KTA Executive Staff


Rick Taylor
President / CEO
rtaylor@kytrucking.net

Rick Taylor was named the President/CEO of the Kentucky Trucking Association on October 2, 2018.  Prior to this position, Mr. Taylor served the Commonwealth of Kentucky for nearly 27 years. Much of his service was in the Transportation Cabinet where he held various positions including the Assistant Director and Director of the Division of Motor Carriers and for the past 10 years he has served as the Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Vehicle Regulation.

During his tenure, he focused on administrative regulations, legislative issues, constituent concerns, process improvement, modernization of systems, and reducing expenditures.  He served on various organizational committees with the International Fuel Tax Association (IFTA) and the International Registration Plan (IRP).  In 2016 he was elected to the IFTA Board of Trustees to represent the Southeast Region.

“I am very excited to lead this organization and I appreciate the opportunity to serve the motor carrier industry of Kentucky.  KTA is very special to me and my family as my wife’s grandfather, O. B. Arnold, was President for 10 years.  The transportation industry is going to see substantial changes over the next decade and we want to be a partner with government and industry leaders in this process,” Rick told our members at the Annual Leadership & Management Conference last month.

Mr. Taylor attended the University of Kentucky where he received a BBA with a major in Finance in 1991 and in 2011 he graduated from the Leadership Kentucky program.  He is from Owensboro, Kentucky and he has been a resident of Frankfort for the past 24 years.  He and his wife, Tiphanie, have been married for 22 years and they have three sons; Tre, Ty, and Coen.


Tristan Truesdell
Administrative Assistant

ttruesdell@kytrucking.net

Tristan Truesdell joined the Kentucky Trucking Association on August 17, 2021. He previously served with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet/Kentucky State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division for 24 years, where he retired at the rank of Captain.

Tristan’s career began as an inspector in the Northern Kentucky area assigned out of the Kenton County Scale facility. In 2003 he was assigned to the Headquarters staff in Frankfort. In 2006 Tristan became a certified instructor in the North American Standard Inspection process and instructed NAS for 15 years. Tristan rose through the requisite ranks and was assigned several positions at KSP Headquarters including, HQ Staff Officer, CVE Program Support Branch, and oversaw the Data Challenge process from 2012-2021.
“I am extremely excited to join Rick and the KTA. I look forward to this new chapter in my life and want to help all the members in any way possible.”

Tristan is a native of Maysville, KY, and graduated from Maysville Community College with an Associate Arts degree in 1991.  He has countless hours of law enforcement in-service training with an emphasis relating to commercial vehicle laws/regulations.  Tristan resides in Frankfort with his wife Hillary.