Robert Costello
Speaker
Chief Economist & Senior Vice President
American Trucking Association

Bob Costello is the Chief Economist & Senior Vice President of International Trade Policy and Cross-Border Operations for the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the national trade association for the trucking industry. As Chief Economist, he manages all of ATA’s collection, analysis and dissemination of trucking economic information. This includes several monthly trucking economic indicators, motor carrier financial and operating data, an annual freight transportation forecast, driver wage studies, weekly diesel fuel price and economic reports, and a yearly trucking almanac. Bob also conducts economic analyses of proposed regulations and legislation affecting the trucking industry.

Bob also heads up ATA’s International Trade Policy and Cross Border Operations Department. In this capacity, he works on issues related NAFTA/USMCA, tariffs, customs, and immigration.

Bob is often cited in the news media as an expert on trucking economics, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, CNBC, FOX Business Channel, and National Public Radio.

Bob currently serves on the American Transportation Research Institute’s Research Advisory Committee. He is on the Board of Directors for the Border Trade Alliance. Bob is also a member of the National Association for Business Economics and has served on several research and project panels for the Transportation Research Board, which is part of the National Academies. He is also a member of the Industrial Economists Group at Harvard University.

Prior to joining ATA in 1997, Bob was an economist with Joel Popkin & Company in Washington D.C., an economic consulting firm that specializes in the analysis of wages, inflation, and economic trends.

Bob has a Master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a Bachelor of Arts from Winona State University in Winona, MN.

He lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife, Megan, and daughter, Campbell.