CAGTC is celebrating Women’s History Month by profiling two of our own great female leaders, Rachel Vandenberg of Dewberry and Erin Aleman of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP).  Vandenberg and Aleman both serve on CAGTC’s Board of Directors, providing us the benefit of their expertise and perspectives while guiding the organization through its 20^th year and beyond.

A huge gap remains between the number of women and men working in the logistics and transportation sector. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020, of the 8.5 million workers in the transportation and utilities industry, women made up just 24 percent. Both Vandenberg – a licensed professional engineer specializing in port and intermodal  development – and Aleman – an urban and regional planner in America’s freight rail hub, Chicago – have deftly navigated their respective careers in the traditionally male-dominated freight & logistics field and earned their positions as industry leaders.

As senior vice president and national director for ports and intermodal for the nationwide professional services firm Dewberry, Vandenberg advances goods movement infrastructure across highway, rail, and marine networks. With more than 25 years of strategic planning, engineering, and project management across multiple modes, she offers an expert understanding of the complex transportation networks that support the economic and social viability of our communities. She has managed relationships with a diverse client base that includes state departments of transportation, self-help counties, regional transportation and transit agencies, class-one railroads, cities, private operators and developers, and port authorities.

In 2019, Aleman was appointed unanimously to lead CMAP as the agency’s third executive director. In addition to being the first woman to serve as CMAP’s executive director, she is also the first professional planner to lead the agency. She has come full circle by rejoining CMAP, where she began her remarkable ascent fresh out of graduate school in 2007 as the agency’s Phillip D. Peters Regional Planning Fellow. Aleman brings more than a decade of accomplishments in developing transportation and land use policies to the agency as it embarks on implementation of ON TO 2050, the region’s long-term comprehensive plan to help the seven counties and 284 municipalities of northeastern Illinois improve quality of life.

Some common themes emerge when discussing leadership lessons with Vandenberg and Aleman. Whether transportation planning or engineering, it’s more about the people than the transportation mode, as all of our lives revolve around transportation and logistics. Each shares a passion for how infrastructure can facilitate a better quality of life and the role transportation plays in supporting the economic and social viability of our communities. Finally, the support of family was viewed as a critical success factor as their careers blossomed.

Our CAGTC staff sat down (virtually, of course) with Vandenberg and Aleman to gain their unique industry perspectives. Here are their insights:

CAGTC Staff: Is there one mentor whom you would point to as helping advance your career, and how did that person influence you?

Aleman: There are so many people who have influenced me and helped me along my career path. Because we are talking about freight, I’d have to say my dad, Sam. He retired last year after 30 years with UPS in Michigan. His dedication to making sure people on his route got their packages on time is always so amazing to me – especially because his job was both the first and last mile connection. While the number of packages grew over the years, he still made his job about the people. That’s one thing I learned from him.

Vandenberg: I’ve had several mentors that helped me grow in different ways at different points in my career. One mentor who jumps to the forefront was one of my first supervisors, Diane Steinhouser, who at the time was the newly promoted resident engineer for a significant Caltrans construction contract. Diane encouraged me to use my judgment to make time-critical decisions in the field. She provided a backstop to keep me out of trouble, advised me quickly and privately when she would have done something “differently,” and, through her actions, made sure that the contractor respected my authority. She put a lot of trust in me and challenged me to live up to that trust.

CAGTC Staff: For years the freight and logistics industry has been male dominated. Are there perspectives or skills that you believe women offer the industry that were previously missing?

Vandenberg: While men and women can both engage a range of traditional “masculine” and “feminine” management and problem-solving styles, I think women often seek a broader concurrence and coalitions to develop solutions that take advantage of multiple viewpoints.

Aleman: Whether your passion is numbers related or creative problem solving, there’s something for everyone. As women, we often sell ourselves short when it comes to the skills necessary to thrive in industries that are traditionally thought of as male-dominated.

CAGTC Staff: What do you believe will be the biggest challenge for the generation of women behind you?

Vandenberg: First, often there are fewer female role models, so women don’t have as many mentors to model behavior and style. Women can be lumped together as a monolith, so future women leaders need to be deliberate in defining their own success. Second, my professional success depended to a great extent on personal support from my partner and my family.

Aleman: I am consistently inspired by the young women in our organization – their passion and commitment to the field and making it better and more inclusive, not just for those working in the industry, but also for the public for whom we work. As for the biggest challenge, we are on the cusp of a major transition in our industry – electrification, automation, and the need for more resilient infrastructure. My hope is that we are putting the building blocks in place so that the next generation can run with them.

CAGTC Staff: What piece of advice would you give to women considering a career in your field?

Aleman: First, I would highly encourage any young woman contemplating the transportation, freight, and/ or logistics industry to give it a shot. There’s no better way to make an impact on your community than by getting involved in planning. I have a passion for the public side of planning because you’re able to help shape policy in a meaningful way. My perspective is that you can’t have lasting solutions unless you invite everyone to the table to be a part of the conversation.

Vandenberg: I was drawn to transportation because engineering solutions for our transportation system, by their very nature, require an understanding of the people and industries that use them. My advice to young women, and men, who are interested in transportation is to be ever curious and to seek new solutions to old problems, and new ones. We need the curiosity and inspiration of the next generation.

CAGTC Staff: Are there any questions on this topic that we should have asked, but didn’t?

Vandenberg: How can women’s voices best be heard in a male-dominated industry?

In a male- dominated industry, women’s views may sometimes be dismissed off-hand or women can be judged harshly for speaking with authority or showing ambition. This is where other women and our male colleagues can provide real support, often simply by being mindful to this tendency. The voices of our women in our industry can offer their greatest value only when they are heard.

Aleman: What would the world look like if more women — and members of other under-represented groups — worked in the transportation and planning fields?

As a mom, I spent lots of time pushing my kids around in strollers. It gave me an entirely new perspective on how our transportation infrastructure is largely focused on able-bodied people. Curb-cuts, ramps, elevators, sidewalks – these are critical elements that improve quality of life for people of all ages, stages of life, and abilities. This is the perspective we miss when we have a homogenous group of people building places. Our infrastructure also impacts who feels welcome and where. One of the core principles of our region’s 2050 plan is to have a region that is more inclusive, which is why our team works collaboratively with communities to build in that broad perspective from the beginning of our projects. I try to remind myself to ask who is missing from the conversation before we begin.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced on February 16 it is seeking applicants for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 round of the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) discretionary grant program. INFRA grants will fund transportation projects of national and regional significance that are in line with the Biden Administration’s priorities including creating good-paying jobs, improving safety, applying transformative technology, and explicitly addressing climate change and racial equity. The funding available for this year’s grants totals approximately $889 million.

The Department recognizes the role that infrastructure investment plays in economic development and job creation, and the added urgency of this funding at time when the COVID-19 pandemic has put stress on state and local budgets.

“As we work to recover and emerge from this devastating pandemic stronger than before, now is the time to make lasting investments in our nation’s infrastructure,” said Secretary Buttigieg. “We are committed to not just rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, but building back in a way that positions American communities for success in the future—creating good paying jobs, boosting the economy, ensuring equity, and tackling our climate crisis. The INFRA grant program is a tremendous opportunity to help achieve these goals."

Read the full release here.