The Mid-America Trucking Show recently announced its premier kickoff event: the 2026 Opening Breakfast: Network & Learn.
Scheduled for Thursday, March 26 at 7:45 AM, this event is meant to provide independent owner-operators and small fleet owners with the high-level intelligence and networking required to build resilient, profitable businesses in today’s volatile freight market.
MATS is March 26028 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.
Presented by Progressive Insurance and supported by DAT Freight & Analytics, the opening breakfast goes beyond standard networking, according to MATS organizers. It serves as a strategic briefing for the year ahead, featuring a lineup of analysts, technology leaders, and veteran carriers who will provide actionable solutions for cutting costs, navigating regulations, and maximizing cash flow.
Event Highlights & Strategic Sessions:
- Smarter Savings on the Road: Sanjay Vyas of Progressive Insurance will explore innovative strategies to reduce insurance overhead using telematics, dash cams, and enhanced roadside support.
- Freight Market Insights to Future-Proof Your Trucking Business: Lee Klaskow of Bloomberg Intelligence will deliver a deep dive into the current freight cycle, capacity trends, and macroeconomic indicators. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of where the market is headed in 2026 and how to position their businesses to survive the lows and capitalize on the highs.
- Expert Panel Session: The morning will conclude with a moderated panel and a live Q&A session, allowing attendees to engage directly with speakers on a wide range of topics that are most important to their daily operations.
2026 Featured Speakers:
- Lee Klaskow – Senior Analyst, Transportation and Logistics, Bloomberg Intelligence
- Sanjay Vyas – General Manager, Commercial Lines Product & Pricing, Progressive Insurance
- Bill Driegert – Executive Vice President, DAT Carrier Products + Convoy Platform
- Dale Prax – Founder, FreightValidate and Strategic Fraud Advisor at Truckstop.com
- Jamie Hagen – Owner & President, Hell Bent Xpress LLC
- Adam Wingfield – Founder & Managing Director, Innovative Logistics Group
- Jason Cowan – Founder & President, Silver Creek Transportation
- Brent Hutto (Moderator) – Chief Relationship Officer, Truck Parking Club
The 2026 Opening Breakfast is an exclusive, ticketed event. Admission is $100.
Attendees are encouraged to register early and submit questions for the panel via the official event page. To add the Opening Breakfast to your MATS badge or to learn more, visit truckingshow.com/opening-breakfast.
Ohio career center has aid for CDL students
Buckeye Career Center (BCC) is recently announced it has received grant funding totaling $87,675 to help eligible students earn a Commercial Driver’s License through the American Professional Truck Driving School by Buckeye Career Center.
The grant funding is provided through the Commercial Truck Driver Student Aid Program – administered by the Ohio Department of Higher Education. It will be awarded by BCC to students who apply and are enrolled in BCC’s Class A and Class B CDL courses at the American Professional Truck Driving School in Gnadenhutten, Ohio.
This grant’s purpose is to reduce financial barriers and expand access to high-demand career opportunities in the transportation industry, according to Frank Polen, BCC’s director of curriculum, instruction, and adult education.
“We are excited to be able to offer this opportunity to both new applicants and individuals already on our waitlist,” said Polen. “This funding allows us to help more students enter the workforce while supporting the growing need for qualified commercial drivers. A recent Indeed job search indicated 65 open truck driving jobs within a 50-mile radius of Tuscarawas County, and Ohio Means Jobs shows over 3,000 CDL openings in our region. This is one of the highest in-demand careers nationwide.”
Through this program, qualifying students will receive 50% of their CDL training costs covered by grant funds, with the remaining 50% provided as a state loan. The loan portion, administered by the state of Ohio and a promissory note, will be fully forgiven if the student works as a commercial driver for at least one year after earning their CDL.
Class A CDL courses are scheduled to start on March 9, April 13, and May 4. Class B courses are scheduled to begin on March 30, and May 25.
For more information about CDL training programs or how to apply for grant assistance, visit www.buckeyecareercenter.org/page/cdl or contact Steve Rippeth, BCC’s assistant director of Adult Education, at 330.339.2288 or [email protected].
Wabash cargo theft trailer solution
Wabash recently announced the debut of a next-generation cargo assurance solution at. This patent pending integrated solution pairs a digitally connected cargo door and intelligent locking system with the TrailerHawk.AI technology platform to link physical access control with real-time visibility and actionable assurance events to help prevent cargo theft.
Wabash’s new solution is designed to help shippers, carriers and 3PLs transition from after-the-fact loss response to earlier detection and clearer accountability by providing verified access, exception alerts and an end-to-end record of custody.
“The industry can no longer afford to rely on disconnected cargo security tools that lack true access control and don’t verify who is touching the freight,” said Brett Suma, managing director at Wabash. “Wabash is taking a new approach to overcoming these challenges with our cargo assurance solution, showing how the trailer itself becomes part of a secure, connected system that helps prevent theft.”
Wabash’s cargo assurance solution combines a purpose-built cargo door and intelligent locking system with TrailerHawk.AI’s connected platform, delivering real-time visibility and alerts wherever the cargo travels. The new solution transforms cargo assurance from passive monitoring into active assurance by creating multiple secure points of contact at the cargo door, enabling encrypted communication, in-transit monitoring and proactive intervention.
The solution is also designed to combat “strategic” or orchestrated cargo theft, where legitimate drivers are unknowingly used in fraud schemes due to broken information chains. By validating driver identity and carrier relationships and connecting those checks to physical access at the cargo door, customers can reduce uncertainty at handoffs and strengthen in-transit control.
“Wabash is redefining how the industry approaches cargo protection and creating a shift from loss mitigation to proactive risk prevention that safeguards assets, operations and customer trust,” Suma added. “We are already seeing customers overcome cargo security challenges by connecting digital identity, physical access control and chain-of-custody tracking.”
The TrailerHawk.AI digital assurance and chain-of-custody workflows are in use today with carriers using the mobile application for inspections, verification and asset visibility.
The solution will first launch as a retrofit option for TaaS Pools in 2026. Next, it will be available as an option on new Wabash trailers or as a Wabash trailer retrofit in 2027 and expand from there.
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