ATA names Grande as new COO

Today, American Trucking Associations announced the hiring of Mario Grande to serve as the organization’s Chief Commercial Officer. Grande will oversee membership sales and operations, product development and marketing for the association. Grande will also oversee the sales operation for the industry’s leading trade publication Transport Topics, owned by parent company ATA.

A successful sales leader, Grande has deep experience across print and digital publishing and advertising, events and creative services. Prior to joining ATA, he served as vice president and general manager at The Townsend Group—a division of SmithBucklin—where he oversaw revenue generation for a portfolio of more than twenty industry associations.

“I’m thrilled to join the outstanding leadership team at ATA and honored to be part of an association that represents one of the most vital and essential industries in today’s economy,” said Grande. “I look forward to helping grow ATA’s resources even further and working to provide our team with the means to successfully pursue our mission and advance the interests of our membership.”

Grande previously served as vice president of advertising and events at CQ Roll Call, a division of The Economist Group, where he spearheaded the creation of the flagship “Roll Call Live” events series, doubling the organization’s events revenue within one year.

“Throughout his career, Mario has demonstrated the vision, leadership and execution needed to boost an enterprise’s bottom line by developing innovative and marketable products and programs,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “He brings unique experience and a valuable skillset to our growing talent pool at ATA, and his contributions will help ensure we’re always in the strongest position possible to represent and advocate for our members.”

Earlier in his career, Grande was an associate publisher at The Hill newspaper, where he created an entirely new digital division. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Fordham University in New York, N.Y.