About
The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on truckload’s workforce, with our nation recognizing what we in the industry have known all along – the ability of our commercial vehicle operators to sustain the movement of ground freight commodities throughout North America is vital to the health and prosperity of our country.
Join TCA for a complimentary two-day virtual event, Essential Driver 2021, focusing on strategies addressing how to attract, develop and retain professional operators today. Attendees will hear from expert speakers presenting on the challenges faced every day as they provide proven and effective strategies to be implemented at your company.

Schedule
Tuesday, June 22
11:15 am – 12:15 pm ET
12:15 pm – 12:45 pm ET
12:45 pm – 1:30 pm ET
1:45 pm - 2:30 pm ET
2:45 pm - 3:45 pm ET
The Full Driver Lifecycle:
Retaining Drivers at Every Stage of Employment
In this session, our presenters will discuss each stage of the driver lifecycle (recruiting, onboarding, training, etc.) and explain how best to retain drivers at each stage. In particular, this conversation will cover whether fleets should concern themselves primarily with voluntary or involuntary turnover at each stage and how they can best prevent both types of turnover.
Hayden Cardiff
Founder and Co-CEO
Idelic
Tim Smith
President
Pivot Fleet Solutions
Jeff McKinney
Vice President of Safety
Jetco Delivery
Lunch Break
Training Recruiters in Sales
In the midst of a challenging driver shortage environment and fierce competition for CDL drivers, there is an amazing opportunity for CDL driver recruiters to dramatically improve conversations with applicants, leading to an improved conversion rate. In this presentation, DriverReach’s Founder and CEO, Jeremy Reymer, and Director of Sales and Services, Wendy Bartz, will take a detailed look at why recruiting managers should start training recruiters in sales techniques and processes, what some of these strategies look like, and how adopting a sales mentality can lead to more conversions in the hiring process.
Jeremy Reymer
Founder and Co-CEO
DriverReach
Wendy Bartz
Director of Sales and Service
DriverReach
Through the Eyes of the Driver -
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Many leaders have begun to think deeply or experience pressure to revisit their approach to diversity and inclusion. For most, the first reaction is a tactical strategy from 30,000 feet high or a one-off training. This interactive session is one with a difference, we will keep the big view in view, however, focus on lived experiences also.
While there are many books, podcasts, and panels to attend, often people do not have opportunities to connect around lessons from lived experiences to speak authentically about concerns. This session is an interactive and educational dialogue where you will join colleagues to begin to co-create the future that is aligned with your highest values and that will be beneficial to the trucking industry.
Love Odih Kumuyi
Founder, Culture Engineering Officer
Unsiloed
Key Elements of Driver Retention
by Tenure
Stay Metrics, a Tenstreet company, has developed and scientifically tested driver surveys that measure key elements of the driver experience. One of these surveys, the Ongoing Experience survey, was designed as a ‘whole house’ survey and captures a broad spectrum of the ongoing experiences of all drivers working with a carrier. As the transportation industry is currently facing a driver shortage, it is essential to accurately measure and understand drivers’ experiences and needs to maximize retention. This presentation will focus on results from an analysis of the Ongoing Experience survey data using a proprietary analytic tool called the Stay Index. The Stay Index was designed to identify levels of dissatisfaction with various issues, as well as the importance of those issues to drivers. The presentation will focus on issues central to the driver experience, highlight differences between male and female drivers, and pay special attention to differences by tenure.
Dr. Brad Fulton
Director of Research and Analytics
StayMetrics
Marilyn Surber
Transportation Advisor
Tenstreet
Wednesday, June 23
11:15 am – 12:15 pm ET
12:15 pm – 12:45 pm ET
12:45 pm – 2:00 pm ET
2:15 pm – 3:00 pm ET
3:15 pm – 4:15 pm ET
Making Data-Driven Decisions
Many companies focus on the cost of recruiting, but don’t often think about how much they’re spending, or not spending, on retention, which ultimately feeds into the need to recruit. What does focusing on retention actually look like? What metrics do you actually need to pay attention to?
Dirk Kupar
Co-Founder
TruckRight
Perry Olson
Owner
Fortune Transportation Co.
Lunch Break
The Critical Role of the Shipper
in Driver Retention
Carriers have been focused internally on how to solve the driver shortage problem, but it is time for shippers to get involved so the carrier and the shipper have a shared responsibility for driver retention and turnover. Having shippers as part of the solution is the first step in helping them be a part of understanding their impact and role on outreach and culture and how this contributes to solving people-based problems within our industry.
Jim Ward
President
D.M. Bowman
Don Lewis
2019 Company Driver of the Year
Wilson Logistics
John Pope
Chairman
Cargo Transporters
Bret Shepherd
Senior Director
Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC
How Agile are Your Recruiting, Onboarding and Safety Systems?
Aligning your processes and tools with your Organizational Goals. This session focuses on ensuring the systems and processes in place, as you recruit and onboard drivers, are flexible enough to change so that you can pivot quickly based on shifts and demands in the industry. This will address aspects of integrating data, adapting systems and managing people’s roles and expectations involved in the process.
Cindy Nelson
Vice President, Recruiting and Driver Onboarding Solutions
EBE
Retention Strategies to Patch
and Fill the Leaky Bucket
When driver turnover remains high, driver recruiting can seem like your company is trying to fill a leaky bucket. As soon as you onboard new drivers, a handful leave, making it challenging to stabilize your company culture and ultimately, grow your fleet. In this session, WorkHound and USA Truck will discuss how to repair the leaky bucket of driver turnover and ultimately overflow your companies recruiting and retention potential.
Max Farrell
CEO & Co-Founder
WorkHound
Nick Wakefield
Vice President, Human Resources - Driver Recruiting and Retention
USA Truck