CHAIRMAN’S LETTER
Nebraska Trucker is owned by Truck Services, Inc., and is published bimonthly by Matthews Publishing Group. For additional copies, to order reprints of individual articles or to become a subscriber, contact Cyndi Buhr at 402.476.8504.
Matthews Publishing Group, LLC
jennifer@matthewspublishing.com
executive editor Larry Johnson art director
freelanceco@comcast.net illustrator
brentdraw@cox.net photographers
John David Pittman
Jennifer Barnett Reed Todd Traub
contributing writers Steve Brawner Sam Eifling Eric Francis J.K. Jones
Randy Hampton Roger Holsinger Jon D. Kennedy Zach Mayhew Bob Ocken
Brent Bennett The Freelance Co., LLC Jon D. Kennedy Jennifer Matthews Kidd publisher HELLO FROM SCOTTSBLUFF!
I can’t believe how fast this year is going! It seems like just yesterday we were all gathered in Omaha for the 2013 Fall Conference and I accepted a second term as your Chairman. As I promised, this was to be a year of change and progress in our almost 75-year-old Association. Our Executive Committee goals for this year have been to “rightsize” and “modernize” our staff and the services we provide to meet the goal of being a strong, sustainable and affordable organization for another 75 years. To accomplish this, we sought out and were fortunate to be able to hire Patty Wood as our new Vice President to replace our long time and loyal Nance Harris who had the position for over 25 years. Patty has quickly adapted and is using her many technical and leadership skills to meet the goals we set out to achieve in the Executive Committee’s strategic planning session we had in March. Our outside, professional facilitator helped us to organize our ideas and develop a plan to execute them. I’m happy to say, that our assessment that we’ve had a strong organization in the past and that with the right kind of support from our Executive Committee leaders and members we can only become stronger, is becoming a reality and we continue to move in the right direction. We have an extremely strong staff that is committed to the industry and will continue to execute our mission of “Advocacy, Information and Services” so that we as stakeholders can speak with one voice on the issues of highway safety and fair taxation.
www.nebtrucking.com president
ljohnson@nebtrucking.com
pwood@nebtrucking.com controller
knesja@nebtrucking.com cbuhr@nebtrucking.com
office manager Cyndi Buhr
Keith Nesja
vice president Patty Wood
Larry Johnson
With change, there will be challenges in exchange for progress and continual improvement. We appreciate everyone’s patience and support that you’ve shown during the process and period of transition.
One of the areas of concern at last year’s board meeting was whether we would be able to continue our printed publication, the Nebraska Trucker. At that time, the Executive Committee listened and heard loud and clear that this publication was and remains important to our members. As a result, we challenged Larry, his staff and MPG, our publishing partner, to get it back on schedule, to produce content that was important to our members highlighting the many positive things going on in their companies and to work with our advertisers to get their support to make it sustainable. I’m pleased that after my article last month where I asked for our advertisers to help out, we have picked up several new accounts!
Trucking is an affiliate of the American Trucking Associations (ATA). ATA serves and represents the trucking industry on a national level, influencing federal and state government actions, advancing a positive trucking industry image, providing education programs and industry research, and promoting highway safety and security.
For more information, contact Nebraska Trucking: 1701 K Street P.O. Box 81010 Lincoln, NE 68501 Phone 402.476.8504 Fax: 402.476.8570
Nebraska Trucking Association is a statewide trade association for commercial truck and bus operators and affiliated businesses. It is a not-for- profit association governed by a board of directors elected annually. Nebraska
A huge thank you to all of our past, present and future advertisers for their support, we can’t do it without you. Also, I suggested that our readers show their appreciation by reading the content cover to cover and by supporting the companies that advertise. All things being equal, why not support the companies that support our trucking member’s interests. As a result, I’ve received messages from members reporting that they are doing just that and they will continue to do so. Tis is the kind of support, that I hope we can see from all of our members out there. Remember, this is your organization and you’ll only get the true value of your membership by being engaged and participating in a positive way. I’ll close with a big thank you to our leadership, staff and members that make this such a great organization!
Daniel Tompkins Aulick Leasing Corp.
Nebraska Trucking Chairman of the Board
dtompkins@aulickleasing.com
NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 3, 2014 —
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