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Board Members Bios
Jim Johnston

Raised in the Midwest, Mr. Johnston entered the trucking industry as a driver and an owner-operator, after completing his military service in the U.S. Navy. His driving career continued for 13 years, until the oil embargoes of the early 1970s, and the subsequent trucking shutdowns across the country created the need for truckers to organize themselves in order to effectively communicate their concerns to lawmakers. The leadership role of the newly-formed Association was thrust upon him, and he gave up his truck to focus on these responsibilities full-time.

From its humble beginnings in an office trailer chained to a light pole at a truck stop in Grain Valley, Missouri, Mr. Johnston has nurtured OOIDA to its current status as the largest national organization of professional truckers in the country. Now, in its 34th year, OOIDA has more than 350 employees and over 150,000 active members.

The determination, strength of character, and personal charisma that helped him persevere through the difficulties of OOIDA's early years, have also served to make Jim Johnston an outspoken champion for the rights and well being of all professional truckers. He has boldly led OOIDA's legal challenges against many state governments and regulatory bodies on issues associated with the unfair treatment against truckers, winning landmark cases in Tennessee and Alabama. He has also taken on major motor carriers head-on for violations in truth-in-leasing regulations and other alleged abuses of the small business truckers' rights.

Mr. Johnston's concern with areas of commercial vehicle safety has led to his inclusion in numerous research forums on behalf of the views of professional truckers. He has served on research panels of the National Academy of Science Transportation Research Board, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. General Accounting Office, and others dealing with various aspects of trucking operations, such as commercial vehicle safety, truck size and weight issues.

He formerly served on the National Motor Carrier Advisory Committee to the U.S. Department of Transportation. He was a member of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance Senior Strategic Advisory Committee, and a former member of the ITS America Commercial Vehicle Operations Policy Subcommittee, on which he served as chairman of the committee's Data Privacy and Control Task Force.

He continues to be regularly consulted by the administration, congressional leaders, and the Department of Transportation on regulatory issues affecting the trucking industry.