The American Transportation Research Institute appointed Brett Merritt, president of engine business at Cummins, and Harold Sumerford Jr., CEO of J&M Tank Lines, to its board of directors, according to a May 29 press release.
“These gentlemen bring a wealth of industry experience and expertise to our board,” said ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster. “ATRI benefits from a very engaged Board of Directors and we welcome the involvement of Brett and Harold.”
Merritt has worked for more than 26 years in the auto and commercial vehicle industry, including more than 15 years at Cummins.
The OEM executive has grown Cummins’ on-highway business from 800,000 engines in 2012 to 1.2 million last year, according to ATRI.
Sumerford served as the most recent former chairman of the American Trucking Associations before joining the board of its nonprofit research arm.
He has more than 45 years of trucking experience, working at J&M Tank Lines since 1976. The carrier’s CEO since 2002, Sumerford has overseen its growth to 11 terminals, more than 500 employees, 415 tractors and 720 tankers.
With Merritt and Sumerford’s appointment, ATRI’s board has 13 members, including Chairman Derek Leathers, the CEO of Werner Enterprises.
ATRI's priorities for this year include mining driver demographic data to explore trucking career pathways, calculating the costs of traffic bottlenecks and cargo theft, and developing a cost-benefit analysis of federal excise tax repeal.
