MADAM VICE PRESIDENT
Shannon Newton takes the reins at the Arkansas Trucking Association
By Jim Harris Contributing Writer
Shannon Newton should be rec-
ognizable around the Capitol as the legislature convenes for its regular ses- sion and as issues that are important to Arkansas’s trucking industry come before the body. A new face might take some getting used to for some of the Capitol crowd including the 40 new state legislators who will be meeting Newton for the first time. Newton is Arkansas Trucking
Association’s new president, appointed to that role in June by the association’s board of directors following the resigna- tion of longtime ATA leader Lane Kidd. Newton is hardly new to the trucking association, though, having served as vice president since 2008 and employed with the association for 12 years. Bill Vickery, who lobbies the
legislature for the trucking association and other groups for his company, Capitol Advisors Group, sees as smooth a transition for the lawmakers as it’s been for the trucking organization the past half year. “Because she has a history with
the association and is so well known inside the association, the transition was a pretty easy one,” Vickery said of
Photography by John David Pittman 24 ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 1 2015
Newton’s ascension to ATA president. “And, she is really smart, really capable, highly organized and driven. So for people outside the association seeing her for the first time, she makes a posi- tive impact. For that combination of reasons, it’s been a smooth transition.”
A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH It hasn’t been lost on anyone in
Arkansas’s trucking industry that the association, besides under new direc- tion, is also being run by a woman for the first time. The ATA’s five full-time employees in the office are women. The 35-year-old Newton, in essence, has broken through a glass ceiling in the Arkansas business world that for so long was seen as a boys’ club. Former president Lane Kidd was instrumental for many years in building the Arkansas Trucking Association into an influential entity in dealing with state laws govern- ing transportation and highways. But Vickery, who has known Newton since before she went to work for the organi- zation, believes her a force to be reck- oned with and someone who will build on the ATA’s position. “Because she is a woman heading
one of the state’s most powerful and high-profile industry groups, she is probably better prepared than the peo-
ple she’s meeting with,” Vickery said. “You underestimate Shannon at your own risk. She’s smart and well prepared; she puts twice the amount of effort into her job, precisely because she knows she is a woman heading such a powerful organization. “I’ve seen her interact with legisla-
tors, governors and truck drivers who come in off the street, and she treats everyone the same way. I think that’s why she has the respect of the people around her.” For someone who graduated college
—the University of Central Arkansas in Conway—with an accounting degree, Newton comes across to the people who know her as the anti-accountant —not to put down any accountants. There’s nothing inherently bookish about her at first glance, but rather a vibrant personality of someone on the move. Yet it’s her analytical mind that brought her to the trucking association 12 years ago. That job was to manage the books for the association’s self insurers’ workers’ compensation fund. Ably handling that while blessed with a knack for multitasking, Newton took on more until eventually she was promoted to vice president. “The association is a service indus- try. I just really thrive in the environ-
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