Subject Matter Experts

Eric Starks is Chairman and CEO of FTR, the industry leader in freight transportation forecasting. Eric has spent his entire career in the freight transportation sector and is a leading researcher in freight modal share analysis and forecasting. His background includes research in both rail and truck freight movements and asset equipment purchases. He is currently one of the premier industry forecasters on transportation equipment demand for rail cars, commercial trucks and trailers.

Eric is a frequent speaker at Wall Street analyst meetings, association events, and private meetings. He has a unique ability to communicate to his audiences how the economy, logistics, freight, and equipment demand impacts their respective business. He is an active member of the transportation community, former board member for NITL, and was instrumental in the creation of the Indiana University Transportation Board.

Eric holds a BS in Finance from Indiana University and is married and resides in Bloomington, Ind. with his wife Shannon and four children (all boys) who keep them busy. As an avid athlete, he enjoys participating in endurance sporting events that include swimming, biking and running. His most recent pursuit was a 1/2 Ironman triathlon.

Avery is the Vice President of Trucking at FTR. He has closely studied the transportation industry for more than 30 years as an editor, analyst, and researcher, including more than 20 years dedicated to the trucking industry. Avery served as executive director of trucking research and analysis for Randall-Reilly from 2011 to 2013 after a decade as the chief editor of that company’s Commercial Carrier Journal, a leading industry journal for trucking executives. Before joining FTR in 2017, Avery held several positions related to the trucking industry including manager of public relations for Volvo Trucks in North America and principal of his own consulting and market research practice, TransAdvise.

During his time leading CCJ, Avery reported on economic and financial trends affecting the trucking industry. Among his accomplishments at Randall-Reilly were conceiving of and spearheading the initial development of the company’s RigDig Business Intelligence offering and managing the annual CCJ Top 250 ranking of North American for-hire trucking companies. Before joining Randall-Reilly in 1998, Avery spent 13 years at McGraw-Hill in Washington, D.C., covering the commercial aviation industry. 

Avery is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He and his wife Julie have three children.

Don is Vice President, Commercial Vehicles at FTR. Don has more than 20 years of experience in the transportation industry, including 16 years with industry supplier Hendrickson International. Don has a very strong forecasting and market analysis background. While at Hendrickson Don developed forecasting models, methods and processes to accurately forecast Truck and Trailer builds and product demand. Don wrote an industry economic newsletter and gained a reputation as a top industry analyst. His industry supplier background provides a "customer perspective" now that he is with FTR.

Don is responsible for forecasting class 8 truck and trailer demand. He will also provide analysis and commentary on the commercial equipment industry and the economy. Don has taught economics courses at Indiana Wesleyan University (Cleveland, Ohio campus) and master’s level marketing courses at both Indiana Wesleyan and Walsh University. He has also been a frequent guest lecturer at the University of Akron. From 2009-2013, Don wrote an economic blog, Model T Stock Trends, which gained a worldwide readership.

Don has a BSBA. and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Akron. He resides in North Canton, Ohio, with his wife Dawn. He writes a humor blog and plays tennis in his spare time.

Todd Tranausky is the Vice President of Rail & Intermodal for FTR. Within the FTR team of experts, he is responsible for providing commentary and data analysis and forecasts for the FTR freight focused reports: Intermodal Dash, Rail Update, and Shippers Update report. He also plays a key role in producing our State of Freight Insights reports and the FTR Rail Equipment Outlook and Rail Closer Look Series.

Prior to FTR, he was the North American transportation editor for Argus Media, responsible for overseeing the quality of transportation reports and leading the company’s new product development in this area. Before he was promoted in January 2015, he was responsible for editing the weekly Argus Coal Transportation newsletter along with overseeing the Argus Rail Business publication that focuses on rail and shipper dynamics, critical rate data, rail costs, and regulatory and operational issues in the rail industry. Todd also assessed rail and barge rates for the movement of petroleum products for the Argus Petroleum Transportation Report.

A Philadelphia native and diehard Philadelphia sports fan, he graduated Temple University with dual degrees in history and journalism. Todd has also worked as a sports reporter covering double-A baseball in New Jersey before joining Argus.

Bill retired from teaching in the Department of Economics at Indiana University in Bloomington. For many years he was associated with the IU Center for Econometric Model Research, where he used large computer models to produce forecasts of the U.S. and Indiana economies. He continues to produce regular forecasts for the U.S. economy using a model that has about 300 variables.

He also continues to do academic research in the areas of macro and monetary economics. He has published work in these areas and also in open economy macroeconomics in a number of academic journals and edited volumes.

Witte has an MA degree in Political Science from Yale University and a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin. Prior to graduate school he served as a line officer in the U.S. Navy. He joined the faculty at IU in 1980, following five years at Penn State.

Jon is the Chief Intelligence Officer at FTR. He has spent his entire career in the freight transportation sector having joined FTR in 2001. Jon's expertise includes freight modeling, modal analysis, fleet characteristics, and equipment demand. He is directly responsible for producing FTR's Freight-cast transportation model, producing more than 13 million datapoints and 85,000 forecasted items each and every month.

In addition to his work on freight analysis he assists with forecasting the equipment markets, dealing with the demand outlook for medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and freight railcars. He is the secondary developer of FTR's Economically Derived Demand model for medium-duty trucks (founder Ed Graham's initial work was vital to the process). Jon is also a regular presenter at FTR's Annual Freight Transportation Conference and at company meetings and industry events.

Jon graduated from Marian University with his BA degree in Business Administration. He currently resides in Bedford, Ind. with his wife, Amanda, and their daughters, Ashley, Addison and Abigail.