Greatest Hits – You Won’t Believe How Toby Young Built Trucking’s Biggest Show From a Family Legacy

We’re bringing back one of the most meaningful episodes from Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast, featuring Toby Young, President of Exhibit Management Associates. In this conversation, Toby Young shares what it takes to grow the largest trucking show in America while staying rooted in family, purpose, and hands-on leadership. From stuffing envelopes as a teenager to leading an organization that hosts over 70,000 attendees each year, Toby shares decades of hard-won insight into why trucking is a relationship business, why education, not just entertainment, is the future of industry events, and how legacy and innovation can thrive in a family-run operation. Whether you're an owner-operator or an exhibitor, Toby’s story proves that staying relevant starts with staying connected. If you missed this the first time, now’s your chance to discover how Toby turned one week in March into trucking’s most valuable annual tradition.

What happens when a high schooler working at a trade show becomes the leader of one of trucking’s most iconic events?

In this Greatest Hits episode of Freight Nation: A Trucking Podcast, Brent Hutto is joined by Toby Young, President of Exhibit Management Associates and the man behind the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS). Toby shares the full-circle journey of his family’s role in founding MATS in 1972 and how the show grew into a 1 million-square-foot gathering place for the entire trucking industry. From working with his father and grandfather to transforming the show’s focus on education and business growth, together, they explore the highs and tensions of leading a family business and the mindset shifts Toby took to lead effectively. This episode goes behind the scenes of what it takes to keep a live event relevant year after year, and how MATS became the cultural homecoming for drivers, fleets, suppliers, and innovators alike.

What You’ll Learn:

How Toby navigated conflict resolution in a multi-generational family business
Why leadership starts by doing the “lowly” work yourself
What it takes to host over 1,000 exhibitors and 70,000+ attendees
How MATS transitioned from entertainment-first to business-first
Why education and networking are now central to the show’s impact
The vision for expanding MATS beyond a 3-day event

Toby Young is the President of Exhibit Management Associates and Show Manager of the Mid-America Trucking Show. With degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering, he’s spent two decades helping evolve MATS into a world-class event that connects drivers, suppliers, and trucking leaders across the industry. He started working the show as a teenager and brings a hands-on leadership style shaped by years in every role. Today, he continues to blend tradition with innovation to keep MATS relevant and impactful.

Episode Highlights:

[06:49] As the third generation in a family-run trade show business, Toby reflects on the emotional complexity of stepping into leadership while his father was still deeply involved. He shares candid stories about the early years, when proposing change wasn’t just met with resistance but full-blown arguments. Working with someone who shares your DNA and your temperament, he admits, is both a blessing and a test of emotional intelligence. Over time, Toby learned that pushing an idea isn’t as powerful as pausing to listen and align. His biggest takeaway? In family businesses, disagreements are inevitable, but alignment on vision is what makes it all worth it.

[16:19] Toby’s leadership philosophy is rooted in experience, not entitlement. Long before he took charge of the Mid-America Trucking Show, he did the grunt work: stuffing envelopes in high school, running registration tables, hauling brochures, delivering packages, cleaning the office, and handling everything from PR to web development. By working in nearly every role, Toby built a deep operational empathy that still guides him today. He believes leadership means leading from within, not above. “I’ll never ask someone to take out the trash,” he says, “unless they’ve already seen me do it first.”

[28:06] MATS has always been known for its entertainment, big rigs, big personalities, and the best pork chop sandwiches around. But Toby and his team saw something more: an opportunity to turn the show into a true business-building experience. Informed by years of attendee interviews, they pivoted MATS toward education without losing its community spirit. They launched the ProTalks seminar series, created new stages, and invited respected voices like FMCSA, OOIDA, and small fleet owners to teach what’s working today. The result? A show floor that offers not just spectacle, but strategy, helping drivers and fleet leaders improve profitability, efficiency, and quality of life.

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