Reaching the Boiling Point-to-Point: Tommorrow's Transportation Infrastructure Chaos

John R. Bagileo has been practicing transportation law for nearly 40 years, representing the interests of both carriers and shippers in regulatory matters. He has represented clients before state courts, federal district courts, the Court of Federal Claims, the Courts of Appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court, and federal and state transportation regulatory agencies. Bagileo earned the distinction of being one of the nation’s leading transportation attorneys by representing shippers, motor carriers, transportation intermediaries, railroads and ocean carriers.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Transportation Policy.

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Les Eastling has over 35 years experience in the IT profession. He worked for IBM for 33 years and held direct leadership positions in sales and implementation of major mission critical applications for mid to large size companies. In addition, Les has broad experience across several areas of the IT industry, including national product marketing, sales and engineering management, and consulting services management.

The majority of Eastling’s IT career has been spent leading customers in developing new applications and business processes. This has encompassed all aspects of requirements gathering, solution design, and application development/delivery.  Since joining SMC³ in 2004, Easting has worked with the SMC³ development team for Bid$ense, and has worked closely with several of the early users of Bid$ense to insure their successful completion of LTL bids.

Michael J. Economides, Ph.D. is one of the most instantly recognizable names in the petroleum and chemical engineering professions, as well as the energy industry. He is a professor at the Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, where he teaches and conducts research. Previously, he was the Samuel R. Noble professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University and served as chief scientist of the Global Petroleum Research Institute (GPRI). Economides has authored and co-authored numerous publications, including the best-selling book, The Color Of Oil.

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David Fare is a portfolio manger and director of Citigroup Asset Management. He has been with Citigroup or its predecessor firms since 1989. He currently co-manages in excess of $6 billion in fixed income portfolios consisting of mutual funds, institutional and high net worth client portfolios. Among the portfolios he oversees are the Smith Barney Managed Municipal Fund, the Smith Barney Total Return Bond Fund as well as several state specific tax-exempt funds.

John Ficker was named president of The National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) in July 2003. Prior to this appointment, he was the NITL vice chairman. Mr. Ficker’s also served as vice president of the Paper and Forest Industry Transportation Committee, was a member of the Pugent Sound Freight Mobility Roundtable and has been a guest lecturer at University of Wisconsin Executive Education and the University of Maryland in their transportation and logistics programs.

Mr. Ficker’s transportation career began in 1970 with Penn Central Railroad. In 1983 he joined Publisher’s Paper Company as their transportation manager. In 1989 he assumed the role of logistics development manager for Weyerhaeuser where he was responsible for contract development and regulatory and legislative issues including lobbying at both the local and national level.

He currently serves as the president of the American Society of Transportation and Logistics (AST&L).

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Jean C. Godwin is the executive vice president and general counsel of the American Association of Port Authorities, a trade association founded in 1912 that represents the interests of public port agencies in the Western Hemisphere. Before joining AAPA in 1990, Ms. Godwin was the director of business development for Export Network, Inc. Prior to that, she was the assistant chief counsel for Competition Policy for the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, specializing in transportation and trade issues.

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Wim Lagaay was appointed senior vice president and area operations manager of Maersk Line in January 2006. He is responsible for the procurement of operations services, equipment control, marine operations, Maersk domestic and inland intermodal services. He is also a board member for Bridge Terminal Transport, Inc. and Maersk Equipment Service Company.

Prior to this position, Mr. Lagaay was the North American senior vice president of
corporate operations at P&O Nedlloyd where he had similar responsibilities. Mr.
Lagaay has also held various positions internationally which include general manager
in Rotterdam, Netherlands; director of operations in Southern Africa; director of marketing in Southern Africa and European management accountant based in Rotterdam and London.

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Alison Levine is no stranger to risk-taking. She has survived sub-zero temperatures, hurricane-force winds, sudden avalanches, and a career on Wall Street – all without the use of supplemental oxygen. Levine has also pushed her limits on the world’s highest peaks and became one of the most experienced female mountaineers in the country.

In 2002, Alison was invited to serve as the team captain of the first American Women’s Everest Expedition. Two years later she traveled across the Arctic Circle on skis for more than 100 miles to successfully reach the top of the world—the geographic North Pole. Her success in extreme environments is noteworthy given Alison suffers from a neurological disease which causes the arteries that feed her fingers and toes to collapse in cold weather, leaving her at extreme risk for frostbite.

R. Leo Penne is program director for Intermodal and Industry Activities with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).  He staffs AASHTO’s committees on rail, maritime, trucking, and intermodal transportation.  Mr. Penne is responsible for issues involving freight transportation by all modes and is a liaison for industries having significant interests in freight movement and transportation infrastructure. He shares the responsibility for developing and communicating the case for the economic benefits of transportation and for demonstrating the linkage between transportation and economic development.

Donald Ratajczak, Ph.D. is emeritus professor of the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University and consulting economist for leading businesses and governmental agencies. Ratajczak is one of the world’s most celebrated economists and a primary source of economic forecasting information for the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Congressional Budget Office, the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, the Council of Economic Advisors and Fortune 500 companies. Ratajczak is a recipient of the prestigious Blue Chip award for forecasting accuracy.

Dr. T. Peter Ruane is the president and CEO of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), a 105-year old national federation of public and private transportation construction interests with over 5,000 members headquartered in Washington, D.C.  He has over 35 years of diversified experience in the economic development, transportation and construction fields.

Prior to joining ARTBA in October 1988, he served for nine years as president and CEO of the National Moving and Storage Association (NMSA), an international trade association. He served as the deputy director of the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), Office of the Secretary of Defense and the President’s Economic Adjustment Committee. Dr. Ruane is a decorated Vietnam veteran, having served as an officer with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Paul Waite leads CN's intermodal activity, their fastest growing business segment, and involves the rail transportation of containers and/or truck trailers.  At CN, Waite has spearheaded a number of initiatives to improve intermodal productivity and reliability, most notably IMX (Intermodal Excellence), which has dramatically improved the company's intermodal product and reduced operating costs.

Mr. Waite held a succession of increasingly responsible positions in CN's sales, marketing and planning groups before being appointed CN Vice-President, IMX, in 2003. He holds a business degree from York University in Toronto, Canada.

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Curtis Whalen is executive director of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference (IMCC). Before joining the ATA, Whalen was vice president of Energy and Security Systems for Flight Explorer, the world’s leading provider of real-time aviation and surface transportation data fusion and tracking systems. Whalen currently serves on the board of directors of the Container and Intermodal Institute (CII) and numerous transportation related committees and task groups including the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Transportation System National Advisory Council (MTSNAC).

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Perry Trunick has been covering logistics and related subjects since 1979, when he began his career in transportation publications with Handling & Shipping Management magazine, today known as Logistics Today. Over the years, he has covered all facets of logistics, including air cargo, ocean freight, motor carriage, rail/intermodal, small package, warehousing, material handling and more. Trunick is an active member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and is a previous speaker at their annual conference.

Lee Clair, a senior partner at Norbridge, heads up the firm's Chicago office. Clair specializes in advising clients in all aspects of transportation, logistics and supply chain management. Most of his consulting experience has been assisting transportation service providers to improve their financial performance, and assisting manufacturers in designing and managing their supply chains. He is a recognized expert in the field of electronic commerce and the implications for transportation and order fulfillment.

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