Brad Bentley Named President Of the Truckload Carriers Assn.
This story appears in the Sept. 22 print edition of Transport Topics.
Alabama publishing executive Brad Bentley has accepted the presidency of the Truckload Carriers Association and will begin in the position Oct. 13, both parties confirmed last week.
TCA Chairman Shepard Dunn made the announcement Sept. 18 after the group’s board of directors voted its approval. Bentley succeeds Chris Burruss, who departed suddenly in late June after leading the association since 2003.
“Brad is, hands down, the guy to take TCA forward for a number of years. He’s very savvy and knows the issues and the industry,” said Dunn, president of Bestway Express in Vincennes, Indiana.
Bentley, 48, has been editorial director of the recruiting unit of the Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. of Tuscaloosa since 2008. He entered the trucking-related publishing business in 1988, working for two companies that compiled driver-recruitment material.
He was the last man standing after a nine-member TCA task force waded through more than 125 applications for the job, Dunn said.
Bentley said he has worked on TCA’s image committee, including campaigns for Wreaths Across America, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree and Highway Angel.
Based on that familiarity with the association, “They asked me to consider taking the job and urged me to apply,” he told Transport Topics.
Many of the other applicants who came from trade association backgrounds had experience with lobbying Congress and the executive branch. Dunn said they were very well-qualified but that TCA works on teaching carriers to be more profitable and efficient. For lobbying, the group depends on American Trucking Associations, Dunn said.
Bentley said he has been asked to work on increasing membership, developing revenue from sources other than dues and increasing the value of membership.
Dunn and Bentley agreed that Bentley’s business background and expertise with trucking would be more valuable than lobbying experience.
American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves welcomed Bentley as a colleague.
“TCA has long been an important partner of ours in many areas — notably in reaching out to the public to improve the industry’s image. I believe that tradition will remain strong as Brad takes the reins at TCA, and I wish him luck and congratulate him on his new position,” Graves said.
Bentley said he will attend ATA’s Management Conference & Exhibition in early October in San Diego to meet with carrier executives.
Dunn said the membership issue is critical for TCA because of trucking’s demographics.
“Baby boomers are selling and merging their companies, so we need to find a way to hook the next generation of management, the millennials,” he said.
A native of Alabama, Bentley said he will move to Northern Virginia near TCA’s Alexandria headquarters.
“My first job as TCA president will be to speak to the Commercial Vehicle Training Association in October at their meeting in St. Louis,” Bentley said, adding that cementing relationships with other trucking or transportation groups will be an important part of his job.
Bentley graduated from the University of Alabama in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.
