2021 Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Steven Novy – Richard Westley

Association Business

2021 TLA Lifetime Achievement Award Presented to Steven B. Novy

Presentation by Richard Westley

It is a privilege and an honor to be called upon to present the Transportation Lawyers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. It is TLA’s highest honor and gives special recognition to a member who has devoted so much of his/her energy, talent and enthusiasm to the organization, not just once or twice, but repeatedly over a long period of time. Tonight’s honoree embraces those traditions and humbly served TLA on numerous capacities for over 30 years.

Many past award winners have made special contributions to the Association but, for reasons I will explain, this year’s honoree has brought a very special dimension that reflects not only on him and his family, but also TLA’s members. But first I will begin with a few obscure details of our honoree’s life.

He was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in December of 1947, and spent his high school years in Woodstock, Illinois, where he was an all-star linebacker at Marion Central High School. He started his working life picking beans for 3 cents a pound, and in high school he worked at a well-known men’s clothing store that was frequented over the years by luminaries like Orson Welles and Paul Newman. During his high school years, he drove a motorcycle not noted for having a working muffler, which prompted a cat and mouse game with a local police officer who was determined to nail him but never did. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and his law degree from Notre Dame, at which time he graduated to a Corvette. Just 15 months later he became a married man living in the suburbs with three young kids.

At this point I’m going to have to depart from tradition and tell you things about tonight’s honoree that will reveal his identity. His mentor was Attorney John Storer, a longtime TLA member who played an unheralded but important role in TLA’s rebirth in the years following deregulation of the motor carrier industry. Some of you may remember former President Mike Ogborn’s description of the regional seminars at the 2015 conference in Sandestin. John Storer decided that whatever else happened, there would always be a TLA Regional Seminar in Chicago in January. He called upon our honoree to handle the nuts and bolts of the program by arranging for the facilities, support staff, agenda, speakers, refreshments and the all-important wine and cheese reception.

After John Storer left Chicago for warmer climates, our award winner, along with Don Vogel, took the Regional Seminar to the next level, moving from a law office conference room to the Chicago Athletic Association and then later to the Fairmont Hotel. As word spread among TLA members about the quality of the program and how much fun everyone had, attendance grew from 12-20 in the early 90s to over 100 in 2001 and eventually well over 200 by 2010. As the size of the program grew, our award winner’s responsibilities increased dramatically until it became almost a full-time job from Christmas to the date of the event. I know Mike Ogborn was very proud at the spectacular success of the Chicago program and the vital role it played in the reinvigoration of TLA.

Meanwhile something very special was going on with our award winner’s family, as he began bringing his son Michael to TLA events. He and Michael have become legendary in TLA for their hunting and fishing expeditions, including trips to Africa and South America. Many TLA members also enjoy these activities and bonded with our award winner and Michael over these adventures as well as their golfing prowess. Michael received a special award at the annual banquet at the Santa Fe conference, and it was so appropriate and well deserved.

I haven’t said much about our award winner’s many accomplishments as a distinguished attorney and as President of TLA. I’ve already said too much, and his accomplishments speak for themselves. In closing I would like to share a quote from Dirk Beckwith’s biography of our award winner, written in 2016: “He has your back, he trusts the abilities of his fellow attorneys and those he has graciously selected to work with him. His attitude and solid, evenhanded demeanor [are] instilled in those he has mentored over the years. [They are] at the heart of his success and ability to lead people and organizations.”

So, at this time I am pleased to present TLA’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award to Steve Novy.