TCA welcomes Bison’s Penner as incoming chairman

by Sonia Straface

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Bison Transport’s president and CEO, Rob Penner,  has been elected the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) chairman for the 2017-2018 term.

He is the second Canadian chairman in TCA’s history.

To date, Penner has served on the board of directors for the Ontario Trucking Association and he is active with the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

For TCA, Penner chaired the Regulatory Policy Committee from 2010-11 and is a past member of the Highway Policy committee, the Benchmarking Best Practices Group, and the Financial Oversight and Long-Range Planning Task Force. He has also held the positions of treasurer, at-large officer, and first vice-chairman for the TCA.

“It has been an honor for me to work alongside truckload industry’s finest leaders….each of them have helped prepare me for this day and for that I am grateful,” he said in his acceptance speech at the TCA convention on March 28.

As chairman, Penner said that he will continue to push to embrace change and build upon the strengths and influences the TCA has.

“It’s time for us to move from debate to action,” he said expressing his hope for TCA is to chart a path, detailing a strategy, and focus on executing that strategy to get things done.

“To use a trucking analogy we need to decide if we’re going to be the truck or the trailer,” he said. “We can continue to be the trailer and follow along the path others are taking us on…or we can choose to be the truck. To be the truck, we need to be actively involved in managing our own path. We must map the route that will take us to where we want to go…it puts us at the front of the line as leaders.”

Penner also announced the formation of a strategic task force charged with developing a TCA position paper to address issues affecting productivity, profitably, and the movement of freight across North America.

“Today, it appears we are trapped spending the majority of our face time with lawmakers and regulators talking about what we don’t want… What we need is for them to give us time to talk about what we stand for, not what we stand against,” he said. “We want a seat at the table, and the only way we get that is if we are viewed as a thoughtful partner, capable of presenting meaningful, viable, and sustainable solutions to complex problems, and that we back our position with truth and fact. Our new horizon may not be one we are familiar with, but it is one we can shape.”


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