American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear has departed his post with the organization effective immediately, according to a Friday press release.
No reason was given for Spear’s departure. He has been the organization’s top executive since 2016. ATA’s board of directors will convene a search committee to find its next president and CEO, but no timeline was provided in the release.
ATA Chairman Greg Hodgen commended Spear for his accomplishments and service to the organization and trucking industry.
“During his tenure, ATA secured significant policy victories, strengthened its advocacy operation, and elevated trucking’s voice in Washington,” Hodgen said in the release.
The key trucking group, representing tens of thousands of carriers, has lauded Spear for his leadership and efforts to aid the industry, including progress with major policy priorities such as federal infrastructure, lawsuit abuse reform, interstate commerce protections and defeating truck-only tolling.
In an early August interview with Trucking Dive, Spear discussed assorted regulatory wins for the industry the first half of 2026.
He pointed to the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to revise portions of its 2023 heavy-duty nitrogen oxide regulations that, when finalized, could save truckers $12 billion and reduce costs of new trucks by up to $6,000 per vehicle. Spear also acknowledged the move to rescind the Biden administration’s independent contractor rule. Removing the rule would reduce the number of standards drivers need to meet to qualify as independent contractors.
ATA was critical of the Biden administration’s change to the definition of independent contractors, calling the move “opaque and deliberately confusing” and designed to “deny self-employed individuals the freedom of choice to work as independent contractors.”
Spear said the change will make it “easier to comply with and that rule should be done by the end of the year.”
Spear said the industry also received a major safety boost as federal regulators cracked down on how nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses were issued and increased requirements for English language proficiency. He said proposed action by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to remove CDL schools from the national training registry for safety standard violations was another industry win.
“A lot of work [was] done in the first half of this year and I think we’ll continue to see a lot of results in the second half of this year as well,” Spear said, noting the industry achieved these accomplishments during what he described as “one of the most politically divided environments I have ever witnessed in 30 years of doing this work.”
“It shows that our message resonates with both sides of the aisle and I think, you know, it’s a reflection of unity,” Spear said. “There’s a lot of people out there that just love to say ‘no, no, no’ to everything and criticize and offer zero solutions to the problem. We’re all about getting stuff done.”
Under Spear’s leadership, Hodgen noted the organization has assembled an experienced team that will continue advancing industry priorities.
“From our policy experts and technical professionals to our government affairs and communications teams, we have a world-class operation working together to deliver results for our members,” Hodgen said. “That depth, expertise, and shared sense of purpose will continue to drive our association forward, regardless of who is at the wheel.”
The ATA in 2024 approved a contract extension for Spear, which at the time, extended a five-year agreement he had signed in 2021. The extension called for him to lead the organization through 2029.
Spear has extensive experience working on Capitol Hill, previously representing Hyundai Motor Co. as VP of government affairs, working as a Senate aide and serving as assistant labor secretary in the early 2000s.
