The board of directors of the Professional Truck Driver Institute has voted to move the organization’s headquarters to Denver, Colorado. There it will be managed by Leading Associations, the company that manages the North American Transportation Management Institute, a certification and training organization for a number of non-driving truck and bus positions.

Since 1996, PTDI has been managed by the Truckload Carriers Association, where it became an organizing force for truck driver training standards. The two organizations were challenged to develop standards and certify courses to teach those standards. It also worked to convince the trucking industry, insurance companies, schools, and other stakeholders to voluntarily accept formalized entry-level training.

The decision to switch management was brought on by converging changes to both PTDI’s and the TCA’s missions.

“First, the federal government is now putting forth its own prerequisite training standards for entry-level commercial truck drivers, so PTDI’s focus will be changing accordingly,” said David Money, PTDI’s board chairman. “Secondly, although TCA and PTDI have always worked closely together, TCA’s leadership now needs to concentrate more on truckload-specific issues, as it should. And finally, Marlene (Dakita, certification coordinator) — who has worked tirelessly for us for nearly 21 years and intimately knows the organization — has announced her retirement. Change was simply inevitable.”

PTDI contacted Leading Associations’ president Jeff Arnold to help oversee the transition and lead PTDI to its next phase. Tim Blum of Leading Associations will be PTDI’s executive director.

“This is a great fit for PTDI, and for us,” said Arnold. “For the past 16 years, we’ve been managing operations for NATMI, which could be described as a sister organization to PTDI. Now we’ll use that certification experience to benefit PTDI.”

NATMI provides internationally recognized, university accredited training and professional certification for truck and bus fleet management professionals, including safety, maintenance, driver trainers and cargo security professionals. It also at one time was under the umbrella of TCA.

PTDI’s transition will take effect immediately. The phone number and website/email addresses will remain the same.

“TCA has always been a strong proponent of PTDI and its mission,” said John Lyboldt, TCA president. “Our officers and board wanted to find an organization that could grow PTDI as it heads into the next stage of its existence. Jeff has already had many years of experience by serving on PTDI’s board and Certification Commission, which gives him a deep understanding of its operations, members, and volunteer leadership.”