Pictured L to R: Kevin McGrath, VP Dedicated Operations; Marcy Sauer, Trainee Graduate; Barbara Anderson, Driver Finisher; Mike Holloway, President & CEO
Women Driving at Blackhawk Pave the Way for Safety and Training Program Enhancements
Beloit, WI: In June of 2014, Barbara Anderson joined the Blackhawk Transport Team. Since that time she has successfully driven over 675,000 miles accident free. Barbara is a model professional driver and individual that Blackhawk Transport is proud to have as a member of the team. In 2019, five years into her career at Blackhawk Transport, Barbara was asked to take on a new role as a Driver Finisher to train new drivers coming into the career field; instructing them on basic and advanced professional driving skills. Barbara’s responsibilities involve taking a new to minimal experienced CDL qualified professional driver through an extensive twelve-week training course and guiding them to ensure the trainee develops into a safe, courteous, professional and skilled driver who is thoroughly familiar with the company’s policy and procedures; as well as, FMCSA rules and regulations.
In early June of 2019, the Blackhawk Transport team was presented with an exceptional candidate to initialize the first trainee through Blackhawk Transport's Driver Finishing Program. That individual, Marcy Sauer came to Blackhawk Transport after being a teacher for years prior to beginning her professional driving career. Marcy passed her CDL qualification test in February of 2019 and then proceeded to take a driving course in the state of Oregon that comprised of 160 hours of instruction over three weeks. After joining the Blackhawk Team, Marcy successfully completed her orientation, which included her first week of the Driver Finishing Program and then was placed into a 40-hour course at our training partner, a Certified CDL Training School, Blackhawk Technical College in Beloit, WI. Marcy was then paired with Barbara Anderson to complete the remainder of her twelve-week training program that would develop skills, week-over-week, to facilitate her learning and growth as a professional CDL driver allowing her to work in a safe and efficient manner to perform her duties now and in the future. Marcy Sauer began her third week of training on July 13th near Longview, TX and completed her training on September 20th in Longview, TX where she was placed as a team driver on one of Blackhawk Transport’s Accounts.
This training program opens up new capabilities to provide employment for an understaffed career field. Blackhawk Transport is excited and honored to have Barbara Anderson as a Driver Finisher for their team and Marcy Sauer as their first successful graduate of the program. In a career field where women are making a huge impact to improve the quality of professional drivers on America’s Interstates, Highways and Roadways, Blackhawk Transport would like to congratulate Barbara and Marcy on their successes and for paving the way of the Safety and Training Program Enhancements at Blackhawk Transport.