Although women make up 50 percent of the workforce, only two percent work as automotive service technicians.

With that statistic in mind, the ASE Education Foundation will kick off its 2022 Instructor Training Conference with a keynote panel focused on making training programs and workplaces more welcoming to everyone, including women and other underrepresented groups.

“Our special keynote panel will concentrate on why our industry is missing out on nearly half of potential students and employees and what can we do about it,” said Mike Coley, President, ASE Education Foundation. “We have a knowledgeable panel of technicians, managers, instructors and students, most of them women, for what promises to be a lively discussion. We will hear about barriers and ways to overcome them from people who have lived it. The session will provide strategies that participants can implement in their own programs to be part of the ‘2 percent solution’.”

Participants

The keynote session will be moderated by Catherine “Cat” Treanor, UK Business Development Manager for Electude. The other panelists include:

• Missy Albin, Navistar Master Diesel Mechanic, Taylor & Lloyd, Inc.
• Lou Bramante, Automotive Instructor, Vineland Senior High School
• Raven Hartkopf, Collision Discipline Lead, Colin College
• Jenny Kovacs, Ford Master Technician, C. Harper Ford
• Joe Laubhan, Service Director, Classic Chevrolet
• Vanessa Retsos, Chevrolet Service Technician, Classic Chevrolet
• Paulina Sanchez, Collision Repair student, Colin College

Scheduled for July 12-15 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Frisco, Texas, the ASE Instructor Training Conference is open to high school and college instructors from Canadian and U..S. auto, truck and collision repair programs. Featuring msore than 20 hours of technical update training, the robust agenda includes separate tracks for auto, medium/heavy truck and collision repair instructors.

The conference is sponsored by leading industry organizations, including platinum sponsors Advance Auto, ASE, BMW and Volkswagen; gold sponsors American Honda, ATech Training, Milwaukee Tool, Snap-on and WD-40; and silver sponsors CDX Learning, Cengage Learning, Consulab, Daimler Truck, Electude, FedEx Freight, Goodheart Willcox, Hertz, Isuzu Truck, LKQ, Megatech, Navistar, Subaru and Vertex Professional Services.

For more information and to register, click here.