Bob Pitcher, Vice President, State Laws, for the American Trucking Associations, was born and raised in the Midwest. He has a law degree and has been admitted to the bar in Illinois and the District of Columbia. His career has involved him in many aspects of motor carrier operations, regulation, registration, and taxation. Bob worked first at the Federation of Tax Administrators, the association of state revenue agencies, where he was charged with various programs of tax training and research, with a concentration on fuel taxes. He continued with this at the American Trucking Associations, where he spent 14 years in the State Laws Department. Among other things, Bob was instrumental in making the International Fuel Tax Agreement, IFTA, a reality nationwide in both the U.S. and Canada. He has continued to serve as the chief spokesman for the trucking industry to both IFTA and IRP. Bob left ATA temporarily in 2000, and spent several years in consulting and the practice of law. During 2002 and 2003, he served as head of IRP, Inc., the repository of the International Registration Plan, and led that organization through strategic planning. Bob returned to ATA in October 2003, to deal with state tax issues and to provide a policy liaison for ATA with its affiliated state trucking associations. In 2006, Bob was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to be Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Unified Carrier Registration Agreement.