At the sound of her name, LeeAnn McConnell slaps both hands down on
the table and gives the speaker at the podium a convincing double take.

She has just won the Trailmobile Service to Industry Award at the 2005 Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association’s (APTA) Annual Convention in Saint John, N.B.

If McConnell is surprised at her victory, she’s probably the only person in the 350-plus crowd who is. After all, the co-owner of McConnell Transport and outgoing chair of the APTA, McConnell’s impeccable industry credits include memberships on the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council (CTHRC) and the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), as well as transportation and economic development councils in her home province of New Brunswick. In the past decade, McConnell has devoted thousands of volunteer hours to industry associations including the APTA, on top of running two companies with her husband Larry (they co-own a refrigerated transport and a potato seed company), raising three children, and completing diplomas in Management Development and Agricultural Leadership.

It all seems so very selfless — and to a large extent, it is. McConnells’ colleagues, including APTA Policy and Programs Coordinator Heather MacLean, say her contribution, to industry have been enormous.

“She’s never one to say, ‘I don’t have the time,'” MacLean says. “She’s not afraid to throw herself into things for the betterment of the industry.” Hence, the award.

But McConnell is the first to point out that her involvement in industry associations has not been motivated purely out of a need to “give back.” Rather, it’s part of an intelligent business strategy that has helped her grow her company and keep her manicured fingers on the pulse of a rapidly changing truckscape.

“My involvement with the APTA and CTA has given me a much broader perspective than I would have had from my company alone,” she says. “It has allowed me to stay current on what’s happening in the industry, and what we should be preparing for.”

Of course, for a Type A personality like McConnell’s, it’s not just about what information you have — it’s how you use it.

“Change motivates me. If you’re not out there getting involved in what’s happening, helping to direct the changes that are affecting our industry…well then,” she throws her hands up in mock exasperation and leans back in her chair. “It sucks to be you.”

One of the most costly changes to affect trucking companies across North America has been a shortage of qualified drivers. McConnell Transport was no exception. Recognizing the need for new measures, McConnell looked into recruiting drivers from Europe.

As a result of that work, in 2003 the Association developed a set of guidelines designed to assist their members through the often-complicated process of recruiting foreign drivers. Fleets throughout Atlantic Canada have benefited from the guidelines, now widely consulted, not least of all by McConnell Transport.

“We don’t have any empty trucks anymore,” McConnell says, whose company has recruited several European drivers over the past two years.
The first woman to become Chair of the APTA in the association’s history, much has been made of McConnell’s pioneering efforts as a woman in the trucking industry. But if McConnell is weary of this line of questioning, she doesn’t show it.

“What makes me different [from previous chairs] is that I wasn’t interested in weights and measures,” she says, referring to the lengthy and varied lists of accomplishments chairs habitually use to qualify their leadership. “Education is a huge thing for me, and that’s what I wanted to focus on.”

To McConnell’s credit, the Association has introduced new seminars and workshops educating members on everything from fuel efficiency and safety, to management and recruiting. And in October, the Board created a second senior executive role within the Association, designed to co-ordinate policy, planning and training within the organization.

McConnell says her devotion to education comes from a lifelong regret that she never attended university. “I come from that in-between generation,” she says. Only three women from her high-school graduating class went on to university. McConnell took a job as a saleswoman for Ford, and became one of the top salespeople in Canada for the company. But though she missed out on university, McConnell says she’s never passed up an opportunity to upgrade her education through training programs and professional development.

All management personnel at McConnell Transport are required to take the Management Development Program at the University of New Brunswick, from which McConnell herself graduated in 1997.

“I saw the difference it made in my own business skills, and I wanted our employees to get those same benefits.” McConnell says the management training has empowered her employees to deal with conflicts and challenges faster, and more skillfully. “When they’re able to take on more challenges, that means I can focus on other things,” McConnell says.

McConnell has been vocal about the importance of enhanced management training within the transportation industry, and she’s also played a role in the development of a new UNB transportation management course set to launch in 2006.

According to Barry Mellish, fleet safety director at Atlantic Tiltload Ltd., and APTA safety chair, McConnell could not be more firmly on the money.

“We’re seeing a lot of transportation companies grow beyond the point where you can take someone off the street, give them a bit of training and expect them to be a good manager,” Mellish says. “LeeAnn recognized that and pushed for more education, and we’re seeing the results.”

While McConnell jokingly refers to her leadership style as “autocratic,” her colleagues say it has been her willingness to learn from others and collaborate that made her a good leader. “She’s always trying to involve and consult as many people as possible,” Mellish says. “For LeeAnn, there’s no such thing as a narrow, single minded approach.”

But McConnell’s willingness to collaborate is not to be confused with an inability to call the shots. When it came to determining the APTA position on anything from hours-of-service regulations to other such contentious issues, Mellish says he never saw McConnell play the shrinking violet. “She was never afraid to make an unpopular decision if it was for the good of our members or the industry,” he says.

An example of this came in September, during the blockade in northeastern New Brunswick, when a group of independent drivers halted over 1,000 trucks to protest high fuel prices. McConnell and former APTA executive director Ralph Boyd sought an injunction that would ultimately “force the police to do their jobs,” McConnell says, and put an end to the blockade. “The government didn’t put an end to that blockade, the APTA did. And I’m proud of that.”

With her responsibilities as chair behind her, McConnell says she’s looking forward to some downtime over the next few months. Do a little horseback riding; maybe spend some more time with her two-year-old grandson, she says. And after that? “You never know,” she says, dryly. “Maybe Prime Minister.”