The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) officers and spouses were recognized during Tuesday evening’s Closing Banquet at Truckload 2021: Las Vegas. Pictured from left: TCA Immediate Past Chairman and Cargo Transporters, Inc.’s President and CEO Dennis Dellinger and wife Sherel; TCA Chairman and D.M. Bowman, Inc.’s President Jim Ward and wife Starla; TCA First Vice Chair and Load One, LLC’s CEO John Elliott; TCA Second Vice Chair and Knight-Swift Transportation’s Executive Vice President David Williams; TCA Secretary and Hill Brothers Transportation, Inc.’s Vice President Pete Hill; TCA Treasurer and Veriha Trucking, Inc.’s President Karen Smerchek; TCA Vice Chair or American Trucking Associations and Covenant Transport’s President Joey Hogan; and At-Large Officers: Maverick USA’s President John Culp; Diamond Transportation System, Inc.’s President Jon Coca; Nagle Toledo Inc.’s President Ed Nagle; Kriska Transportation Group’s President and CEO Mark Seymour; and Brian Kurtz Trucking, LTD’s General Manager Trevor Kurtz and wife Joanne. Mr. Chairman, when TCA members read this Chat, you will have completed almost three-fourths of your term. It certainly has been a busy almost-nine months. During your term, you’ve spent a lot of time traveling. What are your travel plans for the remainder of your term? Traveling has been part of the job my first six months. At the end of October, I attended the American Trucking Association’s Management Conference and Exhibition in Nashville, Tennessee. In early November, I plan to attend the TC-06 Benchmarking meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. On the eve of November 16, TCA and D.M. Bowman will be co-hosting a whistle stop, a free and public event, in my town of Williamsport, Maryland, to welcome the 2021 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, an 84-foot White Fir. Next up, I plan to travel north for TCA’s Fifth Annual Bridging Border Barriers event in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Finally, I look forward participating in the Wreaths Across America events the weekend of December 18 in Arlington, Virginia. I’m eager to join Pilot Flying J’s Wendy Hamilton in personally thanking the commercial vehicle operators who are transporting these truckloads of respect. TCA’s annual convention, Truckload 2021: Las Vegas, was held six months past its normal time frame last month in late September. For this Chat, let’s depart from our normal pattern of responding to general questions about the trucking industry and focus solely on highlights of the convention. First, from your point of view share with members the overarching highlights of the meeting. First and foremost, I think it is important to remember that this is really the first overall opportunity for our entire membership to convene and reconnect since our last convention in March 2020, and it was an absolute pleasure to finally be able to renew some acquaintances that I haven’t seen since then. I think it is important to note that when we set out to plan these conventions, our goal is to provide our members with the correct answers to the following questions: 1. Who did I meet? 2. What did I learn? 3. Was it worth my time? My hope is that, as we reflect on this convention and what our membership may have brought home from this event, is that they have received some positive answers to these questions through the various educational sessions and networking events that will encourage them to carve out time on their schedule to reconvene back in Las Vegas for Truckload 2022 in March. Because of its stature in the business community, TCA is able to attract well-known personalities to keynote the convention. This year it was Daymond John, a businessman, television personality, author, and motivational speaker best known as the founder, president, and CEO of FUBU. He also appears as an investor on the ABC reality television series “Shark Tank.” What were the key takeaways in Daymond’s remarks? Daymond John certainly brought a presentation that attracted everyone’s attention. I, for one, was looking forward to hearing the message that he SPONSORED BY McLEOD SOFTWARE / McLEODSOFTWARE.COM / 877.362.5363 22 TRUCKLOAD AUTHORITY | WWW.TRUCKLOAD.ORG TCA NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
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