Page 24 - ATR 1 2015 web

MADAM VICE

PRESIDENT

Shannon Newton takes the reins at the Arkansas Trucking Association

By Jim harris Newton’s ascension to ATA president. ple she’s meeting with,” Vickery said.
Contributing Writer “And, she is really smart, really capable, “You underestimate Shannon at your
highly organized and driven. So for own risk. She’s smart and well prepared;
Shannon Newton should be rec- people outside the association seeing she puts twice the amount of effort into
ognizable around the Capitol as the her for the first time, she makes a posi- her job, precisely because she knows she
legislature convenes for its regular ses- tive impact. For that combination of is a woman heading such a powerful
sion and as issues that are important reasons, it’s been a smooth transition.” organization.
to Arkansas’s trucking industry come “I’ve seen her interact with legisla-
before the body. A new face might take a Force to Be reckoned With tors, governors and truck drivers who
some getting used to for some of the It hasn’t been lost on anyone in come in off the street, and she treats
Capitol crowd including the 40 new Arkansas’s trucking industry that the everyone the same way. I think that’s
state legislators who will be meeting association, besides under new direc- why she has the respect of the people
Newton for the first time. tion, is also being run by a woman for around her.”
Newton is Arkansas Trucking the first time. The ATA’s five full-time For someone who graduated college
Association’s new president, appointed employees in the office are women. — the University of Central Arkansas in
to that role in June by the association’s The 35-year-old Newton, in essence, Conway — with an accounting degree,
board of directors following the resigna- has broken through a glass ceiling in Newton comes across to the people
tion of longtime ATA leader Lane Kidd. the Arkansas business world that for so who know her as the anti-accountant
Newton is hardly new to the trucking long was seen as a boys’ club. Former — not to put down any accountants.
association, though, having served as president Lane Kidd was instrumental There’s nothing inherently bookish
vice president since 2008 and employed for many years in building the Arkansas about her at first glance, but rather a
with the association for 12 years. Trucking Association into an influential vibrant personality of someone on the
Bill Vickery, who lobbies the entity in dealing with state laws govern- move. Yet it’s her analytical mind that
legislature for the trucking association ing transportation and highways. But brought her to the trucking association
and other groups for his company, Vickery, who has known Newton since 12 years ago. That job was to manage
Capitol Advisors Group, sees as smooth before she went to work for the organi- the books for the association’s self
a transition for the lawmakers as it’s zation, believes her a force to be reck- insurers’ workers’ compensation fund.
been for the trucking organization the oned with and someone who will build Ably handling that while blessed with
past half year. on the ATA’s position. a knack for multitasking, Newton
“Because she has a history with “Because she is a woman heading took on more until eventually she was
the association and is so well known one of the state’s most powerful and promoted to vice president.
inside the association, the transition high-profile industry groups, she is “The association is a service indus-
was a pretty easy one,” Vickery said of probably better prepared than the peo- try. I just really thrive in the environ-


Photography by John david Pittman

24 arkansas trucking rePort | issue 1 2015