Distinctive girls within the transport & logistics trade have been recognised on the 2026 everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards, in affiliation with DSV and Amazon Relay. The celebrated London ceremony, attended by trade professionals, marked the nineteenth yr of this landmark programme that celebrates the ladies reworking the sector by way of their management and innovation.
The awards intention to encourage the following era of feminine expertise to pursue careers within the trade by spotlighting the profession alternatives at each stage, from apprenticeships to C-Suite. The trade is critically vital to the UK, producing round £192.9 billion for the economic system[4].
Regardless of this, progress nonetheless must be made to shut the gender hole, as girls account for under 27%[1] of the two.5 million-strong transport workforce[2] and 20% of the 2 million individuals working in logistics and warehousing[3].
Nicole Goodwin and Sophie Catto, Joint Managing Administrators of AllBright everywoman, mentioned: “There’s distinctive feminine expertise within the transport and logistics sector, and we’re proud to recognise the ladies who’re main big transformations of their companies and galvanizing the following era to comply with. This yr’s winners are excelling of their careers whereas actively altering the tradition of an trade that’s important to the UK economic system. With girls nonetheless accounting for simply 27% of the transport workforce and 20% of these working in logistics and warehousing, there’s extra work to do however we all know that the finalists and winners of this programme will proceed to prepared the ground in closing that hole and displaying the world what girls within the sector can obtain.”
The everywoman Girl of the Yr Award went to Lisa Corridor, Proprietor, Diamond Transport Audits and Compliance, from Alfreton. Lisa has lived and breathed all the pieces transport from a younger age, as her dad and mom ran a haulage and distribution firm within the Nineteen Seventies. She may even recognise the lorries pulling into the yard by the sound of their engines. As an entrepreneur, she performs a number one function in making the transport trade extra compliant, whereas championing and supporting greater than 1,100 girls by way of the one feminine transport supervisor community group within the nation.
Beginning out as a self-employed marketing consultant in 2001 with a single shopper, Lisa has constructed Diamond Transport Audits and Compliance right into a nationally-recognised enterprise, turning into a trusted professional supporting corporations by way of Public Inquiries earlier than the Visitors Commissioner and finishing up audits on behalf of that workplace. Quite than treating compliance as a tick-box train, she teaches operators why it issues, leaving them extra knowledgeable and higher outfitted to run their very own companies.
Alongside her consultancy work, Lisa created the UK’s first feminine transport supervisor assist and community group, which now has greater than 1,100 members. As one member places it: “Lisa created one thing we didn’t even realise we would have liked – a protected, supportive house for us to attach, ask questions and develop.” One other member describes how, earlier than becoming a member of the group, she felt fully alone, however has since constructed a community of ladies who perceive the challenges she faces, serving to her make higher choices and add worth to the companies she helps. By weekly calls, occasions and a judgement-free discussion board, Lisa has supported over 270 girls on their journey into the trade and into management roles, and in 2025 was recognised with the Girls in Motor Transport Mentor of the Yr Award. A lot of these she has supported now go on to information others themselves, extending her impression nicely past her direct involvement.
Adam Jones, Senior Industrial Director, UK Contract Logistics at DSV, mentioned: “The transport and logistics sector continues to evolve, and it’s encouraging to see extra girls moving into influential roles, driving innovation, difficult conventional obstacles, and serving to to form the way forward for our trade. At DSV, we’re dedicated to fostering an inclusive setting the place girls can develop, progress and thrive all through their careers. Whereas now we have made constructive strides as an trade, there’s nonetheless extra to do to make sure that gifted girls have the alternatives, assist, and visibility they deserve. Celebrating the success of those excellent girls is a vital a part of that journey. I want all finalists the easiest of luck and thank them for the constructive impression they proceed to make on our enterprise, our trade and the communities we serve.”
Vignesh Solairaj, Director, Provide Chain at Amazon Relay, mentioned: “At Amazon, we consider {that a} numerous and inclusive workforce is crucial to constructing the resilient provide chains of tomorrow. The ladies recognised at this yr’s awards are usually not solely excelling in their very own careers however are paving the way in which for others to comply with. We’re proud to assist the everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards as a result of applications like these shine a lightweight on the unbelievable expertise that exists throughout our trade and assist encourage the following era of feminine leaders to hitch and form the way forward for logistics.”
THE 2026 WINNERS ARE:
The Entrepreneur Award – sponsored by Amazon Relay
Jodie McDonald, Founder, Fetchmycaruk, from Liverpool.
After experiencing the challenges of needing protected, dependable transport, Jodie launched an expert driver-for-hire service, Fetchmycaruk, to permit individuals to be pushed safely in their very own autos, whether or not after an evening out, for medical appointments, or for individuals with disabilities preferring the consolation of acquainted environment. Past her enterprise achievements, she serves on the Liverpool Metropolis Council panel for Girls in Equality, mentoring aspiring feminine entrepreneurs and selling illustration in historically male-dominated sectors.
The Buyer/Passenger Award – sponsored by Go-Forward
Above & Past:
Yara Zoghaib, Senior Product Supervisor, RCM Financial Mannequin, Amazon, from Luxembourg
Yara joined Amazon as a monetary analyst in 2021 and has since develop into the driving drive behind a number of the most important pricing improvements in its service market. When charges plummeted and carriers started strolling away, she constructed a data-driven flooring pricing mannequin from scratch that reversed the decline, delivering a surge in lively carriers and securing 99% product acceptance charges throughout Amazon’s most important peak intervals. Her payout calculator software, launched at Amazon’s first Quick Ahead Contracts Summit, helped to convey important numbers of latest carriers onto the platform. Exterior her day job, she has accomplished Amazon’s Girls’s Management Programme and makes some extent of mentoring feminine interns navigating their means within the trade.
Chief:
Sheri Hickmott , Deputy Supervisor Operations, FedEx, from Kent
Sheri’s FedEx journey started when she was 17 and commenced working as a warehouse handler whereas finding out at school, and by no means left. Now Operations Supervisor on the firm’s Aylesford station, she has labored her means by way of virtually each frontline function throughout a number of websites, constructing an distinctive understanding of the end-to-end operation alongside the way in which. She leads a fancy operation chargeable for delivering and accumulating hundreds of packages day by day and is understood for setting clear expectations and creating groups the place individuals really feel supported and empowered to progress. A mom of 4 kids beneath ten, she overtly demonstrates that it’s doable to steer a demanding operational function and progress in your profession whereas sustaining a wholesome work-life stability, difficult outdated perceptions of management and galvanizing different girls to consider they’ll succeed with out compromising their private values.
The Infrastructure Award
Above & Past:
Carly Cowell, Head of Europe Development High quality, Amazon, from London
Carly joined Amazon as a graduate affiliate in 2003 and has risen over 22 years to steer the Constructing Infrastructure High quality programme for Worldwide Shops. In that function, she has delivered important enhancements in constructing high quality requirements throughout the worldwide logistics community. Past her operational achievements, she has mentored over a dozen girls throughout the UK, EU and North America, supporting their profession development and management confidence. Exterior of labor, she serves as a Non-Commissioned Officer within the Royal Logistics Corps and is one in every of solely a handful of feminine drivers within the Armed Forces Karting Championship.
Chief:
Emma Kolahi, Senior HR Enterprise Accomplice Wales, Royal Mail, from Cheshire
Emma’s Royal Mail profession began 13 years in the past as a part-time postie on a short lived contract, having beforehand labored as a major faculty instructor, and has risen to develop into Senior HR Enterprise Accomplice overseeing greater than 7,000 operational workers throughout Wales and the Marches. Her area grew to become the primary within the UK to pilot Royal Mail’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Programme and suicide consciousness workshops in partnership with nationwide charity Baton of Hope – initiatives which have since formed coverage throughout the organisation. She launched a Girls in Operations Improvement Programme after listening to feminine colleagues about obstacles to development, leading to promotions inside and past Royal Mail. Away from work, she based the Neonatal Dad or mum Group on the Countess of Chester Hospital and sits on the NHS Dad or mum Advisory Group for the North West, shaping the design of future neonatal items.
The Provide Chain Award
Above & Past
Silvia Villalobos Tellez, Supervisor, Fleet Merchandise, Amazon, from Madrid
With over a decade of expertise at international logistics giants FedEx and Amazon, Silvia has constructed a fame for creating methods that ship lasting impression. At Amazon, she led a transformational yr for its managed transport programme that delivered tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in financial savings and is now regarded internally as a worldwide success story. Getting back from maternity depart in 2024, she was instantly entrusted with a brand new function and scope in Madrid, delivering a strong strategic plan inside two months whereas managing a nine-figure price range, demonstrating that profession development and motherhood are usually not mutually unique. By her function as a school member in Amazon’s Girls Management Programme and co-founder of Liderando en Femenino, an editorial initiative sharing the tales of feminine leaders, she is dedicated to lifting others.
Chief
Katherine Skidmore, Government Director of Operational Excellence & Programme Administration, Unipart, from Lichfield, Staffordshire
Katherine has risen over 17 years at Unipart from workforce chief to Government Director of Operational Excellence and Programme Administration, overseeing main challenge exercise throughout the availability chain specialist. Her observe document contains turning round a loss-making expertise sector account to profitability inside 4 months and dramatically enhancing its service ranges within the course of. A passionate advocate for ladies in logistics, her mentorship has straight supported a number of girls into senior roles at Unipart, together with one who began as an apprentice and now heads up digital innovation and one other who joined as company workers and now leads manufacturing management for a serious automotive shopper. She is constantly on the forefront of Unipart’s celebration of key consciousness days, comparable to Worldwide Girls’s Day, offering inspiration and perception.
The Warehousing Award – sponsored by B&M
Above & Past
Hayley Nicholson, Head of Operations SU, GXO, from Northampton
Hayley started her logistics profession as a enterprise administration apprentice in 1999 and has risen over 27 years to develop into Head of Operations at GXO’s Sherburn web site, one of many firm’s largest UK operations. Since moving into the function in 2024, she has led 13 new buyer start-ups in fast succession, together with relaunching a serious ecommerce shopper’s on-line gross sales channel in simply 5 weeks. She has additionally pushed a 96% worker engagement rating throughout the location, straight supported two girls into senior administration promotions by way of one-to-one mentoring, and helped elevate greater than £50,000 for Martin Home Youngsters’s Hospice over the previous three years. She is a frontrunner who builds high-performing groups, transforms buyer operations, and champions a tradition the place everybody, notably girls, can thrive
Chief
Brenda Sunley, Managing Director, Storage & Fulfilment Providers Ltd, from Fradley, Lichfield, Staffordshire
Brenda was appointed Managing Director of SFS, a family-owned 3PL warehousing specialist, in January 2025, and has helped to develop the enterprise from start-up to a multi-million-pound operation using 30 individuals throughout 4 warehouses. Her tenure has included main a workforce of 65 to supply a million NHS face visors per week in the course of the pandemic, described by the client as world-class, and he or she has proven exceptional private resilience, returning to the helm after breaking her neck in a horse using accident in 2019. She has since constructed a three-strong feminine administration workforce that now runs the enterprise day-to-day.
The Business Champion Award
Jennifer Swain, Director of Expertise, Improvement and HR, Street to Logistics, from Liverpool
Jennifer is devoted to serving to individuals who face obstacles to employment discover careers in logistics. As a Director at Street to Logistics, a not-for-profit offering fully-funded HGV and warehousing coaching, she has helped ship 580 graduates in 5 years, of whom 87% at the moment are working within the sector, and serving to to sort out the expertise scarcity within the trade. Earlier than becoming a member of, she spent 4 years as Head of Expertise at Clipper Logistics, rising the workforce from 3,000 to 9,000 and introducing greater than 1,000 hires by way of a programme designed to open logistics roles to individuals beforehand locked out of the trade. A lot of this was centered on introducing extra versatile working and school-hour-friendly shift patterns. A founder member of Girls in Logistics, she has helped drive feminine HGV graduates at Street to Logistics to twenty%, towards a nationwide common of simply 2% feminine truck drivers.
Male Agent of Change – sponsored by Asda
Martin Wannell, Assistant Common Supervisor, Wincanton/GXO, from Chippenham
Martin has used his senior management place to drive measurable change in gender illustration within the transport and logistics sector. By difficult the language utilized in job adverts, interviews and gives, he achieved a 15% enhance in girls in roles throughout each the operational workforce and administration. When his workforce introduced what was described as the most effective Quarterly Enterprise Assessment in a nine-year shopper partnership, the management workforce doing so was a 50/50 gender cut up. He has straight mentored a number of girls into management roles, together with supporting a transport supervisor with 18 years’ expertise who had been neglected for formal recognition to finish her CPC qualification, unlocking her profession development. A father of three daughters, Martin overtly shares his studying and experiences to create workplaces the place colleagues really feel protected to talk up.
Apprentice Award
Kenesha Francis, Mentor, Go-Forward London, from Beckenham, London
Kenesha dreamed of turning into a bus driver from the age of 17, however spent years working in retail administration and safety to offer monetary stability for her household earlier than lastly pursuing her ambition. Becoming a member of Go-Forward London as an apprentice, she was the one particular person in her cohort to realize her PCV licence and have become the primary feminine apprentice accepted onto the corporate’s aggressive pre-promotion course. She went on to win the Apprentice Excellent Buyer Service Award and was appointed to assist create the corporate’s first female-led mentor workforce, supporting new drivers throughout all 11 routes at Croydon storage. She actively helps recruitment occasions and women-only cohorts, sharing her story to point out that girls, moms and grandmothers can thrive and lead in transport.
The Tech and AI Innovator – sponsored by Amazon
Lisa Johnson, Vice President, World Public Affairs, Starship Applied sciences, from Leeds
Lisa is World Vice President for Public Affairs at Starship Applied sciences, the world chief in autonomous supply robots, the place she has performed an instrumental function in taking the corporate from start-up to scale-up. Lisa spent a decade within the commerce union motion earlier than making a profession change at 40 and now leads go-to-market technique, international regulatory improvement and social acceptance campaigns for a fleet of three,000 robots that has remodeled ten million deliveries throughout eight nations. Her work has opened main new markets, together with unlocking Germany as a scalable business market and serving to change the regulation in Finland, the place 800 robots now ship as far north because the Arctic Circle. She has constructed accessibility into the corporate’s engineering pipeline from the outset, established advisory panels throughout the US and Europe to place lived expertise on the coronary heart of product improvement, and leads a workforce that’s majority girls, a tradition she has intentionally constructed so that everybody can thrive.
Worldwide Inspiration Award
Niroshini De Silva, Senior Supervisor Enterprise Improvement, Spectra Logistics Pvt Restricted, from Kaduwela, Sri Lanka
When Niroshini joined Spectra Logistics in Sri Lanka in 2022, she didn’t simply develop new enterprise however really helped to form nationwide commerce infrastructure. Working with the nation’s customs authority and Ministry of Finance, she secured Sri Lanka’s third Public Bond facility and grew its utilisation from zero to 83% inside two years. She additionally designed an modern bulk transport resolution to ship 5,000 metric tonnes of product to Unilever Sri Lanka, changing conventional containerised actions and delivering substantial price financial savings. Away from her business function, she serves on the manager committee of WISTA Sri Lanka, the place she launched a careers programme creating structured pathways for feminine college students into maritime, transport and logistics. Niroshini’s private mission is to encourage girls to pursue and thrive in logistics and provide chain careers, whereas contributing to sustainable trade progress at nationwide and worldwide ranges.
The Freight Award
Above & Past
Sally Ede, Head of Terminals, UK, DSV Street Ltd, from London
Sally leads seven nationwide terminals and greater than 150 workers as Head of Terminals UK at DSV, constantly moving into complicated, high-pressure environments to create stability and drive efficiency. Her senior director describes her as somebody who takes private possession of challenges others may step again from, whether or not navigating useful resource shortages, supporting a struggling web site or resetting efficiency expectations. Recognized for a people-first method that fuels operational excellence, Sally has championed girls and underrepresented teams lengthy earlier than it grew to become trade commonplace, utilizing her platform to drive illustration and open doorways for others. As her nominator mentioned: “Sally raises the bar in every single place she goes.”
Chief
Amanda Unsworth, CEO / MD, Trinity Logistics, from Liverpool
Amanda began her profession on the Liverpool docks aged 17 and has since gone on to discovered Trinity Logistics, a freight and logistics firm turning over £42 million, with places of work in Liverpool and China. After 25 years of rising by way of the ranks, she was handed over for promotion and responded by launching a enterprise herself. She has intentionally constructed a female-led administration workforce, mentors feminine apprentices and works with Liverpool faculties to introduce younger individuals to careers in freight and logistics. A vocal advocate for inexperienced logistics, she champions the usage of Liverpool’s ports, rail freight and regional hubs to cut back carbon impression and led a Liverpool Metropolis Area commerce mission to China to advertise sustainable logistics partnerships.
Sustainability Champion Award – sponsored by DSV
Jen Hunt, Sustainability Director, Unipart, from Haddenham, Buckinghamshire
Jen has served as Sustainability Director at Unipart, the availability chain specialist, since 2022, main the corporate’s drive towards its 2040 net-zero objectives and overseeing a 39% discount in its carbon footprint. Below her management, Unipart grew to become the primary organisation to win the British Security Council’s Sword, Protect and Globe awards, recognising finest follow in security, wellbeing and sustainability, for 3 consecutive years. Past her environmental work, she has utilized Unipart’s provide chain experience to social causes, establishing a everlasting base for baby safeguarding charity Railway Youngsters on the firm’s Crewe web site and partnering with Trussell to enhance the effectivity of meals financial institution operations throughout the UK.
1. Girls in Transport: Fairness Index 2025
2. Future Abilities Evaluation For The Transport Sector: July 2024
3. Storage Tools Producers Affiliation: Celebrating Girls in Warehouse and Logistics
4. Trans.information: UK logistics sector contributes £170bn to economic system & United Kingdom GDP From Transport
5. Logistics UK: Employees shortages halting the wheels of logistics
