91ÊÓƵ

WTS International, a trade organization that seeks to advance the role of women in transportation, recently named HDR Inc. its employer of the year. The Portland chapter of WTS selected HDR’s local office as its employer of the year, while the international organization selected the global engineering company for the overall honor.

WTS singles out organizations that enhance the transportation industry and have a proven track record of affirmative action in hiring and promoting women at all levels of employment.

Thirty-two percent of HDR’s employees are women, and 18 percent are minorities. Heather Catron, Alaska/Pacific and Northwest transportation director at HDR, said the company believes that diversity makes it stronger.

“I think that multiple perspectives help us to solve our clients’ most complex challenges and I think it also allows us to provide the quality services to our clients and also to our communities,” she said. “When you have a diverse workplace, both from a gender and ethnic diversity (standpoint), you can bring multiple perspectives together to address the issues that our clients and communities are dealing with in transportation and infrastructure.”

HDR has more than 185 locations and 8,000 employees around the world.