Korey Neal knows how to work within a team. As a former college football offensive lineman, Neal spent years in the trenches on the gridiron working with his fellow linemen to drive his team toward the end zone.
Being a dealer principal means Neal doesn’t get down in a three-point stance anymore, but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped trying to move the ball.
Korey Neal has been elected as vice chair of the American Truck Dealers.
“When playing a team sport, you place and incredible amount of trust in the person next to you to do their job,” Neal says. “The amount of change you experience in athletics and all the distractions, that’s a lot like what we’re see in trucking industry today.”
But through teamwork and cohesiveness, “trusting each other at a moment’s notice,” Neal says both football teams and truck dealers alike can win.
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That’s the mentality he takes to work every day, and as the recently elected vice chairman of the American Truck Dealers (ATD), it’s the same mentality he will take into his new leadership position when his term officially begins Feb. 19, 2027, during the upcoming ATD Show in Orlando.
“I’m honored to have the trust of my fellow dealers as the next vice chairman of ATD,” Neal says. “I look forward to working with Chairman [Kevin] Holmes and ATD staff to address industry challenges, advocate for franchised medium- and heavy-duty truck dealers and ensure stakeholders and policymakers recognize our industry’s vital role in the American economy.”
Like many dealer executives, Neal entered the trucking industry through his family’s business. But his path to leadership wasn’t pre-ordained. His father Stephen didn’t enter the industry until after he spent more than 25 years in corporate America, and Korey didn’t realize being a truck dealer was what he wanted until his playing career was over.
“It wasn’t love at first sight,” he admits now, but adds it didn’t take long once he was in his father’s dealership to realize how much of what he learned in his athletic career would carry over into the business, and how wonderful the people in the truck dealer industry are.
“I have the greatest level of respect for my team members,” he says, adding it is his experience in their shoes and confidence in their proficiency that enables him to lead and the business to expand.
As vice chair and eventual chair of ATD, Neal intends to continue to do the same.
“It was easy for me to find a passion for ATD,” says Neal, a D.C.-area native who graduated from ATD Academy Class 32 and served on the association’s Next Gen committee and as International line rep before being pegged as vice chair. Neal says he’s always valued what ATD provides — education for the field, advocacy in Washington — and believes he can further those efforts in the years ahead.
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Holmes is eager for Neal to join the ATD team.
“I am excited to welcome Korey Neal Sr. as a partner in this leadership role. Korey is a natural leader with a proven business track record, a passion for the trucking industry and strong relationships both within and outside the trucking world,” he says. “He understands the needs of dealers and will serve as a strong advocate for ATD and its members.”
Neal says he doesn’t have any particular goals yet, but aspires to “leave the organization in a better place than I found it,” and generate increased engagement and participation in ATD programs across the industry.
“As the leader of an organization you have to wear two hats: working in your business and working on your business. I think ATD enables [truck dealers] to accomplish both,” he says.
