During Truckload 2021: Las Vegas, the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) bestowed its Past Chairmen’s Award upon longtime industry professional Lana Batts of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Batts has more than 30 years of experience in the trucking industry. Most recently, she retired from Driver iQ of Tulsa, and prior to that she served from 2001 to 2010 as the managing partner of Transport Capital Partners, a mergers and acquisition firm that specializes in the trucking industry.

From 1994 to 2000, Batts served as the president of TCA, where she led the successful turnaround of the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI) and established the Truckload Academy.

Additionally, she was the senior vice president of government affairs for American Trucking Associations (ATA) from 1974 to 1992 and served as president and CEO of the American Financial Services Association from 1992 to 1994.

Batts has received numerous awards for her contributions to the industry, including the 2006 PTDI Lee Crittenden Award. She also was the recipient of ATA’s highest honor, the S. Earl Dove Award in 1994, and was named Woman of the Year by the Women’s Transportation Seminar in 1997.

Batts serves on the board of directors of Brown Trucking Co. and the Transportation Costing Group. She also has served on the boards of Mullen Transportation (a publicly traded Canadian corporation), PeopleNet Communications, and served as president of the Transportation Research Forum.

Batts grew up in a trucking family in Billings, Montana, where her father owned a livestock trucking company. She graduated from the University of Montana with degrees in political science and history and holds an master's degree from the University of Miami in politics and public affairs. She has done doctoral work in transportation at the University of Maryland.