MHA ANNOUNCES TWO NEW ALLIED MEMBERS

The Machinery Haulers Association is pleased to announce Jim Hardman, Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Transportation Law Journal, and Transport Permits (Tim Sulentic) as the newest members to the association.
    Mr. Hardman, a highly respected attorney in the transportation industry, currently resides and practices in Little Canada, MN.
    Transport Permits, LTD. has three offices operating primarily out of Des Moines, IA and specializes in trip, fuel and oversize permits.

MHA Announces High Profile Speaker Lineup

As a niche association, the Machinery Haulers strive to present meetings that benefit both our membership and the speakers/presenters, while making our organization more appealing to new members.  After much effort, the MHA announced keynote speakers for the next two meetings that fall directly into these categories.
In December, Bob Costello spoke to the poor economic condition and addressed what the trucking industry needs to be aware of in the coming year.  In March, Bill Webb will speak to us regarding leadership in trucking.

Annual Meeting Keynote Speaker

Bill Webb
Founder, The Blue Flame Project
Operating Partner, Fenway Partners

He has also served as National Chairman of the Trucking Association Executives Council as well as chairman of the American Trucking Association’s Driver Issues Task Force. He began impacting change at an early age. 

At 35, he was named the Texas Motor Transportation Associations’ “Trucking Leader of the Year,” and went on to lead that association as its president and chief executive officer for ten years. In that capacity, he served the Texas trucking industry as its chief lobbyist and spokesman. 

Bill currently serves as an operating partner with Fenway Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm with ownership in a number of portfolio companies in the trucking and logistics, retail, and manufacturing industries. In his position he helps lead the management of the various Fenway properties and their more than 10,000 employees and associates and is involved with acquisition efforts to broaden the Fenway portfolio. 

Prior to joining Fenway in 2007, Bill served as Senior Vice President, Marketing Operations and Stakeholder Value for FFE Transportation Services, Inc., the largest publicly-held provider of temperature controlled logistics services in North America. As a member of the senior leadership team, he led all sales and marketing operations, professional driver and contractor relations and worked with investors, analysts, news media, elected officials and regulators to promote the FFE brand throughout the US, Mexico and Canada in addition to various other duties. He also actively put into action his leadership concepts and practices to lead FFE's training and executive development initiatives for more than 2,500 employees nationwide.

His best-selling book Igniting The Blue Flame: Answering The Call To Leadership capitalizes on his work over the past decade in developing the Blue Flame Project, a national leadership initiative. He delivers keynote speeches and leadership training sessions throughout North America. He also authors Catch Fire, a weekly leadership newsletter delivered to thousands of executives. 

Bill and his wife Jill, along with son Clayton, and twin sons Brandon and Hayden, live in Southlake, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He is active in a number of charitable causes and currently serves as chairman of the board of both the TMTA Foundation and The Open Road Foundation, charitable organizations supporting the transportation and logistics industry.

Bob Costello
Chief Economist & Vice President, American Trucking Association (ATA)

    Bob Costello is the Chief Economist and Vice President for the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the national trade association for the trucking industry. As Chief Economist, he manages all of ATA's collection, analysis and dissemination of trucking economic information.

This includes several monthly trucking economic indicators, motor carrier financial and operating data, an annual freight transportation forecast, driver wage studies, weekly diesel fuel price and economic reports, and a yearly trucking almanac. Bob also conducts economic analyses of proposed regulations and legislation affecting the trucking industry.

Bob is often cited in the news media as an expert on trucking economics, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, CNBC, and National Public Radio. Bob has testified at congressional hearings on trucking issues.

Prior to joining ATA in 1997, Bob was an economist with Joel Popkin & Company in Washington D.C., an economic consulting firm that specializes in the analysis of wages, inflation, and economic trends.

Bob has a Master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a Bachelor of Arts from Winona State University in Winona, MN.