ATA Launches New Educational Program for Next Generation of Industry Leaders

This story appears in the May 13 print edition of Transport Topics.

American Trucking Associations launched a program last week aimed at training young trucking executives to become leaders within the association through a yearlong series of educational and networking sessions.

The program, dubbed LEAD ATA for “Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy and Development,” seeks to give the next generation of industry leaders what they will need to steer ATA’s members.

“I felt strongly that we needed to keep young people coming into the association,” Michael Card, ATA’s chairman and president of Combined Transport Inc., told Transport Topics. “We need to find a way to embrace the younger generation and make it a good industry to work in and to make it fun.”

ATA launched the program during an annual meeting of its leadership in Palm Desert, Calif.

It’s making extensive use of social media to market the program to young trucking executives, with a website and a presence on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

“In the 80 years since ATA was founded, we have always relied on industry leaders to be our spokesmen and our examples of what trucking means to the country,” ATA President Bill Graves said in a May 6 statement. “LEAD ATA will help us nurture and cultivate our next generation of leaders and ensure that the legacy those giants have left us is entrusted to sure, steady hands.”

The first session will be an introduction to ATA and the broader trucking industry during the group’s annual Management Conference & Exhibition in October in Orlando, Fla. Other sessions will focus on industry networking and government advocacy.

In a similar move last week, the Ontario Trucking Association announced its Next Generation program, which seeks to train future leaders in the Canadian province.

“I believe that, by reaching out to the future leaders, we get fresh, modern views,” Jeff Bryan, OTA chairman and president of Jeff Bryan Transport, said in a statement. “New eyes are always a good thing, and this is our invitation to those people to come and express their views because we’re listening and also open to share our experiences as well.”

Richard Klimoski, a professor of management at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., said the initiatives are smart.

“By and large, any professional organization needs to worry about its pipeline and where the next generation’s coming from,” Klimoski said. “It is a good idea for trade groups to spend some time and effort on it.”

ATA’s first LEAD class will have 15 members, but the federation hopes to grow the program in future years.

“Our industry’s made up of a lot of old white-haired guys, and we need to find a way to continue to bring in fresh intelligence, fresh thinking and the next generation,” Card said.

The only qualification for LEAD is that each participant must be an executive at an ATA member company. There are no age restrictions, Card said, because the “next generation” of leaders is not of a particular age.

“We’re trying to find a diverse group of people across the industry by region, by commodity,” he said. Ideal candidates would be owners of new trucking companies, second- or third-generation trucking owners or employees at large companies who hope to become high-level executives.

A leadership program can work to ensure that new leaders come from a diverse background within the industry and bring different geographic areas, sectors of the industry and backgrounds of individuals into the high-ranking positions, said George Mason University’s Klimoski.

Such leadership training also is beneficial to the industry leaders themselves, he added. He teaches his business students that involvement in professional organization leadership can lend to “competence, confidence, credibility,” all of which can help executives in their careers.

“I feel strongly that getting involved in these kinds of operations is really wonderful in terms of developing leadership potential,” Klimoski said.

Telematics provider PeopleNet Communications Corp. is the program’s sole sponsor for its first three years.

“This program is a unique opportunity for individuals to advance their skills and networks with an eye on taking transportation to the next level,” Brian McLaughlin, president of PeopleNet, said in the ATA statement.

PeopleNet’s sponsorship will help offset the program’s costs. Participants must pay travel expenses and $495 for tuition, said Benton Landers, a membership sales representative for ATA.

ATA is providing staff and support.

ATA asked interested candidates to go to www.lead-ata.trucking.org for program details. A committee of ATA members will choose the first class of 15 students.