The NATSO Show 2018

Bob Costello
Vice President and Chief Economist
American Trucking Associations


Bob Costello is the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the national trade association for the trucking industry. As Chief Economist, he manages all of ATA's collection, analysis and dissemination of trucking economic information. This includes several monthly trucking economic indicators, motor carrier financial and operating data, an annual freight transportation forecast, driver wage studies, weekly diesel fuel price and economic reports, and a yearly trucking almanac. Bob also conducts economic analyses of proposed regulations and legislation affecting the trucking industry. Bob is often cited in the news media as an expert on trucking economics, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, CNBC, FOX Business Channel, and National Public Radio. Bob has testified at congressional hearings on trucking issues. In March 2010, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation appointed Bob to the Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics (ACTS), which advises the Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Bob is a member of the National Association for Business Economics and has served on several research and project panels for the Transportation Research Board, which is part of the National Academies. Prior to joining ATA in 1997, Bob was an economist with Joel Popkin & Company in Washington D.C., an economic consulting firm that specializes in the analysis of wages, inflation, and economic trends. Bob has a Master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a Bachelor of Arts from Winona State University in Winona, MN. He lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife, Megan, and daughter, Campbell.

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