer generations coming
in will need a lot more one-on-one attention than maybe seasoned drivers will
need,” she said.
During Women’s History Month, Dana Achartz shared a remarkable piece of
advice on more women joining the trucking industry.
“We’re out there, we want them to know that you can do this. You can drive the
truck, you can be a mechanic, you can do all of this, Said Dana with the coalition.
Passion for Trucking Comes from the Heart
Dana’s passion for trucking comes from the heart. Throughout her long-standing
career in the trucking industry, she has seen the golden days and now the
modern days, and experiencing this transformation has been a pleasure. She has
not only created a career that she was passionate about but also embarked on a
journey to lead and serve a bigger purpose.
“I was lucky enough to get a little taste of the old ways of trucking and then lucky
enough to be part of the big transition of ELDs over ten years ago as they were first
making their appearance in the industry. What an amazing change it’s been over
the years.”
In her career, she has helped companies build safety departments, design and
orchestrate driver new hire orientation, as well as perform all safety training and
technology transformations including training for ELDs.
“Throughout all of my safety knowledge, driver training and bringing awareness to
the public and frequent safety training with drivers, I truly believe throughout my
career of almost 20 years, somewhere out there, at some point, at least one life has
been saved. That one life is worth everything I do,” she said.