Ohio Trucking Association Leader to Retire

Larry Davis, executive director of the Ohio Trucking Association, will retire in January after lobbying for the industry for 22 years.

Davis, 71, said he started working at OTA as its lobbyist in 1991 after retiring from the Ohio State Highway Patrol and became the group’s executive director in 2000.

“For me, it’s been a good career. I’ve made a lot of good friends in the trucking industry,” he told Transport Topics Sept. 10.

Davis started an independent lobbying firm, where he worked in 1998 and 1999, and OTA was one of his clients. He said he is surprised to see how little some issues change in the industry.

“When I first came here, the big issues were a driver shortage and size and weight limits,” Davis said. “The issues we faced 22 years ago are the same issues we face today. It’s just a continuing onset of the same stuff over and over.”

OTA’s board of trustees has interviewed candidates and likely will announce his successor this month, he said.