In my March message in the ITE Journal, I invited members to share their favorite women in transportation via the ITE Community or social media. I have heard from several of you and will share them with the broader membership so that we can all learn more about trailblazers in our profession. Martin Pietrucha, who was my Ph.D. faculty advisor at Penn State, shared via Twitter that he always thought highly of Lillian Boronne. He shared a wonderful article on her that I encourage you to read. Lillian become the director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Port Commerce Department in 1988. She was the first woman in the world to head a major port and during her 12-years in the leadership position, she revitalized the port’s cargo trade. She was responsible for spearheading the recovery of a faltering entity through vision, astute marketing, and an inclusive, participatory management style. Her achievements contain valuable lessons for all managers who want to revitalize agency operations. She served in a multitude of roles in a broad range of organizations across the public sector, learning valuable skills along the way and refusing to listen to a supervisor who told her facilities management was no place for a woman. She was also an advocate for women in transportation, forming an internal women's equity group in the Port Authority to prepare women for senior management and she helped form Women's Transportation Seminar in the 1970's.
When reading about Lillian, her philosophy of collaboration resonated with me. She argued that “the social complexity of our transportation problems requires a more open and social process to produce robust solutions.” To Lillian, success in the transportation world meant building relationships, listening to all viewpoints, inspiring great ideas, and helping stakeholders see the common goal. This approach to addressing the challenges we currently face could not be more on point. We need all community stakeholders around the table to identify solutions that meet the needs of all system users. When you face that next project, large or small, be like Lillian! Thank you, Martin, for sharing Lillian's story!
https://www.enotrans.org/profiles/lillian-c-borrone/ https://web.njit.edu/~schachte/pdf%20files/j.1540-6210.2007.00837.pdf