Up Close & Personal

Rebecca Brewster, President & COO of American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI)

As President and COO of ATRI, Rebecca has the overall responsibility for ensuring that ATRI delivers on its mission of research to improve the trucking industry’s safety and productivity. That includes oversight of ATRI’s research portfolio, ensuring that they have the resources – staff and financial – to deliver on their mission, and serving as the public voice of ATRI to disseminate their research far and wide.

1What motivates you to come to work every day?

The opportunity to make this great industry even better, whether it means improved safety training for drivers, benchmarking to improve a fleet’s bottom line, or quantifying the impact of regulations to better inform policy and regulatory actions, our work is critical for the industry.

REBECCA BREWSTER

ATRI President & COO

2What are the three biggest challenges that ATRI faces as an organization at the current time?

ATRI’s annual budget is fairly evenly split between charitable contributions from the industry and revenue generated from government contract research, so ensuring we have adequate resources from both is a perennial challenge. And, while we rely on a core group of trucking industry supporters who make annual contributions to ATRI, we really need to expand that number of contributors so that it is more in line with the value our research delivers to the industry.

3How do you believe the trucking industry will fare under the Biden

Administration?

Any change in administration brings with it new agency heads and priorities and the potential for regulatory impacts. ATRI’s research over the years has been used to quantify the impact of regulatory changes on the industry and we’re prepared to do that under the Biden administration as needed.

4What does ATRI have in its toolbox that makes it an effective organization?

ATRI’s research agenda is set by its Research Advisory Committee (RAC), an external group of trucking industry stakeholders representing motor carriers, professional drivers, industry suppliers, law enforcement, government and academia who are tasked with annually identifying the trucking industry’s top priorities. The varied experience and expertise of RAC members ensures that our research priorities are addressing the industry’s most pressing needs.

Additionally, ATRI’s staff size is relatively small compared to the volume of work we produce for the industry but combined, our staff has over 150 years of trucking industry experience. That depth and breadth of experience is unmatched in terms of what we bring to our work on behalf of the trucking industry.

5What is the most rewarding and the most frustrating aspect of your job?

I love telling the ATRI story – and I’m very passionate about the value of our research to the industry. So presenting at industry events, being interviewed on radio or TV, or these days, doing virtual presentations, is the most rewarding part of my job.

As part of our mission to provide the research to improve the industry’s safety and productivity, we make all of our research available on our website free of charge. Unfortunately, there are times when individuals or groups who believe something counter to what our research findings are will publicly criticize our research. That frustrates me for our staff as I know the hard work they put into our studies and how much time and resources are spent to ensure that our research methodologies are transparent and our findings are accurate.

6What are your guiding principles and how do you rely on those principles daily to do your job?

I have always believed that hard work and honesty are what make you successful in business and I keep both as my personal barometer of success, always asking, “have I done my best work and have I been honest with everyone?”

The Brewster Family: TC, Rebecca, Kevin, and Eric

7Who were your mentors and how did they prepare you for your current position?

My Dad was probably my most important mentor. From the time I was a little girl, he assured me that I could do anything I set my mind to and he really instilled the importance of hard work and honesty.

8Tell us one thing that most people do not know about you.

As the only daughter in a family with three much older brothers, my mother was determined that I would grow up to be the ultimate southern belle. As such, I was sent to charm school twice and for my 12th birthday, I was given a sewing machine and sewing lessons, leading to several blue ribbons from the county fair for clothing I had made. I’m pretty sure that head of the trucking industry’s research organization was not part of my mother’s grand vision for me but my father would have loved it!

9Above all else, what do you want people to think/feel once you have met them for the first time.

I want people to feel at ease around me as I really strive to be approachable and easy to talk to. And, once we’ve had a chance to talk, I hope to convey how passionate I am about the trucking industry and how critical ATRI’s work is to the trucking industry’s success. 10 Anything else you want to add? I would not be where I am today without the support of my family. Given how much I travel for my career, we made the decision early on that my husband should stay at home with our two sons, so he retired at an early age and committed himself to taking care of our family while I worked. His willingness to do so meant so much to me and our sons.

Rebecca Brewster (ATRI), Ben McLean (Ruan Transportation) who sits on the ATRI Board of Directors, Kevin Gass (PDI), Diane Gass