Collectively, the ATRI team represents over 180 years of service to this organization and the trucking industry. Several were part of the ATA Foundation and played a role in the reorganization into the American Transportation Research Institute.
Rebecca M. Brewster
President and COO
Atlanta, ga
Rebecca Brewster is President and Chief Operating Officer of the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). ATRI is the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization, whose mission is research to improve the trucking industry’s safety and productivity.
Rebecca is the recipient of several awards including DC Velocity’s 2025 Rainmakers, the 2013 Influential Woman in Trucking award from the Women in Trucking Association, and the 2010 J.R. Bob Halladay award given by the 50 state trucking associations.
Rebecca has been with ATRI for over 32 years. Prior to that, she was the Public and Governmental Affairs Director for the Cary, North Carolina Chamber of Commerce and a Fleet Analyst with Moen, Inc. Rebecca has a B.A. in English from Wofford College and she is a Fellow of the North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership.
Daniel Murray
Senior Vice president
Minneapolis, MN
Daniel Murray has more than 30 years of experience in a broad range of transportation fields including trucking research and economics, transportation safety technologies and autonomous vehicles.
As Senior Vice President for the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), Dan is responsible for managing ATRI’s transportation research, testing and evaluation, and leads multiple national activities including the U.S. DOT-sponsored Freight Mobility Initiative. Dan’s efforts have led to transportation research awards from ITE, ITS America and the University of Minnesota, among others.
Prior to his employment with ATRI, Dan spent several years working in economic development for a Chicago business consortium and four years developing transit programs, policy and funding with the Regional Transit Board in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.
Dan is actively involved in multiple committees of the National Academies’ Transportation Research Board, and presently sits on the Boards of the Freight Mobility Research Institute, Mid-America Transportation Center, Northwestern University’s Telemobility Center, and the Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee.
Dan received his B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, and his M.S. from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Jeffrey Short
Vice President
Atlanta, ga
Jeffrey Short is the Vice President of the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) and is based in Atlanta, GA. His areas of expertise include transportation policy and regulations, data management and analysis, and freight-related safety, technology, and performance measurement.
During Jeff’s 22 years with ATRI, he has worked directly with anonymous telematics data, expanding the scale and scope of the organization’s truck GPS data research and analysis. Through this work he has built systems for measuring travel time, speed and reliability indices for freight movement across North America.
Jeff has published several trucking industry-focused reports on transportation finance and the costs/benefits of key funding mechanisms. Additionally, he has led numerous research initiatives assessing the impact of federal regulations, particularly those focused on the driver hours-of-service rules. His other research interests include safety culture within organizations and emerging freight technologies.
Jeff holds a B.A. from Emory University and an M.S. from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Carla Rose
Research Assistant
Atlanta, GA
Carla Rose is a research assistant with the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). She has over 36 years of administrative experience, with 28 years of those years in the trucking and transportation industry. She has also served as a ATRI’s meeting coordinator for many of ATRI’s meetings, workshops and focus groups.
In addition to her meeting planning experience, Carla also provides research support including survey development, data collection, research formatting and publication. She designed and manages the ATRI website and handles ATRI’s marketing and communications which include the ATRI newsletter, press releases and all other aspects of ATRI’s social media presence.
Carla has been with ATRI for over 18 years. Prior to joining ATRI, Carla did freelance publishing, graphic and web design.
Alex Leslie
Senior Research Associate
Minneapolis, MN
Dr. Alex Leslie is a Senior Research Associate with the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). His research combines a variety of qualitative and data science techniques to analyze industry economics, performance measurement, and labor issues.
Alex serves as the primary author of ATRI’s annual flagship benchmarking report, Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, and he has led recent research on trucking tort litigation, diesel technician shortfalls, and driver detention. He is currently engaged in ATRI research on the rising cost of risk and insurance in the trucking industry. Alex frequently presents on freight topics at industry and academic events.
Alex holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, where he previously worked as an Instructor of English and Data Science.
Andrew Fain
Research Analyst
Atlanta, GA
Andrew Fain is a Research Analyst with the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). His qualitative and quantitative research skills enable him to effectively contribute to a wide range of studies at ATRI.
Andrew’s research portfolio includes research on public truck parking expansion, rising litigation costs in the trucking industry, and a study that analyzed the safety impacts of wider adoption of advanced safety technologies in trucks. He also leads the development of ATRI’s annual State Fast Facts, which provides operational, safety, and environmental data for all 50 states. He is currently researching how new entrant driver training standards impact safety.
Prior to joining ATRI, Andrew was a research and data coordinator for a national youth mentoring organization.
Andrew holds a B.A. from Georgia State University.
Jack Spalding
Research Analyst
Atlanta, GA
Jack Spalding is a Research Analyst with the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). His expertise includes geographic information system (GIS) analysis, as well as qualitative and quantitative research. Jack plays an ongoing role in multiple Freight Mobility Initiative (FMI) research studies.
He holds a master’s degree in Geography from the University of Alabama, with a focus in GIS, and served as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Laboratory for Location Science during his time at UA.
Before pursuing graduate studies, Jack spent nearly a decade working as a researcher for political campaigns across the country, including serving as Research Director for two competitive U.S. Senate campaigns.
He also holds bachelor’s degrees in History and International Affairs from the University of Georgia.
Audrey Clark
Research Analyst
MINNEAPOLIS, MN
As a Research Analyst with ATRI, Audrey provides policy analysis, transportation systems assessments, and stakeholder coordination across multiple studies and activities, including the FMCSA-sponsored TechCelerate Safety Technology program.
Prior to her tenure at ATRI, Audrey was a Research Assistant with the Transportation Policy and Economic Competitiveness Program (TPEC), a research program at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. While at TPEC, her research and analyses focused on agriculture freight, economic competitiveness and transportation infrastructure.
Audrey received her Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Minnesota.
Joy Miller
Contract Manager
Washington, DC
Joy Miller is the Contract Manager for the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). She has over 30 years of government contract management experience, with a specialization in transportation and trucking research.
Joy is responsible for ATRI’s contract administration duties, including budget development and negotiations, auditing, state & federal compliance, and finance & accounting.
Joy received her B.A. from Stephens College, and has held multiple public and private positions including congressional staff support.
