The American Trucking Associations has confirmed a published report that Bill Graves has advised the truck lobby that he will leave his post as president of ATA when his contract expires at the end of next year.

Graves had just completed two terms as Republican governor of Kansas when he took the helm at ATA in January 2003. A year ago, he agreed to a two-year contract extension, which runs through 2016.

“Never before has ATA pursued as broad and significant a policy agenda as we do today,” Graves said earlier this week in his annual report address at ATA’s Management Conference & Expo in Philadelphia. “And as you will hear throughout this meeting, if Congress can find a path forward to simply ‘do business’ in the next 45 days, we will have what I believe is the most impressive list of achievements ever accomplished by the ATA.”

Referencing again the ongoing effort on Capitol Hill to get a long-term highway bill passed, Graves noted during a news conference held at the close of the conference that he is “sticking with my story that the glass is 95% full. I’m not sure there is whole lot more that can we [at ATA] can do as our team has done the job to bring our policy positions forward” to lawmakers and Congressional staffers.

The 43rd governor of Kansas, Graves was first elected to that office in 1994. He was reelected four years later with the largest percentage of votes in Kansas history-- and as the first Republican governor reelected in Kansas since 1962. Before his election as governor, he served two terms as Kansas Secretary of State.

A native Kansan, his familiarity with trucking dates back to growing up around his family's business, Graves Truck Line.