A 15-year Army combat veteran is the winner of this year’s Transition Trucking: Driving for Excellence award.

Ashley Leiva, won the seventh annual award that is presented by FASTPORT and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation – Hiring Our Heroes program. The announcement was made Friday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C.

Leiva received a Kenworth T680 Next Gen truck.

The Transition Trucking program recognizes military veterans who are new to the trucking industry.

Leiva retired from the Army in 2021 to return to her hometown in Texas, where she and her brother took over her mother’s trucking business after her recent passing. Ashley’s mother inspired her to go into driving because it made her feel like she “was on top of the world.”

Aside from driving, she is pursuing her B.A. degree in business management and raising her 5-year-old daughter.

Leiva earned her CDL through Del Mar College’s Transportation Training Services.