Transportation 2024: P. DALE BENNETT

Bennett lost his father, Paul O. Bennett, this year, and the Virginia House of Delegates and the state Senate signed a joint resolution honoring him. Bennett adopted the love of trucking from his dad, a professional truck driver, and has advocated for the trucking industry for  more than 40 years.

The nation’s trucking industry has been hit hard in recent years by driver shortages, supply chain woes and high diesel prices. At the federal level this year, the VTA is supporting the Veterans Improvement Commercial Driver License Act to eliminate a two-year waiting period for new CDL training facilities to accept GI Bill benefits. It passed the U.S. Senate in November 2023 and the House of Representatives on April 30.

In 2019, Bennett was recognized by the American Trucking Associations for his 30 years of service to the ATA federation as president and CEO of the VTA.

A University of Richmond graduate who grew up in Burkeville, Bennett worked for the Virginia State Crime Commission from 1982 to 1984 as a research analyst and legislative coordinator before joining VTA’s predecessor organization. As a teen, he drove a tractor on his uncle’s tobacco fields.