Durham School Services’ Charli Sanders Wins Trailblazer Award for Leadership and Dedication to Student Transportation

WARRENVILLE, IL, UNITED STATES, March 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Charli Sanders, Director of Parts and Warranty at Durham School Services, has won School Bus Fleet’s Trailblazer Award for her outstanding leadership and dedication to student transportation. Charli is one of 18 selected recipients chosen for this award, which aims to recognize student transportation professionals under the age of 40 who are making positive strides in the industry through their commitment to safety, innovation, teamwork, and beyond. The Trailblazer Award is nomination-based, and winners are evaluated and selected by a committee.

About winning the award, Charli shared, “Honestly, I think every person likes to be recognized for hard work, so it definitely feels great to be nominated and selected. I am grateful to work for leadership at Durham School Services that values the exploration of multiple ideas. I don’t think I’d have moved forward here without someone willing to explore what I and others have had to say over the past couple of years. So, thank you for that and thank you for the opportunities to grow and contribute to such an important industry.”

Charli first began her career with Durham in 2021 as a regional maintenance manager. In 2023, she transitioned to a more expansive role as director of parts and supply chain data, and then in 2024, was promoted to her current position as director of parts and warranty as a result of her dedicated work ethic, extensive expertise, and talent. In her role, she oversees and leads her team’s efforts in parts purchasing processes, managing their parts database and fleet maintenance system, and more.

When asked about what she loves most about her job and the important role it plays in safety, Charli notes, “I’ve always got my head in the data to support strong, lasting relationships with suppliers and our internal customers, which is one of the most rewarding parts of what I do; solving complex issues with data and process building to make my portion of the process easier for everyone else is what I love most about this position.”

About safety, she states, “Safety to me means quality – quality fleet, quality components, quality services, and quality data that we use to set standards to meet. We tour manufacturing facilities, and review specifications, testing methods, and the results of that testing to ensure that we are choosing suppliers that can match cost and quality management with safety as the main driver of these efforts.”

As mentioned earlier, the Trailblazer Award is nomination based. Wayne Skinner, who is Charli’s supervisor and Senior Vice President of Fleet and Procurement at Durham, nominated Charli. As a result of Charli winning the award, Wayne shared the following:

“Charli is an incredibly talented leader with an impressive aptitude for researching and cracking multifaceted challenges and data processes all while guiding and ensuring her team is successful. Her growth and the impact of her leadership since starting her latest role as director of parts and warranty and even prior to that has been exponential. She demonstrates an admirable commitment to her craft that has resulted in increased cost savings, the creation of new SOPs and KPIs that have led to efficiency and improved data capture, and streamlined data management processes, just to name a few. Charli is a trailblazer in every sense of the word, and the award is much deserved. Congrats, Charli, and thanks for your contributions to the company and student transportation industry.”

In closing, Charli also gave her thoughts on what she thinks her biggest accomplishment has been thus far and her future goals, stating, “My goals here are long-winded, so it’s difficult to feel entirely accomplished just yet, but forming the Parts & Warranty team that didn’t exist prior and building a strong foundation of processes that have already begun to yield positive results does allow for a second wind and bright outlook for the creative and tactical improvements into the future.”

Anna Lam
Durham School Services
+1 630-432-3985
email us here

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