All Speakers' Curricula Vitae

Joe Adams

Joseph Adams is a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group within the Private Equity Group and Deputy Chairman of Aircastle Limited, and RailAmerica Inc. Previously, Mr. Adams was a partner at Brera Capital Partners and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette where he was head of the transportation industry group. In 2002, Mr. Adams served as the first Executive Director of the U.S. Air Transportation Stabilization Board. Mr. Adams received a BS in Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mark Adiletta

Mr. Adiletta has been associated with Carreden Group since the inception of the firm's lease advisory and asset finance business in 2002. He is responsible for syndication, pricing, structuring, analysis and execution of individual client advisory assignments in structured finance and lease transactions. Prior to joining Carreden, Mr. Adiletta was a Director and Manager of the pricing group with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and its predecessor advisory business, D'Accord Financial Services, Inc. Prior to this Mr. Adiletta was one of the founders of the lease advisory group at UBS Warburg in 1996. Mr. Adiletta's background includes 20 years experience in the pricing, analysis and execution of structured financing including U.S. leveraged and direct finance lease transactions, with eight years experience as a principal with Chrysler Capital and The CIT Group. Mr. Adiletta holds a B.S. in Financial Management from Clemson University and a M.B.A. from the University of Bridgeport.

ma@carreden.com

Theodore Baun

Ted Baun has served as Senior Vice President, Marketing & Sales, of FreightCar America, Inc. since August 2008. Between 1994 and 2003, Mr. Baun held numerous positions within FreightCar America's Sales & Marketing and Manufacturing departments. In 2003, Mr. Baun joined Mitsui Rail Capital as Director of Sales and was responsible for selling railcar leases to railroads, electric utilities and other industrial shippers. He rejoined FreightCar America in July 2005 as Vice President Sales.

Mr. Baun holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Economics from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business.

Lawrence Beal

Lawrence J. Beal began his career in the rail industry as an employee of the Chrome Crankshaft Company where he was employed for 25 years, serving as its president for 15 years. In 1984, he founded National Railway Equipment Co. (NREC), which in the last 24 years has grown to become the world’s largest independent supplier of remanufactured and new locomotives, new and rebuilt mechanical and electrical systems and components. NREC has fourteen facilities and affiliates encompassing over 300 acres and more than 1,600,000 square feet under one roof with a workforce of over 900 employees to service its customers throughout North America and worldwide.

l.beal@nationalrailway.com

David Bertram

David is Vice President of Transportation for Poet Nutrition, the Distiller's Grain marketing arm of ethanol producer Poet. David's responsibilities include acquisition, maintenance and management of a 2,500 car covered hopper fleet, as well as inventory and logistics management of over 4 Million tons of product annually.

Before joining Poet Nutrition, David was with Trinity Rail/Thrall Car for 8 years. During his tenure, David held various senior management positions in the US, Switzerland and England.

Prior to Trinity/Thrall, David worked for 14 years with CSX Transportation in Car Management, Marketing and Sales roles handling Metals, Minerals and Agricultural Products.

David worked for 5 years with the A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company as a transportation manager, and he began his professional career as a transportation planner, serving 4 years with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

David holds a Bachelors Degree in Urban Transportation Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana, and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Springfield.

david.bertram@poet.com

Edward Biggs

Ed Biggs is an Accredited Senior Appraiser, member of the American Society of Appraisers and a Graduate of the University of Illinois. His practice, Biggs Appraisal is focused on the inspection and valuation of rail cars and locomotives.

He has spent over 30 years in the railroad industry with a mix of significant experience with railroads and rail equipment leasing companies, including experience in fleet operations, mechanical, and sales.

Ed has specific in-depth knowledge of railcar extended life upgrade and railcar and locomotive rebuilding programs.

He also researches a wide variety of subjects to support valuations and rail industry related consulting projects for his clients as well as his Quarterly Publication “Subjects of Value”.

biggsappraisal@yahoo.com

Robert J. Blankemeyer

Rob Blankemeyer is a Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Wachovia Bank. Since 1996 he has been Vice President - Acquisitions for First Union Rail Corporation. In this capacity, he is responsible for new and used equipment and portfolio acquisitions utilizing various finance structures for transactions with initial terms of 10 years and longer along with syndications and asset sales. Finance methods used include loans and single investor, leveraged and synthetic leases. Concurrently, Rob is president of Transportation Equipment Advisers, Inc., publisher of the Railcar Value Guide. The Railcar Value Guide is a reference tool used by financial institutions, railroads and shippers to establish fair market values for rolling stock.

Before joining First Union Rail, Rob was employed by various financial institutions including Westinghouse Credit Corporation, Northbrook Rail Corporation, Northbrook Corporation, Funding Systems Railcar Corporation and National Railway Utilization Corporation. He has over 30 years experience in rail equipment leasing.

Rob received a B.S. in Accounting from St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA and MBA - Management and MS - Taxation degrees from Widener University, Chester, PA.

Rob resides in Wexford, PA with his wife and 2 daughters.

rob.blankemeyer@wachovia.com

Marty Blue

Marty Blue was responsible for fleet planning for CSX’s 85,000 freight car fleet. Fleet planning includes 5 year strategic plan, capital plan, and annual plan. He was also responsible for all fleet performance metrics and for developing utilization initiatives. In the past he managed the CSX jumbo covered hopper fleet for 10 years. In addition, he held positions in finance and service design. He has a BS from Florida State University and he is a Florida CPA.

(Marty Blue has recently retired.)

Robert Bourg

Robert Bourg is the Vice President & General Manager of the Wabtec Railway Electronics division of Wabtec Corporation. He has been with Wabtec and its previous businesses since 1992 and has held positions in engineering and business management at various Wabtec divisions prior to becoming General Manager at WRE in 2006. Bob has previous experience in the industrial controls industry, and he served 6 years in the US Navy managing various programs including development of the first microprocessor nuclear instrumentation and control systems deployed on submarines. Bob received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and a graduate degree from George Washington University. Bob resides in Potomac, Maryland with his wife and two children.

rbourg@wabtec.com

David E. Brann

Dave Brann is Manager, Emissions Compliance at Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. In thirty-seven years at Electro-Motive, he has had design or managerial responsibility for every part of the two-stroke engine except the crankcase, crankshaft, and turbocharger. His current responsibilities include emissions certification with EPA and other bodies and response to emissions regulation development initiatives such as the EPA rulemaking process for locomotives and marine vessels and the review process for the Stage IIIB rail vehicle emissions limits in Europe. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maine and a Master of Science in mechanical and aerospace engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

david.e.brann@emdiesels.com

John Cavanaugh

John Cavanaugh is a Commercial Proposal Manager for Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. He is responsible for all North American and International parts and locomotive remanufacture proposals. He has more than 35 years experience with EMD in various production, service, sales and marketing positions. He has a BS from General Motors Institute, now Kettering University, in Business Administration and an MBA from Illinois Benedictine College.

john.n.cavanaugh@emdiesels.com

Glen Courtwright

In his current position as General Manager Rail Logistics for Georgia-Pacific, Glen is responsible for the strategic development and management of all aspects of rail logistics for the Building Products business group which includes the lumber, structural panels, gypsum and chemical divisions. Glen has been with GP for 13 years, has held various positions in rail and motor carriage logistics throughout the company and has worked with virtually every GP business division in the Building Products Group and the Paper Group during that time.

During the 21 years prior to joining Georgia-Pacific, Glen held transportation management positions with several other major forest products companies including, MacMillan Bloedel of America, Wickes Wood Products and Willamette Industries. He began his career in 1974 with the Chicago, Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific Railroad .

Glen is currently serving as President of the Paper & Forest Industry Transportation Committee (PFITC), and an officer in the National Association of Rail Shippers (NARS). He has previously served on the boards of the Pulp & Paper Transportation League, the American Forest & Paper Association Transportation Committee, the Southeast Association of Rail Shippers, and the Atlanta Transportation Club.

Glen and his wife Lynn have been married 34 years, have three children and reside in Atlanta, Georgia.

gwcourtw@gapac.com

Jesse Crews

Jesse Crews is a Managing Director of Fortress Investment Group, responsible for sourcing and executing lease, secured senior and junior debt, and other structured investments. Jesse provides his extensive knowledge of global transportation industries for our private equity, secured lending, and equipment lease programs. Prior to joining Fortress, Jesse was the CEO of GATX Capital Corporation, a division of GATX Corp. Staffed by 500 people globally, the company held assets of approximately $3.5 billion in book value, and $5.0 billion in managed assets for third parties. During his 25+year career at GATX Capital he was extensively involved in all key operating businesses including aircraft, North American and European rail, technology and general equipment leasing and finance. Jesse graduated from Yale University with a BA in Economics in 1975 and the Darden School of Business Administration in 1977.

jcrews@fortress.com

Paul Deasy

Paul is Director of Sales and Business Development for Chicago Freight Car Leasing, a full service operating lessor of railcars serving industrial, agricultural, and food products customers. He joined the company in May 2006 and has leadership of sales, marketing, business development, and railcar procurement. Paul has over 25 years of commercial experience in the railcar leasing and chemical industries. Prior to joining Chicago Freight Car, Paul was with Cytec Industries where he was Director, Marketing & Sales responsible for global commercial activities of the building block chemicals group. He previously served as Director of Marketing and Regional Manager at GATX Corporation’s railcar leasing business and also held various sales and marketing management roles at FMC Corporation’s chemical products group.

Chicago Freight Car Leasing Co. (www.crdx.com) is a premier independent railcar leasing solutions company that has been delivering quality products, reliable services, and a commitment to an outstanding customer experience since 1928. The company maintains a fleet of over 9000 freight cars supporting the needs of industrial, agricultural, and food products shippers and railroads throughout North America.

paul.deasy@crdx.com

Anthony DiDeo

Tony DiDeo is the Director of Freight Car Planning & Utilization at CSX Transportation. He has 15 years of experience at CSX Transportation in the Finance, Process Improvement and Service Design Departments.
 
He is currently responsible for fleet planning for CSX’s 80,000 freight car fleet which includes all merchandise, automotive and coal rail cars. Tony is accountable for all fleet sizing strategies for these fleets including long term strategic planning, capital planning and acquisition strategies. His team is also responsible for the development and maintenance of fleet utilization tools and metrics to improve freight car utilization at CSX.
 
Tony has a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware, an MBA from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, and is certified as a Master Black Belt in Six Sigma. He resides in Jacksonville, FL with his wife and three children.
 


tony_dideo@csx.com

Michael Dockman

Michael Dockman is a vice-president of M&T Bank, managing large-ticket leasing and leasing syndications. He has 20+ years as a banker, financial advisor and principal with a focus on the rail and marine industries. Michael was a Senior Vice President with Railroad Financial Corporation from 1996-2005 where he specialized in transaction structuring and capital markets activities. Prior to that he spent 10 years with the First National Bank of Maryland, a subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks Plc. He worked in the bank’s Transportation Group from 1986 to 1992, initially in the structured finance activities of the Maritime Division. He established the Rail Division in 1989 to develop a portfolio of rail equipment-related loans and leases. From 1992-1996, Michael was responsible for the Latin American relationships of both FNBM and AIB. He graduated with a BBA from Loyola College, an MS from The John Hopkins University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

mdockman@mtb.com

James Earl

In 2006, Mr. Earl was elected Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for GATX. Mr. Earl had been elected Executive Vice President - Rail of GATX Corporation in 2004 and served GATX's Senior r
Rail Executive. Previously, he was Executive Vice President - Commercial for GATX Rail from 2001 to 2004. Mr. Earl joined GATX Capital's Rail Group in 1988 as Director. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Earl served as Director - Service and Equipment Planning - with Soo Line Railroad, and with Southern Pacific Railroad as a Terminal Superintendent, Assistant Terminal Superintendent and Assistant Trainmaster. Mr. Earl received his BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis in 1979 and his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1981.

jim.earl@gatx.com

Jeffery Elliott

Jeffery Elliott is a Partner in the Surface Transportation and Energy unit at Oliver Wyman, based in New York. He has over 25 years of experience working in the transportation industry and in transportation, supply chain, and logistics consulting, with a focus on corporate planning, finance and strategy, business design, transaction support and due diligence, marketing and sales strategy, and operations and maintenance transformation.

Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, Mr. Elliott spent 14 years with A.T. Kearney and 13 years in various executive positions with Conrail focused on turning around under performing business units.

Mr. Elliott has a B.A. in chemistry and M.S. in public policy and management from Carnegie-Mellon University, and M.B.A. essentials from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.



jeffery.elliott@oliverwyman.com

Tom Ellman

Tom Ellman is the Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for GATX. He has worked in the railcar leasing industry for the past 15 years, 12 of which have been with GATX. Tom has responsibility for all commercial activity related to GATX's railcar leasing business, including Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, and Fleet Portfolio Management. Prior to his current position, Tom worked at GE Equipment Services, Railcar Services as the Senior Vice President of Asset Management. Tom is a graduate of Bradley University, and he has an MBA from Northwestern University.

thomas.ellman@gatx.com

Kurt Feaster

Kurt V. Feaster is Senior Vice President - Finance and Chief  Financial Officer for the 2,500-mile Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation (DM&E), based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he is responsible for all accounting and financial matters including implementing budget policies and financial planning.  The DM&E has been working on a 260 mile expansion into the Powder River Basin coal fields since 1998.

The DM&E was acquired by Canadian Pacific Railway (CPRS) in October, 2007 for approximately $1.5 billion.  The Surface Transportation Board approved common control of the DM&E in late 2008.   Currently the DM&E is converting its various computer systems to fully integrate into the CPRS.  This integration will be completed by the end of 2009.

Prior to joining the DM&E in 1992, Mr. Feaster was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway from 1990 to 1992 and held a similar post at Montana Rail Link from 1987 to 1990.  From 1985 to 1987, he was Deputy Director of the Railroad Accounting Principles Board (a special U.S. Congressional Agency).

Mr. Feaster began his railroad industry career in 1976 holding various accounting positions with the Bessemer & Lake Erie; the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range; and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern railroads, advancing to become manager of cost analysis for the SOO Line Railroad (now Canadian Pacific Railway) at Minneapolis, Minn. in 1984and 1985.

Mr. Feaster is a Certified Public Accountant and has a Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Illinois.  He also has taught accounting courses at the University of Minnesota (Duluth and Minneapolis) and at the University of Pittsburgh.



kfeaster@cedaramerican.com

Kenneth P. Fischl

Kenneth P. Fischl is a vice president of The Marmon Group LLC, the Chicago-based management service organization of The Marmon Group of companies. The Marmon Group, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, is comprised of more than 125 autonomously operated manufacturing and service companies worldwide. Together the Marmon companies employ more than 20,000 persons and have annual sales of $7 billion.

In his responsibilities with The Marmon Group, he serves as Sector President—Marmon Transportation Services & Engineered Products. In this position he oversees Marmon's portfolio of companies serving the transportation and energy industries..

Prior to assuming his current position, he served as president of Union Tank Car Company, a member of The Marmon Group. In this capacity he was responsible for its North American operations. Union Tank Car is a major designer, builder and full-service lessor of specialized railcars. It owns a fleet of more than 90,000 railcars and operates manufacturing and repair facilities throughout North America..

Ken Fischl graduated from Lehigh University in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgical Engineering. He received his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan in 1975.

ken.fischl@marmon.com

Karen Folino

Karen Folino is a dynamic senior executive with more than twenty-five years of progressive management, leadership and marketing experience in Fortune 500, mid-size and start-up companies. She has broad experience across multiple industries including consumer products, food, transportation, logistics and technology.

Karen is currently the Assistant Vice President of Commercial Products and Services at Railinc, an information technology company that develops software applications and manages critical interline and logistical data supporting the North American Railroad System. Her career includes executive positions among the best known and well-managed companies, including A.C. Nielsen, CSX Transportation, ConAgra, Logistics.com, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, and Sara Lee Corp.

Karen's leadership expertise spans key phases of change management and includes functional expertise in process implementation, structural organization and technology implementation. Her strengths include customer service, sales management, supply chain management, change management, building organizational capability and leadership in Balance Scorecard strategy development. In her current position, Karen most recently lead the visioning, transformation and implementation of a strategic business model that created a complete product management and service delivery structure and established accountabilities for over 40 technology products.

Karen earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Lee University, a master's degree in business education from the University of Tennessee, advanced management degree from Harvard Business School and an MBA from the University of Dallas. She has completed the Darden Executive Development Program at the University of Virginia, and is certified by the American Society of Transportation and Logistics.

karen.folino@railinc.com

Jim Forrester

Jim Forrester's railroad career began working for Penn Central as a Block Operator and lever man in Philadelphia while attending college. Later after receiving an MBA from the University of Cincinnati, his professional railroad career began as a manager of Equipment Planning in Conrail's Mechanical Department. After serving in managerial positions in Mechanical and Car Management departments, in 1988 Mr. Forrester joined Conrail's Open Hopper Business Group with responsibility for coal fleet planning in addition to faculty and asset planning and performance. Jim joined the NS Coal group in 1999 where his responsibilities include coal fleet planning and development and management of NS Coal Business Group capital projects.

jim.forrester@nscorp.com

Mark Garrette

Mark J. Garrette is CFO of the Transportation Services & Engineered Products sector of The Marmon Group LLC, based in Chicago, Illinois. He has financial responsibility for Marmon's portfolio of companies serving the transportation and energy industries, including Union Tank Car and its Canadian subsidiary Procor.

The Marmon Group, a Berkshire Hathaway Company, is comprised of more than 125 manufacturing and service companies worldwide which together employ more than 20,000 people and have annual revenue of $7 billion.

Union Tank Car is a major designer, builder and full-service lessor of tank cars and other specialized railcars. Union Tank Car and Procor together own a fleet of 97,000 railcars and operate repair and manufacturing facilities throughout North America.

Mark Garrette graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Finance and an MBA, and is a CPA.

Edward W. Gaughan

Ed Gaughan is the Director of Product Evaluation & Compliance, Freight Products Group, at Wabtec where he has served for 31 years. In addition to his duties at Wabtec he is Associate Member of the AAR Brake System Committee as well as Past President of the Air Brake Association. Ed earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering Design Technology from Penn State University, class of 1977. He resides in Greensburg, PA with his wife Nancy and children Beth and Tom.

egaughan@wabtec.com

Mitch Gillispie

Edward Hall

Ed is the Senior General Manager, Engineering, for GE Transportation. In this role he leads the Diesel Engine Engineering, Locomotive Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Drives Engineering organizations.

Ed spent the first 18 years of his career as a technologist in the gas turbine aircraft engine business with Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis. In 2001, Ed joined the GE Global Research team in Niskayuna NY where he was named Global Technology Leader for Physical Sciences. Over the next four years Ed managed research and development teams in aerodynamics and mechanical technologies for the wide range of businesses in the GE portfolio. In 2006, Ed moved to GE Transportation and assumed leadership of Locomotive Engineering, followed by his current role.

Dr. Hall is a Mechanical Engineering graduate (B.S., M.S., Ph D.) of Iowa State University and is active in auto racing.

EdwardJ.Hall@ge.com

Sean Hankinson

Sean is responsible for the sales activities in the eastern United States for FreightCar America, Inc. He has more than 17 years experience in the freight car business. He has held the positions of Facility Engineer, Manager of Engineering - Production, and Area Manager of Production. Sean holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from St. Francis University in Loretto, PA.

shankinson@freightcar.net

Jim Hansen

Jim Hansen, Chief Operating Officer of Poet Nutrition, has served his entire career in agriculture.  He began his career with the Bunge Corporation and served in the soybean processing industry as well as in both the domestic and export grain divisions.  He was Vice President of Procurement for ConAgra Poultry and managed their commodity and ingredient risk along with the processing plant purchasing and contract negotiations.  Prior to joining Poet Nutrition as COO,  he was the General Manager of two businesses in California owned by Bioproducts that served the dairy industry.  Jim has more than 25 years of experience in commodity purchasing, trading, contract negotiations, risk management, and general management experience in agriculture.


jim.hansen@poet.com

William C. Harding

Bill Harding formed Harding & Associates in September of 1990 after spending 11 years with Cargill, Inc. in a variety of marketing and transportation assignments and 14 ½ years at Louis Dreyfus as Vice-President of Transportation. Bill's company offers services in equipment marketing and transportation marketing and management consulting. He has over 40 years of experience in grain and bulk commodity transportation. Bill is a graduate of St. Olaf College with majors in History and Economics and has taken graduate courses at the University of Minnesota, Southern Illinois University and Washington University. He resides in Tucson, Arizona.

wharding@msn.com

Robert Hart

Rob Hart is a Northwestern University graduate with both a BA and MBA. He has been working in and around the railroad industry mostly in finance for almost 31 years. He has been both a borrower and a lender. Starting in 1978 he spent 12 years at Illinois Central (Gulf) ending up as Treasurer. He joined Railroad Financial Corporation and spent five years learning how to raise capital for regional railroads and shortlines. In 1995 Rob joined the Transportation lending group of ABN Amro Bank and moved with the group to LaSalle Bank in 2000. He has provided financing for 22 small railroads and wrote the "white paper" that defined LaSalle's policy for extending credit to railroads, rail supply companies and rail equipment lessors. In 2007 Bank of America bought LaSalle from ABN Amro. Rob is currently Senior Vice President and Product Delivery Senior Officer-Credit for Specialized Industries in the Midwest Region.



rob.hart@baml.com

Anthony B. Hatch

Tony Hatch has been a senior transportation analyst on Wall Street for over twenty years, starting at Salomon Brothers; proceeding to Argus, PaineWebber, and most recently at NatWest Markets (USA) prior to becoming an independent analyst/consultant at the latter's closing of operations. After initially covering the airline sector, Mr. Hatch's coverage has been focused on the freight transportation segment, particularly surface transportation. The core of this coverage has been the large cap railroads, with sub sector coverage of trucking, air freight and express, maritime, transportation suppliers, leasing companies, logistics companies and freight forwarders. Mr. Hatch is known for his knowledge of the intermodal area, where the various modes of freight transport converge, on which he has held a dozen specialized conferences.

Recently, Mr. Hatch has been providing not only “traditional” institutional transport research but also providing due diligence and other services to new forms of transport investment such as private equity and hedge funds. At the turn of the century, Mr. Hatch was the leading consultant expert on the rail industry's B2B e-commerce efforts, working both on e-procurement and commercial (“virtual rail”) applications. Mr. Hatch has advised the AAR and the railroad industry's “E-Policy” Team on the selection of a strategy consultant and consulted on the Steelroads project, and has been an active consultant to Rail1.com. Mr. Hatch is also a columnist on rails and for Progressive Railroading's print and digital editions. He served on the Advisory Board of 3Plex, iLink Global, and advised Arzoon.

Since the closing of NatWest, Mr. Hatch has been active as an independent analyst and consultant, doing work for major railroads such as CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, Canadian National and the Association of American Railroads, the American Short Line and Regional Rail Road Association, the United Transportation Union, the Canadian Transportation Agency, the Railway Association of Canada, various freight shipper and supplier organizations such as ARC, the AFI. NARS, WESTAC and the AAPA, as well as for management consulting firms Mercer Management, Mitchell Madison Group / USWeb.

Mr. Hatch has been named to various honor rolls, including the Institutional Investor and Wall Street Journal All Star teams and garnering the top spot in the Greenwich Poll. He is a past President of the Motor Carrier Analysts. His career highlight was testifying before Congress on railroads. Mr. Hatch earned an AB degree from Harvard College in American history, cum laude.

abh18@mindspring.com

David Humphrey

David Humphrey is a Senior Analyst with Railinc Corporation. In his ninth year with Railinc, David was recently selected to be a founding member of their Business Analytics group. Before returning to his family roots in the railroad industry, David was an Operations Research Analyst with Nortel Networks in Research Triangle Park, NC. David has been a visiting faculty member at the Naval Postgraduate School and the American University of Armenia, as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a SAS Certified Base Programmer. David's formal training is in industrial engineering and he holds a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University as well as M.S. and B.S. degrees from Purdue University.

david.humphrey@railinc.com

Reginald (Regg) Jones

Mr. Jones is a Founder and Managing Director of Greenbriar Equity Group, a private equity firm focused exclusively on making private equity investments in the global transportation industry, including companies in commercial aerospace and defense, automotive, freight and passenger transport, logistics and related sectors. Greenbriar’s core investment principles are to (1) invest in businesses with favorable strategic positions, attractive growth prospects and the opportunity to benefit from prevailing secular trends; (2) partner with high quality management teams who are motivated by being owners of the companies they operate; and (3) utilize Greenbriar’s domain expertise, extensive network of relationships and operational resources to enhance the performance of its portfolio companies. Greenbriar manages $1.5 billion of capital for privately negotiated equity investments within its targeted sectors.

Prior to founding Greenbriar, Mr. Jones spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs where he was a Managing Director and Group Head of global transportation investment banking. Under Mr. Jones’ leadership, Goldman’s transportation practice expanded substantially in terms of aggregate revenues, range of industry segments covered and global geographic balance. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Mr. Jones worked as a consultant at Bain & Company.

Mr. Jones earned a B.A. from Williams College and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He is a Director of Active Aero Group, AmSafe, Argo-Tech Corporation and Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. and serves as a Board member of the Transportation Business Advisory Council at Northwestern University and the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver. Mr. Jones is married and has four children.

rjones@greenbriarequity.com

Richard Kloster

Dick Kloster has been a Senior Consultant with FTR Associates/FTR Consulting Group for the past two years. FTR has been forecasting and researching the freight transportation and freight equipment markets for over 20 years and covers all modes of transportation. Dick is involved in forecasting rail freight and rail equipment trends.
 
Before joining FTR, he spent the prior 15 years with GE Rail Services and held a variety of positions in the Asset Management, Marketing and Sales organizations.  Dick also spent ten years working for several railroads, including a Class I, a Regional and a Shortline. Dick received his Masters Degree from the University of Alabama.



rkloster@yahoo.com

Randy Knox

Randy Knox is the Director of Equipment Utilization for BNSF Railway. His career with BNSF spans more than 30 years. Prior to that, he was with Frisco Railway. Randy is currently responsible for strategic fleet planning and fleet sizing for BNSF’s industrial covered and open top hopper fleets as well as the grain and coal fleets. He has a BA in economics from Western Illinois University. He is married with 4 children and lives in Colleyville, TX.

randall.knox@bnsf.com

Anthony D. Kruglinski

Railroad Financial's President and CEO is an attorney who has been a banker and lessor as well as a “brakeman” on the Penn Central Railroad. Prior to forming Railroad Financial Corporation in 1989, Tony managed the Surface Transportation Division of Irving Trust Company. For nearly 20 years he has also served as financial editor of Railway Age magazine, the oldest and largest North American periodical devoted to the rail industry, in which he writes a monthly column entitled “The Financial Edge”. As Chairman of Rail Equipment Finance for 23 years, Tony has sought to organize and continually refine the rail industry's top “briefing” on rail equipment and rail finance. As president of Railroad Financial Corporation, Tony specializes in developing unique financial solutions to client needs worldwide. As a principal in Locomotive Residual Management, Tony brings his skills as an equipment and finance professional to the management of over 1,000 leased locomotives.

tkruglinski@railfin.com

Paul Lechner

Paul is founder and Principal of The Lechner Group Ltd., a financial services organization, active in financial diligence, origination, tax structuring, valuation, and investment advisory services. He has extensive experience in originating, structuring and developing ventures involving single investor, leveraged, synthetic lease and asset based lending.

He is an Attorney CPA, and holds a Masters in Business Finance (MBA), a Juris Doctorate (JD) and Master of Laws in Tax (LLM) from DePaul University in Chicago and is admitted in the State of Illinois, the Federal Court, Northern District of Illinois, and United States Tax Court. He graduated from St. Joseph’s College in Indiana with a BS in Accounting.

pal108381@comcast.net

Heather Little

Heather Little is the Senior Manager, Leasing & Car Hire for CN Rail. Ms. Little has been in the railroad industry for 29 years, the last 8 in Railcar Fleet Management, first with BC Rail, and with CN since their 2004 acquisition of the regional railroad. She has held key roles in systems implementation and management and car fleet management. Her current responsibilities include equipment leasing and car hire rate strategies and negotiations for CN's approximately 40,000-car merchandise fleet. She is a Certified General Accountant.

heather.little@cn.ca

Tony Long

Tony currently has responsibility for Car Management, Locomotive, Environmental, Customer Service and other miscellaneous functions for Genesee & Wyoming Inc., and is based out of Jacksonville, Florida.

He joined Genesee & Wyoming Inc. in March 2005 as Vice President-Customer Service after a 25-year career with CSX Transportation. While at CSXT his background included a wide variety of positions in Operations, Customer Service, Technology and Car Management.

Mr. Long obtained a B.S. degree from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN in 1980 and is certified as a Master BlackBelt in Six Sigma.

tlong@gwrr.com

Tom Mack

Tom Mack has been involved with AHL-TECH and the locomotive industry for over three years. During that time he developed the initial locomotive design that is the basis for the latest generation AHL-TECH locomotives. Mr. Mack’s locomotive innovations include the use of multiple medium horsepower ethanol generator sets, use of solid steel lead-acid battery trays mounted directly to the locomotive frame, the incorporation of a high power density / short-duration energy storage system to complement the lead acid battery set, and the development of Predictive Power Management Control software to coordinate the various locomotive power systems. Mr. Mack has also prepared AHL-TECH locomotive design studies for India, Australia, and Brazil, showing how the AHL-TECH components can be combined to meet requirements in those countries for horsepower, tractive effort, and physical clearances. Mr. Mack is a member of the Locomotive Maintenance Officers Association (LMOA) and serves on its New Technologies Committee.

tmack@ahl-tech.com

James Magee

Jim Magee has 31 years of experience in the Railroad Finance Industry: 14 with CSX Transportation, last assignment as Director of Equipment Management and Planning, and 17 years in the Rail Equipment Operating Lease Business, most recently with Trean and All Capital Rail. His previous leasing experience was with Flex Leasing Corporation, Trinity Industries and Helm Financial. Mr. Magee holds a Bachelor of Arts from The University of Maryland and Master of Business Administration from Loyola University, Baltimore, where he was a fellow.  He has been married to Debbie for 28 years, has 3 children and resides in Chicago. 


jmagee@treanllc.com

Robert Mason

Bob Mason joined EMD as Marketing Manager for North American Aftermarket Products in 2006. Bob and his team defined requirements, initiated the product development, and introduced the new EMD 710ECO^TM Repower product offering. With over twenty-five years of related experience, he has directed marketing and product management efforts for international manufacturing organizations, such as: Federal Signal, Scientific-Atlanta, Panduit, and Andrew Corporation. In addition to his BA and MBA degrees, Bob is a Certified Business Communicator, Certified Technical Trainer, and sat on the Board of Directors of the Fiber Optics Association.

John Maynie

John Maynie is Regional Marketing Executive Manager, North America for GE Infrastructure Transportation. John joined GE Transportation in March 07 as the Regional Marketing Leader for the US and Canada. The North American P&L consists of locomotives & passenger rail, renewal parts, wayside equipment, railroad control systems, and propulsion stationary systems for adjacent markets. As an executive business leader within GE Transportation he is responsible for capturing emerging trends, developing the growth strategies, segmentation, new product introduction, and integrity compliance for the assigned region.

John has over 20 years of Industrial Transportation experience both at GE & Ford Motor Co. in the capacity of program management, product engineering, sales & marketing, and pricing. John earned a BS in Industrial Engineering at Jackson State University and an MBA-Business at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan. In his spare time John loves to spend quality time with his wife Anita and three children; play golf; attend children’s extracurricular activities, travel, and reading. John is based in the Kansas City Metropolitan area.

john.maynie@ge.com

Patrick Mazzanti

Pat Mazzanti is President of Railroad Appraisal Associates, the management consulting division of The Occor Company specializing in the railroad industry and serves operating, supplier, and financial services companies. Pat purchased Norman W. Seip & Associates, the oldest railroad specific appraisal business in 2005 from its founder. Areas of expertise include appraisals, equipment remanufacture, inspection services and general management consulting services. Prior to Railroad Appraisal Associates he spent 18 years with Deutsche Financial Services (“DFS”) unit of Deutsche Bank, with the last 7 as Head of Railroad Finance. Responsibilities included portfolio valuation, financial due diligence, legal documentation and asset sales.

Pat earned a MBA in Business Economics from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management - Lake Forest, Illinois. Pat also earned a BS in Economics and Finance from Canisius College - Buffalo, New York.

pat@railroadappraisals.com

Alan McDonald

Alan McDonald has a railway career spanning close to 27 years.

He has experienced the railway business from the ground up, working as a yardman, train conductor and yardmaster prior to joining management as a trainmaster, assistant superintendent and finally, Manager of Canadian National Railway's (CN) locomotive distribution center in Montreal.

Alan brought this extensive operating background to the IT world where he held key positions in project management and systems design in Canada, the US and Germany. Most recently, Alan directed CN's Corporate Data Management department which included responsibility for the technical areas of data architecture, database design and database administration, as well as the management of business aspects of data integrity, data quality and Industry Reference Files (IRF). He also sat as Chair on the Railway Industry’s “Industry Interline Data Quality Committee” and active member of several other AAR and Railinc committees.

Alan joined Railinc in January of 2003 as Director of Equipment Data Systems to lead the massive undertaking of modernization and redesign of the industry’s mission-critical Umler system in the project known as Umler/EMIS. He also oversees Railinc’s Equipment Systems and oversees the transition of Railinc’s vast wealth of equipment-related data into valuable business intelligence.

Alan holds several graduate level degrees and professional designations including a Masters of Business Administration in Information Technology.

alan.mcdonald@railinc.com

Brian Modesitt

Brian joined Vestar Capital Partners in 2001 and is primarily focused on the firm’s investments in the financial services sector, having completed investments in Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd., Paris RE Holdings, Symetra Financial Corporation, Validus Holdings, Ltd. and Wilton Re Holdings Limited. Previously, he was employed by TCW/Crescent Mezzanine, L.L.C. and was a member of the Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. Brian received an M.B.A. with Honors from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a B.A., Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Franklin and Marshall College. Brian was also a Fulbright Scholar at the National University of Singapore.

bmodesitt@vestarcapital.com

David P. Murawski

David Murawski was promoted to Vice President Sales - Midwest Region in July 2008. From 1999 to 2008 David had served as Regional Sales Manager, Union Tank Car Company,Chicago, IL. He is responsible for the management of all commercial related activities including selling, leasing and customer service excellence in the Midwest. Primary car types served are tank cars and plastic pellet hopper cars. David’s past experience includes: Portfolio Manager, GE Capital Rail Service with responsibility for all tank car investment analysis, disposals, pricing, and asset management decisions from 1996-1999.

He worked at General Motors Electro-Motive Division from 1984-1996, holding a variety of commercial and financial positions including three years at EMD’s London, ONT international sales operation. In addition he serves as a member of the RRF faculty since 2001, and the Board of Directors of the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund. David holds a BSME, Western Michigan University and an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago. He resides in Lake Forest, IL with his wife and 3 children.

murawski@utlx.com

David Nahass

David is Senior Vice President at Railroad Financial Corporation. David joined the company in 2000 from ABN AMRO Inc. Prior to that he spent 6 years with CIT in the Rail Resources Group. At CIT, David was responsible for developing and maintaining a consistent market presence in the US coal shipping industry. David also brings a variety of experience in the sale and leasing of all types of rolling stock. At RFC he focuses on a base of utility and railroad clients. He has developed a specialty in transaction restructuring.

dnahass@railfin.com

Dennis P. Neumann

Dennis P. Neumann is the Chief Executive Officer of BNY Capital Funding LLC. BNY Capital Funding is one of the largest bank leasing companies in the United States with a portfolio valued in excess of $14 billion. It contains four separate business lines and 34 subsidiary companies which include large capital asset, tax-advantaged leveraged leasing, a single investor leasing company in Colorado, asset-backed transportation lending and small ticket leasing.

Mr. Neumann is also an Executive Vice President of The Bank of New York/Mellon where his duties have included Head of U.S. Commercial Banking, the Bank’s Corporate and Institutional Credit Committee and the Asset and Liability Committee. His outside affiliations include a number of positions within the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association including: Chairman of the Association, Chairman, Large Ticket Steering Committee, and Chairman, ELFA Business Services Inc., the for-profit activity of the Association. Additionally, he is a member of the Business Advisory Council of the Transportation Center at Northwestern University, and a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago and member of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT).

Mr. Neumann joined The Bank of New York in 1989 as Senior Vice President and President of BNY Capital Funding. Prior to joining the Bank, he was Managing Director of First Chicago Leasing Corporation and a Director of Tiger Financial Services, a subsidiary of North American Car Corporation and Tiger International.

Mr. Neumann holds a Bachelor of Science from The University of Illinois and a Masters of Management from the J. L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

dennis.neumann@bnymellon.com

John Nussrallah

John Nussrallah is the Practice Leader for Thomas Group's Transportation Business. In this role, he is responsible for business development and account management to the global transportation market.  Nussrallah has 30 years of experience in the transportation industry with expertise in sales, marketing, and manufacturing strategies that optimize performance; and start-up, turnaround and diversification of business units with strong focus on the bottom line. His strategic thinking, integrity, leadership, and team building bring value to Thomas Group and its clients.

Mr. Nussrallah's impressive employment history includes serving as President of Greenbrier’s European railcar manufacturing division based in Poland, which served the European Union, and was responsible for all aspects of engineering, manufacturing, sales, and marketing.  Prior to his employment with Greenbrier, Mr. Nussrallah gained 27 years of experience within the operating departments of Consolidated Rail. During his tenure with Consolidated Rail, he had overall responsibility for over 5000 employees, 2500 locomotives and more than 100,000 railcars.

Mr. Nussrallah holds a BBA in Industrial Management from Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, and an Executive MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, IL. He has served on the Boards of American Railway Car Institute, University of Denver's Intermodal Transportation Institute, and National Grain Trade Council; was a member of the Board of Trustees for John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library; Executive Committee and Governing Board member of Railway Progress Institute; and on the Development Council for Baylor Medical Center at Grapevine. Nussrallah also belongs to numerous transportation associations and resides in Fort Worth, TX.



jnussrallah@thomasgroup.com

Michael O'Gara

Michael O’Gara is Senior Vice President of Compass Capital Corporation where he is responsible for the management of a growing operating railcar leasing business, while continuing to invest in transportation assets of all types. Mike has over 30 years experience in equipment leasing and financial services. Prior to joining Compass in March 2000, he was Executive Vice President at MacDonald and King ( 1993-1998) where he was responsible for managing advisory and arrangement services predominantly in transportation equipment transactions; Vice President Sales at ITEL Rail Corporation ( 1982-1990) where he managed the company’s $400M annual revenue operating lease business; and Marketing Representative IBM Corporation (1977-1982). Mike has completed over $4 billion in equipment financing. He holds a BS from the University of Illinois.

mogara@compasscapital.com

Kenneth W. O'Neill

Ken joined Connell Finance Company, Inc. in June of 1990 as Vice-President responsible for lease transaction origination to the the Class 1 railroads. Promoted to Senior Vice President in 1999, Ken’s current responsibilities include managing the assets in Connell’s lease portfolio as well as heading Connell’s Remarketing Group. Prior to joining Connell, Ken worked in the rail equipment operating leasing industry for over 23 years, holding management positions with ACF Industries, Pullman Leasing Company and Itel Rail. Ken received his BS degree in Marketing from St. Peter’s College and his MBA from Fordham University.

oneill@connellco.com

Larry Parsons

Larry R. Parsons has been Chairman and CEO of Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company and its two subsidiaries since March 1, 1992. He previously worked as Vice President of Operations at Union Pacific; Executive Vice President of Operations of Southern Pacific Lines; held positions of Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President Marketing at Kansas City Southern Railway Company; Vice President Operations at Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad; and began his railroad career at Union Pacific Railroad in the signal department in 1958.

Mr. Parsons is currently serving on the Board of the Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association and Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway.

Mr. Parsons graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in Business in 1967 and is married with four grown children.

executive@wlerwy.com

Thomas Pawlicki

Thomas Pawlicki is a Director of the Asset Finance Group at Citirail. He joined them in 1996 and is responsible for the growth, management, remarketing and divestiture on Citirail's eclectic fleet of approximately 10,000 freight cars and 300 locomotives. He also holds the titles of Senior Vice President-Citicorp Railmark, Inc. and Senior Vice President-Citicorp USA, Inc. Between 1972-85 Tom worked at Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad/SOO Line in the areas of Budget & Administration, Car Management & Productivity and Equipment Planning. From 1985-1996 he worked for Macdonald & Co. as Vice President and Agent Broker on Rail Fleet Size, Retention & Financing Equipment Acquisitions.

thomas.m.pawlicki@citi.com

Steve Petracek

Stephen Petracek, President of the Garibaldi Consulting Group, has over 30 years of experience in the transportation industry. He has managed consulting projects for a variety of commercial freight operators including railroads, seaports, barge operators, ocean shipping companies, and airports. His previous transportation consulting experience included working at Booz Allen Hamilton and Stanford Research Institute. Mr. Petracek has extensive academic training in transportation theory but also has real world experience in both the maritime and rail transportation industries.

He previously worked at BN and BNSF in various management positions in the operating and planning departments. While managing BN's Strategic Planning Department, he had major influence on BN's intermodal pricing strategy and on the investment in intermodal handling equipment and facilities. He also managed BN’s prototype field testing and business case justification for the purchase and introduction of AC freight locomotives — at that time the largest locomotive purchase in history. He was a major influence of BN’s and the US rail industry’s strategic shift to AC locomotives.

Steve also worked at American President Lines where he managed the Corporate Planning department as well as other groups in the Operating Department. He was in charge of APL's intermodal planning and development and was the concept originator and Program Manager of APL's Stacktrain railcar development project, which led the rest of the shipping and railroad industry into using doublestack railcars. He also managed vessel deployment planning and fleet planning activities.

He was awarded undergraduate degrees in Engineering and in Mathematics/Computer Science from California Polytechnic University and a Master of Engineering degree in Transportation Engineering from the University of California — Berkeley. He also was a reserve officer in the US Navy Seabees and completed training in construction management, vessel load planning, and aircraft load planning.

garibaldisjp@aol.com

Robert Pickel

Robert is Senior Vice President for Marketing and Sales for National Steel Car, responsible for marketing and sales of new railcars for the west, southwest and Mexico. He has 30 years in transportation including positions with R.L. Banks & Associates, Inc.,Conrail, Southern Pacific Railroad, USL Capital and Flex Leasing Corp. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) with emphasis in Transportation, as well as a BA in Political Science, both from Pennsylvania State University.

pickelb@steelcar.com

Chris Ragot

Chris Ragot became President and CEO of FreightCar America, Inc. on April 30, 2007. He joins FreightCar America, Inc. from Terex Corporation, where he spent seven years serving in various senior executive leadership positions, including President of Terex Utilities and Roadbuilding for the past three years and, previously, President of Terex Utilities, President of American Crane, Senior Vice-President, Sales and Aftermarket Services, and various other senior-level positions at Terex Crane. Prior to joining Terex Corporation in 1999, Mr. Ragot was Vice President and General Manager of the Air Compressor Group, Europe of Ingersoll-Rand Company, and held various other managerial and senior-level positions during his fifteen years at Ingersoll-Rand Company.  He also holds experience in heavy industries, in driving strategic and profitable growth, and in providing visionary leadership.  

cragot@freightcar.net

Robert Reid

Robert Reid is a Principal at Oliver Wyman with the following key focus areas: rollingstock valuation practice, rail operations network strategy and process improvement and financial due diligence, primarily within the rail industry, both domestically and internationally. Robert had previous experience in Operations Management and Strategic Planning at a predecessor to Norfolk Southern and at Conrail, culminating in the position as General Superintendent Service Control and Transportation Analysis. Subsequently, he was General Manager, Operations for the 4th largest trucking company in North America. Robert holds Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Civil Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

robert.reid@oliverwyman.com

William J. Rennicke

Bill Rennicke, a Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Manufacturing, Transportation & Energy Group, specializes in transportation transactions, strategic planning, and transportation asset valuation. Bill’s transportation career spans three decades, including senior management and operating positions at motor carriers and railways. He has been at the forefront of carrier restructuring and financial improvement activities for both private and government transport companies around the world.

Mr. Rennicke holds a B.S.B.A. in accounting from the School of Business Administration at Georgetown University and an M.B.A. with a concentration in transportation and logistics from the University of Minnesota.

bill.rennicke@oliverwyman.com

Tony Rosa

Tony Rosa is the Senior Director of Equipment Planning at Norfolk Southern in Atlanta, GA. He has 35 years of experience in various areas of railroad management, with a focus on equipment for the past 19 years.

Tony is currently responsible for Norfolk Southern’s Merchandise fleet, which includes a wide range of car types except for Intermodal and Coal cars. He is accountable for capacity management of the fleet, which requires developing the optimum supply strategy to meet demand. In sizing fleet needs Tony directs a team that addresses utilization strategies, bad order fallouts/repair strategies, acquisitions (operating & car hire leases and purchases) and new equipment designs. In the last five years Tony has also been accountable for enhancing boxcar quality and supply thru development of an extensive network of cleaning/prepping contractors. The car compensation (deprescription) process is another function Tony is accountable for at NS.

In addition to obtaining a BS in Transportation Management/Economics from Youngstown State University, Tony attended graduate school at Temple University. He has also attended various management programs at Penn State and University of Wisconsin. Outside of work Tony enjoys participating in Boy Scouting with his son. He also enjoys spending time with his wife and son at the beach.

tony.rosa@nscorp.com

Ronald Russ

Ron Russ has over 35 years of rail and financial management experience including stints beginning at the Milwaukee Road in Tacoma, Washington in 1973, the Soo Line Railroad in Minneapolis and Wisconsin Central in Rosemont, IL, where he was a founder, Treasurer and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer before its acquisition by Canadian National in 2001. Following some time working with CN on merger/integration transactions he served at Kansas City Southern where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer when KCS acquired controlling interest in its Mexican operations. He joined Genesee & Wyoming Inc. team as a Senior Vice President in March 2009 and was named the President and General Manager of the Portland & Western Railroad, Inc. on June 1, 2009.

In the mid-1990s he was Executive Manager and Chief Financial Officer for over 5 years at the Wisconsin Central affiliate Tranz Rail Holdings Limited based in Wellington, New Zealand where in June 1997 Global Finance magazine recognized him in a group of CFOs for his de-leveraging Tranz Rail's balance sheet, interest rate management and taking the company public in the U.S. and New Zealand in 1996. Ron is also a principal of a start-up company, ECTO, LLC which is developing a high-capacity freight car for palletized freight.

Ron graduated from DePaul University with a BS Commerce degree. Ron and his wife Karen reside in West Linn, Oregon with their five children.

rruss@gwrr.com

Trey Savage

Trey Savage is Vice President of the Rail Group of The David J. Joseph Company. Trey is a graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has been with The Joseph Company for 16 years. Mr. Savage began his career with The Company serving as a Regional Manager, then as Vice President of Marketing & Sales before being appointed as Vice President of the Rail Group.

The David J. Joseph Company was founded in 1885. DJJ brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, and HBI/DRI; supplies Ferro-Alloys; processes ferrous and nonferrous scrap; and provides a comprehensive suite of complementary services including logistics, industrial, mill, rail, and railcar lease, purchase, sale and finance. DJJ also operates self-serve auto parts retail stores. An industry leader in the application of information technology to enhance customer service, DJJ employs over 2,500 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. DJJ is owned by Nucor Corporation, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nucor is the leading purchaser of ferrous scrap and the largest steel producer and recycler in North America.

tws@djj.com

David I. Scott

David Scott is a Principal of David Scott Consulting, LLC with services in locomotive residual value improvement, fleet strategy development, industrial product business strategy development, Diesel engine design and development, and hybrid locomotive design. Until 4/05 he was Executive Director, Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. He was the chief technology, marketing, sales and customer support “officer” in his 38 year career with EMD, the largest Diesel Electric Locomotive Supplier in the free world with a fleet market share of about 70%. David has a BME in Mechanical Engineering, General Motors Institute (now Kettering University), MS in Mech.Eng., University of Illinois and Program for Management Development, Harvard Business School.

david.i.scott@comcast.net

David Sellers

David Sellers is Director – Car Management at CSX Transportation in the department of Service Design, where he has been since November 1999.  In this role, he is responsible for the strategic and operational decisions associated with some of CSX’s major railcar fleets.  This includes all facets of railcar ownership, maintenance and fleet distribution.  

He has 29 years of experience in various roles at CSX Transportation.  Prior to joining the Car Management Department at CSX, David held positions in Labor Relations, Field Transportation and Transportation Systems and Services.  

David graduated from Jacksonville University with a Masters in Business Administration in 1995 and a Bachelors Degree in Business Management in 1994

David resides in Jacksonville, FL with his wife and daughter.  He is active in the local chapter of the National Defense Transportation Association and the Ronald McDonald House.

David_Sellers@csx.com

Rasesh Shah

Rasesh H. Shah, has served as president of The Andersons Rail Group since 1996 which currently owns and manages over 24,000 rail cars. He joined The Andersons in 1978. Shah previously was a design engineer for Sargent and Lundy Engineers in Chicago. His community involvement includes Past Chairman and current Board member of The Owens Community College Foundation, Executive Board member of the Toledo Regional Growth partnership, past trustee and Chairman of the Finance Committee for the St. Charles Mercy Health Foundation Board and a past chairman of the Toledo Edison Consumer Advisory Panel. He was recognized in 2007 as Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Toledo. He received his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Master's degree in Industrial Engineering and an MBA in Finance all from the University of Toledo. Shah has two grown sons and he and his wife Shilpa are residents of Holland, Ohio.

resesh_shah@andersonsinc.com

Dwayne Smartt

Dwayne Smartt started with Dow in 1987 at Dow’s Louisiana Division in Plaquemine LA as a logistics coordinator, and after 18 months moved into production planning and logistics modeling for various production units until 1991. He then moved to corporate headquarters in Midland MI, where he worked as a rail freight negotiator for various business units, handling various commodities, doing economic analysis and strategy development to drive commercial negotiations.

In 1997, Dwayne moved into commercial rail asset management, responsible for the Dow rail fleet, and today he is a Rail Supply Manager. His responsibilities include the lease, purchase, and sale of all tank cars for Dow’s North American fleet, and also the commercial management of intra-plant switching activities and rail track maintenance activities for Dow’s North American facilities. He serves as a commercial interface with all rail equipment suppliers, rail switching service suppliers, and track maintenance suppliers, and work with the Dow business units in the development of Dow’s overall rail fleet strategy. Dwayne serves as a subject matter expert in rail matters for the Dow supply chain organization, and as a liaison to Dow Europe encompassing commercial rail related issues.

dsmartt@dow.com

Betsy Snyder

Betsy R. Snyder is a Director in Standard & Poor's Corporate Ratings group.  She joined the company in 1990 and specializes in coverage of transportation equipment lessors in all sectors, the airline industry, and travel distribution services.  She also works extensively on Structured Finance transactions related to her areas of specialization.  Prior to joining Standard & Poor's, Betsy was an equity research analyst for Merrill Lynch and L.F. Rothschild.

Betsy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from Fordham University.  She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.  Betsy holds membership in  several industry-related organizations.


betsy_snyder@sandp.com

Ron Sucik

As Director, Market Development at TTX Ron established relationships in the industry that include members of the railroads, steamship lines, port authorities, transloaders, 3PL’s, motor carriers, intermodal marketing companies, retail industry and real estate development companies. Ron is recognized as having a significant understanding of the Trends of Trade Flows into North America and the affect they have on the rail industry. He is often called upon for his perspective of emerging issues.

Ron’s prior experience at the Burlington Northern gave him an understanding of the basic operational aspects of the rail side of the intermodal industry as well. Ron holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and an MBA with emphasis on Marketing from Illinois Benedictine University. Ron remains active within the Transportation Community consulting for himself as well as others. Ron and his wife Robin along with two of their four children live in Naperville, Illinois.

sucik.rseconsulting@comcast.net

Jack Thomas

Mr. Thomas has been involved in Rail Transportation for nearly 40 years. He received his undergraduate degree from Valparaiso University and his J.D. Degree from Loyola University. Mr. Thomas started in the rail industry for the Milwaukee Road Raiload in Chicago where he became Superintendent of Transportation. He left the Milwaukee Road to join Trailer Train Company to head up Car Management for the newly formed Nationwide Box Car Pool. Mr. Thomas became Assistant Chief Transportation Officer at Trailer Train in 1980.

He left Trailer Train in 1987 to become Vice-President - Sales for Chrysler Rail Transportation where he was responsible for the sales and marketing function of a major rail car lessor.

Effective May 1, 1994, Mr. Thomas started a new railcar leasing firm, as President of First Union Rail, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo. First Union Rail has grown to nearly 90,000 units and is among the largest lessors in the United States.

Mr. Thomas is currently a member of the AAR Associates Board of Directors and a member of an outside Advisory Board for a major component supplier.

Mr. Thomas has also served as President of The Traffic Club of Chicago.

jack.thomas@wachovia.com

Paul Weyandt

Paul J. Weyandt — is currently the Senior Vice President - Finance and Treasurer of The Kansas City Southern Railway Company.  He has served in this capacity since April 2005. He served as Vice President and Treasurer of KCS and KCSR from September 2001 until March 2005. Before joining KCS, Mr. Weyandt was a consultant to the Structured Finance Group of GE Capital Corporation from May 2001 to September 2001. Prior to consulting, Mr. Weyandt spent 23 years with BNSF Railway, most recently as Assistant Vice President Finance and Assistant Treasurer.  His career includes over 20 years of experience financing locomotives and railcars using various financial structures including public, private and foreign debt, and single investor, leveraged and cross-border leases.

William A. Wiles

 Mr. Wiles retired from FreightCar America on February 27, 2009.  He had been Vice President, Sales for Canada and Mexico. He also had responsibility for a number of marketing projects involving coil, doublestack and multi-level rail cars. Prior to this assignment, Bill was Vice president Automotive. Mr. Wiles had a 40-year career with Norfolk Southern where he served as Director Automotive and Director Equipment Marketing prior to retirement in 2000. Bill and wife Micki reside in Johnstown, PA and have two grown children.

williama.wiles@yahoo.com

Wayne Winkle

Wayne is Senior Manager of International Asset Management for Kansas City Southern Lines. In this role, Wayne is responsible for managing an enterprise, rolling stock portfolio of assets, leased and owned, by KCSR/KCSM.

Wayne has 13 years experience in transportation related business, mostly focused on capacity planning and process improvement. Wayne’s career in transportation began within the airline industry as an Industrial Engineer with heavy focus on capacity planning using discrete event simulation. From the airlines, Wayne then spent the next 8 years in various consulting and management roles within the Less than Truck Load (Trucking) industry with focus on Asset Management, Process Improvement, and Project Management. Wayne joined KCS Lines in Jan. of 2009 to lead the International Asset Mgmt team. At KCS Lines, his current focus is concentrated on demand planning, inventory management, and contract management.

Wayne is an Industrial Engineering graduate (B.S.) from Kansas State University and an MBA graduate from Keller Graduate School of Business Management. Wayne is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

WWinkle@kcsouthern.com

John H. Winner

Mr Winner is president and CEO of HWTSK, Inc, a consulting firm specializing in the rail industry including operations improvement, mergers and acquisitions, privatization, finance, and restructuring.

He has spent some 30 years in rail industry management and consulting. He has provided due diligence for investors in financing transactions involving more than $15 billion in railway equipment, workshops, and infrastructure. He has managed rail industry consulting assignments all over the world, including most countries in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, China, South America, the Asia-Pacific region, and in the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.

John was vice president in the Transportation Consulting Group at Mercer Management Consulting and was head of the rail management consulting practice at Booz, Allen & Hamilton. Prior to that, he worked for the L&N Railroad and later CSX in a range of operating and executive positions. For over a decade, Mr Winner was a contributing editor for Progressive Railroading Magazine where he wrote a monthly column, Smart Managing, aimed at rail industry executives and managers. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

winner@hwtsk.com

Jeffrey Wood

Jeff Wood joined the Electro-Motive team in January 2008 as a North American Aftermarket Sales Manager. In his 13-year career in the rail industry, Jeff has held management positions with VMV, Joseph Transportation, Progress Rail and Railpower. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics from Wheaton College and currently resides in the suburbs of Indianapolis with his wife and two daughters.

Founded in 1922, Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. is one of two U.S. original equipment manufacturers of diesel-electric locomotives. Headquartered in LaGrange, Illinois, with additional facilities and associates around the world, EMD designs, manufactures and sells diesel-electric locomotives for all commercial railroad applications and has sold its products in more than 70 countries worldwide. The Company is the only diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer to have produced more than 70,000 engines and has the largest installed base of diesel-electric locomotives in both North America and internationally. In addition to its locomotive manufacturing activities, EMD has an extensive aftermarket business offering customers replacement parts and a range of value-added services for its locomotives. The Company is also a global provider of diesel engines for marine propulsion, offshore and land-based oil well drilling rigs, and stationary power generation.


jeff.wood@emdiesels.com

James Wurtz

James M. Wurtz, Jr., 54, is Vice President, Marketing and Sales for National Railway Equipment Co. He is responsible for all North American sales, corporate leasing, and the marketing and sales of new and remanufactured locomotives, including the N-ViroMotive Low Emissions Locomotive. Mr. Wurtz previously served as Vice President at ABC Rail in Chicago Illinois from 1990-1995. Prior to this assignment he served as General Manager with Cooper Energy Services in Houston, Texas and in various management, marketing and product development roles during his tenure at CES. A native of central Ohio, Mr. Wurtz graduated from Kenyon College with a liberal arts degree in English, Religion and Economics.

j.wurtz@nationalrailway.com

Marcus Yancey

Marcus Yancey serves as an Asset Manager of Railcar Planning and Procurement for Southern Company. He is responsible for the procurement, utilization, and asset management of the Southern Company railcar fleet which includes forecasting railcars, leasing rail equipment, and tracking railcars. The railcar fleet is approximately 16,000 railcars (mostly leased) and valued over $1 billion.

Marcus has 5 years of Southern Company experience. Prior to Southern Company, his experience includes finance, marketing, engineering, transportation, and real estate. He has worked for CSX, Fitel Lucent Technologies, Procter & Gamble, and NASA.

Mr. Yancey holds a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Science from Morehouse College, a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance & Decision Science from Clark Atlanta University. He is also a Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) and licensed Mortgage Broker in Florida.

Marcus is from Atlanta, Georgia. He is married (Danielle) with a nine month old (Marcus, Jr.). His interest include: sports of all sorts, family & friends, real estate, and general business.