Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFFA) announced that the winner of the 2017 Donna Letterio Leadership Award was Linda Collier of Tri-ad International Freight Forwarding Ltd. The award was presented to her at the CIFFA Central Region FCA Gala Dinner held at the Mississauga Convention Centre April 27. The gala dinner, themed “Psychedelic 60s”, was organized by CIFFA’s Central Region Committee volunteers. Over 400 attendees at the evening event were entertained by The FabFour, a tribute band performing Beatles music.
CIFFA introduced the annual Donna Letterio Leadership Award in December 2015. The award is granted annually in memory of former CIFFA President Donna Letterio, who passed away in August 2013. The award recognizes a woman in the global freight logistics sector who has demonstrated, as Donna did, professionalism, commitment, leadership and a passion for excellence in her career and in her life. Nicholas Letterio, son of Donna Letterio, presented the award.
Along with this award CIFFA presents a cheque for $1000 to Bladder Cancer Canada.
Linda started with Emery Worldwide in 1981 and, after four years, moved to Olympic Forwarders and became operations manager at the age of 22. She founded Tri-ad at the age of 25 in 1988 when very few women were in executive roles. She built the business which, several years later, had offices across Canada and the U.S. She started a customs brokerage division and later a 3PL boasting a 165,000-sq.-foot warehouse in Toronto.
Tri-ad has enjoyed continuous growth over the past 29 years and is looking forward to marking its 30th anniversary. The company still has many of its original customers.
Named to the list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada four times, Linda has mentored dozens of employees, and supports employee advancement through education, such as CIFFA programs. She formerly sat on the National Board for CIFFA as Director of Air Freight. Currently, she sits on the Board of Directors for Track 3, a charity that supports disabled children through winter sports. She also sits on the Board of Directors for Green4Good, a charity supporting the environment by keeping electronics out of landfill sites.