When Allison Hughes — a graduate of the Truckload Carriers Association’s 2024 Elevate Young Leadership class — joined the Bennett Family of Companies six years ago, she had zero experience in trucking or logistics and even less of an idea of how she would excel in the field.
Today she’s a valued member of the company’s management team, having risen to contractor relations manager in the retention department. In her current role she leads the team in serving the company’s fleet of owner-operators across a wide range of issues.
“We call our department the one-stop shop. We’re an owner-operator based company, and my department deals with anything and everything that we can do to keep our contractors leased onto us,” she said. “We are an agent-based company as well, and we really have to target specific agents and customers to keep our guys moving.”
Building solid relationships with independent drivers is key to success.
“That’s probably the biggest thing; this new generation of truckers, a lot of them, want to be home more. They want to do more regional freight versus the typical model of over the road,” she said. “Even though we are predominantly an over-the road-company, we are trying to target more regional work.”
The “people” aspect of Hughes’ job is just one side of the coin — the other is gathering and presenting data to her superiors that track and guide her department’s efforts.
“I handle all the turnover numbers, revenue numbers, that kind of stuff,” she said. “It’s a very analytical position — just trying to figure out kind of where our shortcomings are and what we can do to improve to keep these guys leased on.”
A native of Indiana, Hughes graduated with a degree in criminology from Ball State University. Following graduation, she didn’t have a clear career path.
That’s when a friend who was working for Bennett suggested that she give it a try. Despite knowing nothing about the trucking industry, she packed up, moved to Georgia and reported for duty in the safety department.
From there, she moved into the claims department as part of Bennett’s self-insurance program. As a claims adjuster, she worked specifically on Bennett Truck Transport, getting an up-close-and-personal look at the trucking industry on a daily basis.
While she quickly adapted and thrived in the trucking industry, she says the trickiest part of the job was familiarizing herself with the Bennett Family of Companies’ many divisions.
“Bennett is so diverse! We’ve got about 12 different operating companies,” she said. “We’ve got crane and rigging, we’re in the oil fields, we’ve got heavy haul. We haul all sorts of different commodities.
“That was the biggest learning curve for me — just learning all of these different entities and how they function, and what they mean, and what they do, and how that all culminates,” she continued. “But I also think that’s why we are so unique; we have such a large footprint, and we do so much.”
When Hughes stepped into the job of contractor relations manager three and a half years ago, she got her first taste of managing people, in addition to other new expectations that come with being a leader.
“When I took on this role, I had a lot of life changes going on,” she said. “I found out I was pregnant with my first son right as I took this role — so that was a big adjustment. I knew that I was taking on this role and I wanted to be as present as I possibly could.
“It was also definitely an adjustment gaining the confidence to go in front of upper management and speak and all that kind of stuff,” she continued.
Managing other people isn’t necessarily the hardest part of the job, she says, even though it was challenging to learn to deal with different personalities and work relationships.
“The most difficult part was finding my confidence, learning how to interact with upper management and senior level positions,” she said.
In addition to these personal skills and attributes, Hughes’ various roles with Bennett have given her a “crash course” in the multi-faceted transportation industry, as well as a deep-rooted respect for what truckers have to deal with day in and day out.
“The logistics industry is consistently changing. It’s never the same — every day is different, with a different problem, a different environment,” she said, adding that this variety is what she likes best about her job.
“I never thought I would be in the logistics industry,” she said. “Growing up, I always heard the typical stigma of logistics and truckers and the trucking industry as a whole. I had no idea what all that encompasses and what all goes into it.
“I’m consistently amazed at everything these truckers have to know — not just with their trucks, but the law and rules of the road and their loads,” she continued. “That’s the kind of stuff that the general population has no idea about.”
Despite her “crash course” in the logistics industry, Allison Hughes has risen to the top of her class, and she couldn’t be happier.
Photo courtesy of Allison Hughes
Dwain Hebda is a freelance journalist, author, editor and storyteller in Little Rock, Arkansas. In addition to The Trucker, his work appears in more than 35 publications across multiple states each year. Hebda’s writing has been awarded by the Society of Professional Journalists and a Finalist in Best Of Arkansas rankings by AY Magazine. He is president of Ya!Mule Wordsmiths, which provides editorial services to publications and companies.
