Your Fed, Your Voice: Shannon Newton
My name is Shannon Newton, and I’m the president of the Arkansas Trucking Association. I perceive my most important responsibility as a council member to prepare and share. The trucking industry is such a pivotal role in this part of the country. We play a major role in a variety of industries, not just the transportation industry, whether it be retail or manufacturing or agriculture. All of those industries are really important. And so preparing by collecting the most recent information, whether that be on labor or cost, demand, all of those issues, we’re going to have the opportunity to share what's going on within our industry.
So prepare, and then show up and be ready to share what’s going on, because I found that the issues that we’re experiencing, the challenges that we have very easily roll over into impacting the economy as a whole. And I think those various perspectives do offer something interesting to the Fed Reserve, who are there to hear from those voices who are representing a wide variety of economic sectors. I was surprised at how open to the external input and engagement that they were. Makes you feel like the contribution and the participation is of value.
Shannon Newton, President, Arkansas Trucking Association, Little Rock, Ark.
Newton shares her voice and important perspectives about economic conditions as part of the St. Louis Fed's Transportation Industry Council. Four industry councils (transportation, agribusiness, health care and real estate) include members from across the Eighth Federal Reserve District, all of whom are regularly helping the Fed gather information and insights about the economy. Members’ observations—along with economic data in the Beige Book and meetings of our board of directors—help ensure conditions in Main Street America are part of monetary policy deliberations in Washington, D.C.