Maverick President John Culp to lead state trucking board

The Arkansas Trucking Association Board of Directors elected John Culp, president of North Little Rock-based Maverick Transportation, as the board chairman. Culp will succeed outgoing chairman Jeff Loggins, president of Jonesboro-based Loggins Logistics.

The ATA Board of Directors also elected Ross Hoover, general manager of Rush Truck Centers, to fill a board vacancy. Hoover replaces Todd Venable, branch manager of MHC Kenworth of Little Rock, who completed his two-year term on the board.

The board elections took place at the ATA’s annual conference in Rogers. ATA hosted the conference from May 8-10 at the Rogers Convention Center. Loggins announced Culp’s selection as chairman in front of more than 300 trucking professionals at the conference.

“Jeff has offered leadership, friendship and encouragement throughout the last two years while we faced economic, regulatory and supply chain challenges,” said Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association. “We thank him for sharing his passion for the industry with us. We look forward to working with John Culp to continue promoting, protecting and serving the trucking community in Arkansas.”

Culp has been president of Maverick Transportation since 2016.

“Arkansas has a storied history of trucking companies who have not only shaped the industry in our state but also in our country,” Culp said. “I am proud to be part of team Arkansas trucking and can assure you our board of directors and staff will continue to work diligently to serve you and represent our industry.”

Hoover is a past chair of ATA’s Maintenance & Technology Council and has served as chair of the truck technician committee for the Arkansas Technician Championship. He’s also a leader in the Maintenance & Technology Council’s Technician Curriculum Advisory Committee and the Carl Tapp Memorial Scholarship.

The ATA Board of Directors comprises 21 executives from carriers and allied companies of varying sizes, specialties and geographies. Since 1932, the ATA has served as the voice of the trucking industry. Its members include about 350 trucking and service companies.

AWARDS
The ATA selected Josh Fortner as the 2023 driver of the year, Health Arnold as the 2023 safety professional of the year and Kenneth Calhoun as the 2023 maintenance professional of the year.

The ATA handed out multiple truck driver and fleet safety awards at ATA’s annual conference from May 8-10 in Rogers.

Fortner has been a professional truck driver for Stallion Transportation Group since 2010. In his 25-year career, he’s driven more than 3 million miles without an accident. Fortner is a U.S. Army veteran and participates in the industry’s Wreaths Across American campaign. Every December, Fortner drives to Maine to retrieve Christmas wreaths and delivers them to Little Rock National Cemetery, where the wreaths are placed on veterans’ graves.

Arnold, director of safety and compliance at ABF Freight, leads the safety, safety innovation and technology, hazardous materials, and safety and security administration teams. He spearheaded an effort to create a communications and support team, giving field employees a single, reliable support system for important updates and information, decreasing delay times and increasing efficiency. He’s also been key to the company’s testing and implementation of forward-facing cameras, electronic logging devices and other new technology. Arnold serves on the American Trucking Associations Safety Policy Committee, American Trucking Associations Safety Management Council, American Trucking Associations Hazardous Materials Policy Committee, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Arkansas Trucking Association Safety Management Council and is a leader during the state and national truck driving championships.

Calhoun, fleet optimization manager for Altec, is a former chair of the American Trucking Associations Technology & Maintenance Council and the Arkansas Trucking Association Technology & Maintenance Council. He also served on the Arkansas Office of Skills Development industry advisory board, where he helped technical schools obtain money for updated training equipment and helped establish the Carl Tapp Memorial Scholarship.

The ATA also honored companies with fleet safety awards at its annual conference. Walmart Transportation of Bentonville was named grand champion after logging more than 29 million miles, with an accident rate of 0.14 per million miles on Arkansas highways in 2023. Walmart Transportation previously won grand champion in 2016, 2018 and 2021.

Other fleet safety award winners included Wayne Smith Trucking of Morrilton, Loggins Logistics of Jonesboro, Oakley Trucking of North Little Rock, FedEx Express of Little Rock, Solar Transport Co. of West Des Moines, Iowa, Bray Fast Freight of Batesville, Justin Time Transportation of Ashdown and ABF Freight of Fort Smith.

“Research shows that trucking companies who are association members are safer than those who’ve never joined a trucking association,” said ATA President Shannon Newton. “To be recognized at this level demonstrates that Walmart and the other winning companies can call themselves the safest of the safe, with impressive records and thousands of drivers dedicated to moving our nation’s freight to the highest standards.”