ATA puts premium on coalition-building

The association’s new VP position will serve as single point of contact to coordinate lobbying with other organizations.    The American Trucking Associations is taking inter-industry collaboration to the next level.
   Earlier this month the nation’s largest motor carrier trade association named Mala Krishnamoorti Parker as its first vice president for coalitions. The position is designed to bring together policymakers, legislators and other organizations in areas where there are shared goals and interests.
   “When we’ve had successes in advancing ATA’s pro-safety, pro-trucking agenda, it is often due to the support of other industry groups, and Mala is going to help ATA rally such groups to our key issues to have an impact that benefits all of us,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said in a statement.
   Parker has experience in government relations working as deputy of chief of staff to former Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., associate deputy secretary at the Department of Labor and at the National Association of Home Builders.
   The ATA has organized and participated in broad-based coalitions trying to influence regulatory and legislative developments in areas such as economic policy, taxes, the environment, infrastructure and safety. Those efforts are often led by different executives, depending on the issue. Rather than having multiple people reaching out to other organizations there will now be a single coordinator at ATA.
   “Mala is going to help ATA give elected officials the bigger picture when it comes to our issues,” Chris Spear, ATA’s senior vice president of legislative affairs, said. “Every trucking issue is an issue of broad concern to the entire supply chain, and she is going to make sure Washington knows that.”