Cochran started the WTS Arkansas Chapter in 2018 with Keli Wylie, Assistant Chief Engineer of Program Delivery at the Arkansas Department of Transportation, and the support of Garver’s Director of Enterprise Solutions Jerry Holder, then Garver’s Director of Transportation.
What began as a conversation between Wylie and Cochran in 2018 led to the chapter’s ratification and first event in the spring of 2019. Cochran served as the chapter’s Vice President from 2019 to 2021.
“Being part of getting the Arkansas chapter up and going, with help from such an amazing group of people, is definitely a career highlight for me,” Cochran said. “WTS Arkansas has become so much bigger than our original ideas, the first board, and the founding corporate sponsors. It has become a self-sustaining force for change in fewer than five years, and everyone who played a role in that should be proud.”
Cerrato was a founding board member of the Arkansas chapter and served as its Communications Chair from 2019 to 2021. She was instrumental in launching the WTS Arkansas chapter, helping to tell its story and share its mission. From the start, she was committed to making the chapter an active and engaged part of the community. Cerrato not only had a vision for the ways WTS could support and connect women in the industry, but she helped realize that vision.
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“I’m proud of how the chapter has grown in such a short time and how receptive and supportive the community has been,” Cerrato said. “We’ve already created some enduring partnerships that are going to continue to help empower women in this industry.”
WTS has honored Garver and its employees in the past. In 2021, the WTS Heart of Texas chapter named Garver Employer of the Year, and in 2022 Garver was given the same honor by WTS chapters in Mississippi and Oklahoma. In 2023, Garver was again named Employer of the Year by WTS Arkansas, and Garver Transportation Project Engineer Michelle Howington was named Member of the Year by WTS Mississippi.
Garver is a sponsor of WTS chapters across its 18-state footprint and is committed to supporting and advancing women in transportation and across the architecture, engineering, and construction industry.
Founded in 1919, Garver is an employee-owned multidisciplined engineering, planning, and environmental services firm with more than 1,200 employees across the United States. The company offers a range of services focused on aviation, buildings, construction, enterprise solutions, federal, survey, transportation, water, and wastewater.
