Key leadership changes at ATA, BeyondTrucks, and Kodiak Robotics signal industry innovation and growth

Key takeaways:

ATA has appointed Tony Bradley and Chris Maxwell as chairman and vice chairman of the Trucking Association Executives Council, emphasizing the importance of state associations in advocacy and innovation.
BeyondTrucks has hired Mahriah Alf as head of product, leveraging her AI expertise to enhance fleet operations and decision-making.
Mohamed “Mo” Elshenawy has joined Kodiak Robotics’ board, contributing his experience in autonomous vehicle technology as the company prepares for a public listing.

ATA’s Trucking Association Executives Council announces new leadership

The American Trucking Associations recently announced that Tony Bradley, president & CEO of the Arizona Trucking Association, and Chris Maxwell, president & CEO of the Rhode Island Trucking Association, have been elected by their state trucking association peers to serve as the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the Trucking Association Executives Council.

Bradley previously served as the TAEC vice chair and succeeds John Esparza, president & CEO of the Texas Trucking Association, who recently concluded his one-year term as TAEC chair. As TAEC chairman, Bradley serves as the TAEC representative to the ATA Executive Committee and Strategic Priorities Committee. As vice chairman, Maxwell serves as first alternate should Mr. Bradley be unable to participate in an Executive Committee or Strategic Priorities Committee meeting.

“It’s an honor to be elected by my peers to serve as chairman of TAEC,” said Bradley, president and CEO of the Arizona Trucking Association and chairman of TAEC. “The work our state associations do—day in and day out—is critical to the strength and success of the trucking industry nationwide. I look forward to building on the legacy of leaders who have served in this role as we continue to advocate, innovate, and elevate the voice of trucking across the country.”

TAEC also announced its new regional and ATA Conference Chairs:

Region I (NETAEC): Kevin Weeks, executive director, Trucking Association of Massachusetts
Region II: Donna England, president & CEO, Tennessee Trucking Association
Region III: Jill Sokacz, president & CEO, Michigan Trucking Association
Region IV (WTAEC): Duane Williams, CEO, Montana Trucking Association
ATA Conferences: Jon Eisen, executive director, ATA Intermodal Carriers Conference/VP, ATA Conferences

As head of product, Alf will oversee the development of native AI products.

BeyondTrucks hires MIT PhD and former Noodle.ai chief product officer

BeyondTrucks recently announced that Mahriah Alf, an expert in AI product development and former CPO at AI supply chain company Noodle.ai, has joined the company as head of product.

"Bringing Mahriah Alf onto our team of fleet operations, software, and data experts reflects the incredible potential we, and our customers, see in AI,” said Hans Galland, CEO of BeyondTrucks. “When paired with the right data and a multi-tenant operating system like BeyondTrucks, AI is becoming a source of strategic advantage for fleets. This hire underscores our commitment to AI innovation. Alf is a seasoned AI leader with a proven track record of helping customers tackle real business challenges and deliver meaningful value."

As head of product, Alf will oversee the development of native AI products. As AI is applied across all fleet functions, from load planning and driver management to drivers’ driving and non-driving tasks as well as back-office operations, it will be increasingly essential for fleets to compete in an industry undergoing transformation.

"My experience developing AI solutions that achieved an 80% reduction in planning time for key decision-making directly aligns with BeyondTrucks' mission and capabilities to transform fleet operations,“ said Alf. “It’s the perfect software environment for people in fleets to perform much better with AI and deliver real ROI.”

BeyondTrucks said its AI-native platform uses a multi-tenant cloud-based architecture and deep system integrations to deliver real-time operational intelligence and automation for fleet operators.

Elshenawy is a technology executive and board advisor with more than two decades of experience leading large-scale AI, product, and engineering organizations across autonomous mobility, e-commerce, cloud infrastructure, and healthcare sectors. — Elshenawy is a technology executive and board advisor with more than two
decades of experience leading large-scale AI, product, and engineering organizations across autonomous mobility, e-commerce, cloud infrastructure, and healthcare sectors.

Former Cruise president and CTO Mohamed Elshenawy joins Kodiak Robotics’ board

Kodiak Robotics recently appointed Mohamed “Mo” Elshenawy, former president and CTO of self-driving car company Cruise, to Kodiak’s board of directors. Elshenawy is a technology executive and board advisor with more than two decades of experience leading large-scale AI, product, and engineering organizations across autonomous mobility, e-commerce, cloud infrastructure, and healthcare sectors. Elshenawy’s executive leadership experience, specifically in pioneering autonomous vehicle solutions, further strengthens Kodiak’s board as it prepares to become a publicly listed company via a business combination with Ares Acquisition Corporation II.

“Mo guided Cruise through critical phases of technology and operational development, and helped manage Cruise’s integration into a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors,” said Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak. “His expertise in technology platform transformation, expanding world-class engineering organizations, and deploying AI into real-world operations will be invaluable as we scale our product deployment.”

Elshenawy currently serves as the CTO at Hims & Hers Health, where he is working to accelerate the company's vision to build the next-generation healthcare platform, powered by AI and designed to deliver deeply personalized, accessible care at scale. Earlier in his career, Elshenawy held technology leadership roles at Amazon, where he led global engineering for the company’s ReCommerce business and spearheaded a retail big data analytics platform.

“Kodiak has a deep history of the kind of focused, pragmatic innovation that’s needed to bring autonomous trucking to scale,” said Elshenawy. “I’m excited to support such an innovative company as they advance a category-defining platform built on safety, performance, and real-world impact.”