Monday, September 17 Governor Bill Graves - President, ATA Bill Graves is President and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, the largest trucking industry trade and safety advocacy organization in the U.S. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations, conferences and other trucking organizations, ATA represents nearly 37,000 motor carriers of all types before the federal government, state governments, regulatory agencies, and legislative bodies. In the public forum, ATA is a leader in the development of common sense national highway and freight movement policies. And, the bottom-line economic well-being of its members serves as a true barometer of the state of the national economy. On the road, ATA members and their drivers work hard everyday in leading the way to safer travel for all highway users. As testimony to his leadership skills, Bill Graves devoted 22 years to public service in his home state of Kansas, highlighted by two terms as Governor. He was reelected to his second term with the largest percentage of votes in Kansas history, carrying all 105 of the state’s counties. Governor Graves has been involved in the trucking industry his entire life. For nearly 70 years, his late father and now other members of the Graves family have operated trucking companies. Among the outstanding combination of attributes Bill Graves brings to his role as President and CEO of ATA are his ability to create sound public policy, his administrative experience and political skills and especially--his life-long connection to the motor-carrier industry. In addition to his duties at ATA, Governor Graves serves on the board of International Speedway Corporation, the leading promoter of motorsport racing in America. Governor Graves earned a degree in Business Administration from Kansas Wesleyan University in his hometown of Salina, Kansas and attended graduate school at the University of Kansas. He and his wife Linda are the proud parents of eleven-year-old Katie. Bill Graves learned from his family that the trucking industry is all about doing the best job that you can with our abilities, and doing it safely. It is an industry in which he takes great pride in representing and promoting.   Tuesday, September 18 Stephen J. Dubner - Bestselling Author, FREAKONOMICS Stephen J. Dubner is the co-author of the international bestseller Freakonomics. Published in May 2005, Freakonomics instantly became a cultural phenomenon. Hailed by critics and readers alike, it first topped the sales charts in the U.S. before moving on to the U.K., Canada, India, Brazil, and even Singapore. Dubner and his co-author, the University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt, have appeared widely on television and are now regular contributors to ABC News, appearing monthly on Good Morning America and a segment of World News Tonight called “Freakonomics Friday.” They also write a monthly “Freakonomics” column in The New York Times Magazine and maintain a popular website, which has been called “the most readable economics blog in the universe.”  Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Dubner shows how economics is, at root, the study of incentives – that is, how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. Freakonomics shows that the modern world, despite much complication and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, as long as you ask the right questions and find the right data. The art of Freakonomics is the art of challenging conventional wisdom, and showing that the modern world is in fact even more intriguing than we might think. Freakonomics is primarily based on the research of Steven Levitt, whom Dubner originally profiled for the New York Times Magazine. Dubner is an award-winning journalist who spent several years at the Times, and has also written for The New Yorker, Time¸ and elsewhere. His journalism has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing and The Best American Crime Writing. He is the author of two previous best-selling books, Turbulent Souls and Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper, as well as a forthcoming children’s book. He has been writing since he was a child; his first published work appeared in Highlights magazine. During college, he started a rock band that was signed to Arista Records. But he quit playing music to attend graduate school at Columbia University, where he also taught in the English Department. He still lives in New York with his wife, a former war photographer, and their two children.