John D. Esparza, a graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock and a sixth generation native of West Texas, serves as president and CEO of Texas Trucking Association (TXTA) and Executive Director of Southwest Movers Association (SMA). TXTA, one of the largest trucking associations in the nation, was established in 1932 in Austin, while SMA got its start in 1917.
Prior to becoming TXTA president, Esparza worked for both the Gov. Rick Perry and Gov. George W. Bush administrations. He has served on the Texas Energy Task Force, the Texas Panama Canal Stakeholder Work Group and the Texas Proposition 1 Special Committee on Transportation Funding. Esparza continues to serve on the Texas Transportation Commission’s State Freight Advisory Committee and the Texas Border Infrastructure Planning Committee.
Esparza serves on the executive committee as the immediate past chairman of the PrePass Safety Alliance, an Arizona based premier non-for-profit, public-private partnership whose mission is to improve highway safety and efficiency through technology. He was appointed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to the Household Goods Advisory Group.
He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Texas Tech University Research Park in Lubbock and a former member of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents. He and his wife Leah reside in Austin and have three sons; Jacob Pecos, a junior at Texas Tech University, Joshua Brazos, a freshman at Texas Tech University and Jack Sabine, a high school junior attending St. Michaels Catholic Academy in west Austin.