“The fund is a real benefit for the
small carriers and a benefit for the association because we’re paid to man- age it, so it’s a win-win for everyone.”
A NEW FACE LEADING THE WAY One of the bigger projects on her
ever-growing plate is bringing more of the younger generation into ATA and attracting them to leadership roles, she says.
“As our experienced leadership
retires, how do we replace them?” she asks. She believes one answer is the 40 Under 40 Council, what Newton deems a pet project. For a time, the association had no place to plug younger members in to leadership roles. The way to do that was to establish leadership posi- tions for those under 40 so they could learn how the association and the board operated. “I’d been here nine or ten years,
and I was struggling to find my peers,” Newton said. “Most of the leadership were men over the age of 50. There’s
nothing wrong with that, but that’s not the future. I plan to be at the associa- tion 10 years from now, and then who is going to be sitting in these positions. It was important to get a foothold into the next generation.” Membership, which exceeds 250
companies, is only part of the resources equation for ATA. Dues account for 21 percent of the organization’s budget, Newton said. The rest of its revenue is derived from the programs adminis- tered through the office, such as the self insurers’ fund. “Any program that we can manage
that can provide revenue, we have to kind of create our own work,” Newton said. “We do have some endorsement agreements that help. Other means are through special events and education: our annual conference, our annual truck driving championships and the one-off seminars that we hold.” One pressing issue to the industry
that Newton hopes the legislature and new Governor Asa Hutchinson can
address is an update to the operations in the Department of Finance and Administration. The system for truck title registration for the smaller truck- ing firms is outdated, she said. Bigger firms with out-of-state terminals can register their trucks in those states; a small company in, say, Hope, with 15 trucks, must bring all of them to Little Rock for title registration. “That’s absurd. What other indus-
try does that?” Newton asks. “The people we are hurting the most are the little guys … These are the people we should be doing the most to facilitate and help do business in Arkansas. They have to load up and bring all their doc- uments here to register.” And with the big companies regis-
tering in other states, “that’s a missed opportunity in fees,” Newton added. In the simplest of terms, Newton
describes the association’s role to mem- bers as: Protect, promote and serve. And now the members, and the legislature, will see a new face leading the way. ATR
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ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 1 2015
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