Industries and organizations increasingly recognize that the most transformative innovations come from diverse teams that represent the users of those products and services. Nowhere is this more important than in transportation, which profoundly impacts the quality of life of each and every one of us. Yet women make up only 15% of the transportation workforce, and an even smaller percentage at the executive level.

Iteris' success is built on the drive and entrepreneurial spirit of our diverse family of experts in their field. I have been working at Iteris for close to 10 years, and I am proud of the progress we have made in that time to grow the number and influence of women across the organization. To highlight one big success, our software product management practice is more gender-balanced, which I’m confident helps us better serve our customers and their customers – the traveling public. Even small successes can have a snowball effect – think of how much easier it is to recruit and hire talented women when you have at least one woman on your interview panel.

At Iteris, our work continues. Ensuring that all current and prospective employees feel confident that their opinions, ideas and voices will be heard and amplified requires proactive initiatives from the top down and bottom up.

With this in mind, Iteris is proud to reveal some of the measures we have been taking in recent months to help move our company, and by extension the transportation industry, forward in terms of diversity and inclusion.
 

Published our D&I policy

At Iteris, it is understood that each individual is unique, and appreciation of our individual differences is critical for the growth and success of our business. These differences can include skills, experience, thought, gender, age, disability, ethnicity, cultural or socio-economic background, religion, sexual orientation, political or ideological beliefs, as well as other dimensions such as lifestyle and family responsibilities.

To support our commitment to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion throughout the company, in April 2021, Iteris created and published a standalone diversity and inclusion policy – located in the corporate governance section of our Investor Relations website – that supplements the company’s values of collaboration, innovation, respect and commitment.
 

Launched the FAIR Program

Also in April 2021, Iteris created the FAIR (Females At Iteris Rising) Program to establish a women-oriented network, and help identify and execute companywide initiatives to attract, retain, support, and develop women at Iteris.

“I think by increasing female representation, not only will the transportation industry gain the expansion of perspective, but will also experience growth and innovation,” says Monique Fuhrman, PE, a senior transportation engineer within Consulting Solutions at Iteris. “I believe all companies should be doing their best to attract and foster the best diverse talent, and it would be a tragedy to miss out on great candidates and potential future leaders and decision makers because of various types of bias.”

As female advancement and development are increasingly at the forefront of our mission at Iteris and in the wider industry, Iteris further elevated the FAIR Program by identifying officers to be held accountable for program objectives, as well as invited all Iteris employees to join the FAIR Committee. FAIR committee members will have the opportunity to be involved in various projects, including identifying and implementing policy changes, creating programs to advance and retain women at Iteris, and organizing FAIR events, including panel and roundtable discussions. We are hopeful that this effort will set a strong foundation for females at Iteris and within our industry.
 

Hosted a Women in Transportation webinar

As part of the FAIR Program, Iteris was proud to have hosted an internal webinar in which two leading women in the transportation industry – ITS America’s Laura Demeo Chace and Iteris board member Laura Siegal – shared their insights, experience, and vision with a group of female employees.
 

Pledged and sponsored MobilityXX initiative

On October 1, 2021, Iteris proudly joined MobilityXX in calling on all organizations in the transportation industry to become part of a community that is committed to giving more women a seat at the table by pledging to complete two or more action items over the next year that promote diversity, and increase the number and influence of women within our organization.

MobilityXX, for which Iteris is proud to be the presenting sponsor, is a partnership of ITS America, The Ray, and WTS International Foundation that seeks to engage the broader transportation industry to increase the number of women from all backgrounds in the transportation workforce.

“I love the quote on the MobilityXX landing page: ‘Changing the world is possible’,” says Anita Vandervalk-Ostrander, PE, PMP, a vice president within Consulting Solutions at Iteris. “I am excited to be part of this important initiative and so proud to work for Iteris. Equally, I very much look forward to working with my outstanding colleagues to lead the way with our FAIR Program.”

“As a woman in the transportation industry, I see the need for more diversity in voices and experiences, especially those of women, every day,” continues Ms. Fuhrman. “MobilityXX has done a great job laying out fairly easy steps that will help us to redefine the future in this industry for our daughters, nieces, cousins, granddaughters, friends, and future generations. I am very proud that Iteris is one of the early adopters of MobilityXX’s pledge. I already see the changes beginning to take shape at Iteris, and I cannot wait to recruit my colleagues to join us.”

About the Author:

Tiffany Symes is senior director, product management, Applications and Cloud Solutions at Iteris.

Connect with Tiffany on LinkedIn.