{"id":2707,"date":"2021-10-26T23:13:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T23:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/?p=2707"},"modified":"2021-10-27T01:23:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T01:23:05","slug":"jm-tank-lines-sumerford-elected-ata-chairman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/other-news\/2021\/10\/26\/jm-tank-lines-sumerford-elected-ata-chairman\/2707\/","title":{"rendered":"J&M Tank Lines’ Sumerford Elected ATA Chairman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Al Muskewitz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013<\/strong> Harold Sumerford Jr., CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based J&M Tank Lines, was elected chairman of the American Trucking Associations Tuesday and the head of the Alabama Trucking Association couldn\u2019t be prouder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sumerford succeeds Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, president and CEO of Garner Trucking, as the organization\u2019s 77th<\/sup> chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis couldn\u2019t be a better time to be not just a member of ATA, but chairman of the board,\u201d Sumerford said. \u201cI\u2019m honored and humbled to be chosen by my fellow members to represent ATA and the trucking industry at this critical time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is the third trucking leader from Alabama to lead the ATA as chairman, following Jack Cole of Jack Cole Co. (1953) and S. Earl Dove of AAA Cooper (1985).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a historic day in Alabama Trucking,\u201d said Mark Colson, the Alabama Trucking Association\u2019s president and CEO. \u201cWe are so fortunate to have him leading our national industry and so proud that he\u2019s from the Yellowhammer State.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sumerford has been deeply involved in the trucking industry. He is a past chairman of the Georgia Motor Truck Association (J&M Tank Lines started in Americus, Ga.) and the National Tank Truck Carriers. In addition, he and J&M have been longtime members and supporters of the American Transportation Research Institute and the Truckload Carriers Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Sumerford\u2019s leadership, J&M Tank Lines has won numerous state and national safety awards and an ATA Mike Russell Trucking Image Award for the company\u2019s work during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colson called him \u201ca doer\u201d and \u201can advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHarold is the consummate professional, and a tremendous ambassador for our industry,\u201d ATA president and CEO Chris Spear said. \u201cHis story \u2013 working in the family business until he ran the family business \u2013 could not be more representative of what trucking is all about. I\u2019m looking forward to working more closely with him as chairman and want to congratulate him on this honor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colson had not built a relationship with Sumerford until coming to the Alabama Trucking Association, but there was an encounter early in his tenure that let him know the new national chairman was comfortable with any constituency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a private setting with Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Sumerford was explaining some of the dynamics of a weight distribution issue for tank truck carriers that was part of a future piece of legislation. It\u2019s a complicated subject, but when the short conversation was over Tuberville said he had a better understanding of the trucking industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a real operator,\u201d Colson said. \u201cHe understands politics, he understands business and he understands people. You put him in any room \u2013 a political room on the Hill in D.C., a board room, a room full of drivers \u2013 he understands the dynamics at play and he understands how to get things done. That\u2019s why he\u2019s such an effective leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t come with a lot of bravado. He\u2019s very humble, but he\u2019s very personable, too. He\u2019s the kind of guy you want to do a deal with; he\u2019s the kind the guy you want to have a beer with. He\u2019s all about service; he\u2019s all about getting things done. He\u2019s not into checking boxes, he\u2019s into progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ATA Board also elected Dan Van Alstine, president and COO of Ruan Transportation Management Systems, as first vice chairman and Andrew Boyle, co-president of Boyle Transportation, second vice chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also named YRC Worldwide CEO Darren Hawkins and Cargo Transporters president and CEO Dennis Dellinger as vice chairmen, and re-elected Admiralty Holdings chairman John M. Smith as secretary and FedEx Freight president and CEO John A. Smith as treasurer.

Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media Corp.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cover photo: New chairman Harold Sumerford addresses the ATA membership.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Al Muskewitz NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013 Harold Sumerford Jr., CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based J&M Tank Lines, was elected chairman of the American Trucking Associations Tuesday and the head of the Alabama Trucking Association couldn\u2019t be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[478,13,477],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2707"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2711,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions\/2711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}