Shannon Newton was appointed president of the Arkansas Trucking Association (ATA) in June 2014. Newton has been with the ATA since 2003 and was vice president from 2008-2014.
Since joining ATA, Newton has filled a range of leadership roles with expanded responsibilities in the development and implementation of strategic initiatives including planning, finance, member services, governance, regulatory and legislative affairs, and advocacy. In 2018, she was recognized by the American Trucking Associations with the President’s Trucking Association Executives Council Leadership Award for her regional and national advocacy efforts.
Newton was inducted into Arkansas Business’ 40 Under 40 Class of 2016. She has had held a number of association and national industry leadership positions, served on Governor Hutchinson’s Working Group on Highway Funding, and spearheaded the legislative effort in 2019 to pass the largest highway funding package to ever pass the Arkansas legislature. Newton recently served as chair of the Vote for Roads committee that successfully campaigned for voters to pass a half-cent sales tax in November 2020 to fund infrastructure. In April 2020, she was appointed to Arkansas’s Economic Recovery Task Force to develop an industry-specific strategy and make recommendations to the Governor for the state’s COVID-19 economic recovery.
She is a member of the Trucking Association’s Insurance Council, Arkansas Society of Association Executives, and Arkansas Society of Professional Lobbyists. Newton also serves on the board of directors for Project Zero, a statewide non-profit organization raising awareness on adoption from foster care.
Newton is a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas. She and her husband Josh, and their two children Nash (13) and Nyla (11) live in Bryant.