We are delighted to welcome you back at Northwestern for the Spring 2024 BAC meeting!
We have been looking forward with great anticipation to Shelly Simpson’s Patterson Lecture – the 42nd in this prestigious series, held in conjunction with the BAC Spring Meeting. Shelly is a legend in the transportation industry, serving as President and CEO-elect of J.B. Hunt Transport Services. With the provocative title of Disrupt, Adapt, Accelerate: Leading Through a Freight Recession, Shelly’s insights on leadership in this industry and beyond are both valuable and inspiring.
The transportation and logistics industry continues to be very dynamic — impacted by macroeconomic, geopolitical and natural events around the world, and reflecting changes in technology and in business practices on both supply and demand sides. The meeting today features two panels, and several research updates. The first panel addresses the very timely topic of maritime shipping and global supply chains, in light of the twin disruptions of the Suez Canal (geopolitical security) and the Panama Canal (water shortages). The panel features seasoned leaders from ocean carriers and port operators, moderated by Steve Rothberg, one of the world’s leading experts on this topic. The panel will explore the implications of these disruptions and other developments on global and domestic freight and discuss strategies to enhance resilience and mitigate risks across multiple scenarios.
The second panel focuses on data literacy – often mentioned as a critical skill for not only leading but also operating effectively in today’s transportation industry. What does it mean to be data literate? Can decisionmakers still be effective if they are not data literate? What are best practices among transportation companies, and how does one go about building a data literacy culture? These are some of the questions our panelists, who represent data and information experts from BAC member companies – BNSF, Teradata and TTX—will help address, in a conversation led by data and analytics expert and BAC member Peeter Kivestu.
Still trying to figure out the role of AI in your organization? Keith Dierkx (Princeton Consultants) will give an exclusive preview of early findings from an inaugural joint PC-NUTC AI in rail survey conducted during March and April this year. What about Quantum Computing? Kevin Glynn (NU Electrical and Computer Engineering) will summarize highlights of a Quantum Education Development – Consortium (QED-C) workshop on Quantum Computing in Transportation and Logistics workshop held in collaboration with NUTC.
Doctoral researcher Adrian Hernandez will also provide an update on a newly funded project from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) focused on the decarbonization of the multimodal freight system.
We trust you found value in the Industry Workshop on Cybersecurity Practices in the Transportation and Logistics Industry held on Wednesday afternoon before Shelly’s Patterson talk. This topic will unfortunately be with us for a long time to come, and NUTC is committed to continuing to share best practices in this critical area.
We take great pride in our BAC, and we greatly appreciate your contribution and continued support of NUTC programs and research.
Hani S. Mahmassani
William
A.
Director,
Patterson
Distinguished
Chair in Transportation
Northwestern University Transportation Center
AGENDA
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024
Northwestern University Transportation Center (Chambers Hall) 600 Foster Street, Evanston, IL, 60208
7:30 AM
8:00 AM 8:15 AM 8:25 AM 8:50 AM 8:55 AM 9:15 AM
Continental Breakfast
Call to Order: BAC Chair presiding
Jeff Silver - CEO, Mastery Logistic Systems
Welcome from the University
Director’s Report – Hani Mahmassani
BAC Membership: New Member Introductions
Presentation – Inaugural Princeton Consultants-NUTC AI in Rail Survey
Keith Dierkx , Principal, Princeton Consultants
Panel – Ocean Shipping - Red Sea and Panama Canal Impacts
Moderator – Steve Rothberg, Founding Partner, Mercator International
Michael Britton, Head of North America Market - Ocean Products, A.P. Moller - Maersk
Stephen Edwards, CEO and Executive Director, Virginia Port Authority
George Goldman, President & CEO, CMA CGA (America) LLC
Gene Seroka, Executive Director, The Port of Los Angeles
10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:15 AM
12:15 PM 12:30 PM
Break
Presentation – Quantum Computing in Transportation & Logistics
Kevin Glynn, Adjunct Lecturer, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern
Panel – Data Literacy
Moderator – Peeter Kivestu, Principal, Oplytix, LLC
Kristina Chambers, Chief Data & Analytics Officer, TTX Company
Bob Fintel, VP - Technology, CTO, Teradata Americas
Zach Jecklin, Chief Information Officer, Echo Global Logistics
Adrian Hernandez, Doctoral researcher, Northwestern University
Hani Mahmassani, NUTC Director, Northwestern University
Introduction of Students
Adjournment and Lunch
Speakers
Michael Britton
Head of North America Market - Ocean Products
A.P. Moller - Maersk
Michael Britton was appointed head of Maersk’s North America Ocean Products in February 2023. He is responsible for the development and execution of the group’s ocean network and services for the markets in USA, Canada, and Mexico. In addition, Michael serves as a member of Maersk’s North America Regional Leadership team and Global Ocean Leadership team.
Michael began his career in 1997 with Hamburg Süd and has served in various roles in North America and Asia Pacific including Regional Managing Director for Hamburg Sud Asia Pacific from 2008 to 2020. Between 2020 to 2023 he served as CEO of Sealand Americas, the Maersk owned, dedicated regional carrier for the Intra America trades.
Michael is originally from the United States and currently resides with his wife Victoria and their two children in South Florida. He graduated in 1997 from The American University in Washington DC with a bachelor’s degree in international finance.
Kristina Chambers
Chief Data & Analytics Officer TTX Company
Kristina Chambers is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer for TTX Company in Chicago. TTX Company provides railcars and related freight car management services to the North American rail industry. As CDAO, she is leading the corporate data and governance strategy and is responsible for implementing their modern data and analytics cloud platform.
Kristina has twenty-five years of executive leadership experience in technology, operations, and finance in the U.S. and Europe in diverse verticals such as transportation, financial services, energy and manufacturing. She holds an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Keith Dierkx
Principal Princeton Consultants
Keith Dierkx is expanding Princeton Consultants’ Rail and Transportation Practices. He joined us from Oracle, where he was Executive Director - Transportation and Logistics, with responsibilities including business development, sales strategy, seller enablement, thought leadership and customer success. Previously Keith was Global Rail, Freight and Logistics Leader at IBM where he established a Rail Innovation Center in Beijing, China. Prior to IBM, he was SVP of IT for one of the largest maritime terminal operators, where his team led the digital transformation and automation of terminal operations. Keith is deeply linked to the start-up and innovation communities and currently advises and mentors a number of companies. He has been a frequent speaker on the digitalization of the supply chain and the use of transformational technologies to enable improved business outcomes.
Stephen A. Edwards
CEO and Executive Director
Virginia
Port Authority
Stephen A. Edwards is the CEO and Executive Director of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA). He is responsible for the broad programmatic areas of business and relationship development, infrastructure development, strategic marketing, economic development, finance, security and safety. He directs and manages the operations of Virginia’s marine and inland terminal facilities through Virginia International Terminals, LLC, the port’s private terminal operating company.
He is a globally experienced leader in the maritime industry with extensive operational experience and a proven track record of growing businesses and creating long-term value for customers and stakeholders. Before joining the VPA in January 2021, Stephen served as President and Chief Executive Officer for TraPac, LLC.
Stephen holds a BS degree in Transport Management from Aston University in England.
Bob Fintel
VP - Technology, CTO
Teradata Americas
As CTO Teradata Americas, Mr. Fintel supports a wide range of disciplines ranging from business consulting to in-depth data and analytics expertise across many business and technology domains. He applies his 40+ years of experience with largescale deployments along with enterprise architecture planning to help customers realize the potential of world-class data and AI/analytic capabilities.
Bob’s experience ranges from high-end OLTP processing to Expert System/AI application development leveraging object-oriented design to enterprise scale data platforms supporting advanced analytics capabilities. He has also worked effectively in a wide variety of customer and partner situations across many industries and implementations through the years with Teradata.
As CTO, Bob currently focuses on applying his experience towards the modernization of hybrid cloud data and analytics/AI environments. He has always focused on enabling users and application developers with timely data access while working to make their “daily data lives better” by leveraging Teradata capabilities with other leading platforms and best practices. In this capacity, he looks to combine proven approaches with current innovations and new techniques to modernize data and analytic capabilities for today’s AI, digitally-driven businesses and ecosystems.
Kevin Glynn
Adjunt Lecturer, McCormick School of Engineering
Northwestern
Kevin Glynn is a three-time public and private company Chief Information Officer (CIO), including being recognized as the 2019 CIO Innovator of the Year in Chicago. As CIO, Mr. Glynn worked at DSC Logistics, AM. Castle and Case New Holland. While at AM Castle, in addition to his CIO responsibilities, he was acting VP of Operations. Prior to being CIO, Kevin was COO of Iron Solutions, a startup company using data analytics in agriculture machinery. Previously, he had been a Vice President for Oracle Corporation, leading its consulting practices in Europe. Early in his career, Mr. Glynn held positions in manufacturing and field engineering for Qualcomm’s transportation division. Kevin started his career as an engineer and production supervisor, working at Carlise Memory Tapes.
George Goldman
President & CEO
CMA CGM (America) LLC
American President Lines, LLC
George Goldman is an accomplished international shipping executive who until recently served as executive chairman of Greenabl Shippers Association, the industry’s first cooperative procurement group committed to decarbonization.
Previously, Mr. Goldman served as president of ZIM American Integrated Shipping Services, the North American division of the global shipping company. In this role, he supported many environmental initiatives, including the introduction of alternative and dual-fuel vessels to the company’s fleet. Prior to his tenure at ZIM, Goldman held increasing leadership roles over a 25-year span at APL, now a part of the CMA CGM Group, including multiple international posts in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai.
George has a Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University, California with an emphasis in Marketing and Cybernetic Systems. He attended executive management courses at NYU and the University of Michigan. Mr. Goldman currently serves on the board of directors for Greenabl Shippers Association.
George was raised in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area and currently resides in Nashville, TN with his wife Aimee.
Adrian Hernandez
Doctoral Researcher
Northwestern University Transportation Center
Adrian Hernandez is a Ph.D. Candidate in Northwestern University’s Transportation Program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. At Northwestern, he is advised by Prof. Pablo Durango-Cohen, and has been conducting research on the decarbonization of freight rail in the U.S. Adrian received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University, where he researched algorithms for vehicle routing problems under the supervision of Professor Samitha Samaranayake and Juan Carlos Martinez Mori. Adrian has been the recipient of the LSAMP Fellowship and is a GEM Fellow. His academic interests lie in optimization, operations research, infrastructure management, transportation, and public policy.
Zach Jecklin
Chief Information Officer
Echo Global Logistics
Zach Jecklin has served as Echo Global Logistics’ Chief Information Officer since December 2021. With an Echo career spanning more than a decade, Zach has held a variety of positions including SVP of Strategy, VP of Finance, Director of Finance, and began his Echo career as a financial analyst in 2008.
Zach holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Northern Illinois University.
Peeter Kivestu
Principal Oplytix, LLC
Peeter Kivestu is a transportation industry executive who specializes in data analytics. Principal of Oplytix, LLC, he provides data analytics advisory services and solutions in travel, transportation, smart cities, and related urban services. For some 15 years, he developed transportation solution strategies for Teradata, a data analytics company, meeting the challenges of their private/public sector clients all over the world. Previously he was in the airline industry, holding executive positions across finance, marketing, operations, and information technology at American Airlines, Canadian Airlines International, and Northwest Airlines,
including roles as VP of Advanced Programs, VP Materials Management (aircraft parts & logistics), and VP B2B Sales. Peeter holds an Engineering degree from Brown University and a Master’s degree in Aeronautics from MIT.
Hani Mahmassani
Director, Transportation Center
William A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation Northwestern
Dr. Hani S. Mahmassani is Director of the Transportation Center, and the William A. Patterson Distinguished Professor in Transportation at Northwestern University, which he joined on September 1, 2007, with joint appointments in the McCormick School of Engineering and the Kellogg School of Management. Prior to Northwestern, he served on the faculties of the University of Maryland and the University of Texas at Austin. He has over 35 years of professional, academic and research experience in the areas of multimodal systems modeling and optimization, freight and logistics systems, autonomous vehicles, data science and predictive analytics in transportation and logistics.
Mahmassani has served as principal investigator on over 150 funded research projects sponsored by international, national, state, and metropolitan agencies and private industry. He is past editor-in-chief of Transportation Science, senior editor of IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, and founding associate editor of Transportation Research C: Emerging Technologies. He is a past president of the Transportation Science Section of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, and a past President of the International Association for Travel Behavior Research. He serves on the Board of Advisors to the Panama Canal Authority, and Prince Albert of Monaco’s Digital Transformation Advisory Council. He was the recipient of a Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of the American University of Beirut in 2006, the Intelligent Transportation Systems Outstanding Application Award of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2010, the Transportation Research Board’s Thomas Deen Distinguished Lectureship in 2016, and the inaugural Martin Beckmann Transformative Research in Network Modeling in 2019. He was elected Emeritus member of the Transportation Research Board (of the National Academies) committees on Telecommunications and Travel Behavior, Transportation Network Modeling Committee, and Traveler Behavior and Values Mahmassani received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in transportation systems and MS in transportation engineering from Purdue University.
Steven Rothberg Founding Partner
Mercator International
Steven Rothberg has 42 years of diversified experience in international freight transportation. He began his career in operations planning with Southern Pacific Railroad, then directed transpacific marketing for U.S. Steamship Lines, and was director of corporate plans for United Airlines. He held executive positions for Sea-Land Service, and helped launch and manage the Global Ports Group of Macquarie Capital Limited. He has been providing strategic and operational consulting services to clients for more than seven years. He received a bachelor’s from Cornell and master’s in transportation systems from MIT.
Gene Seroka
Executive Director
The Port of Los Angeles
Mr. Seroka was confirmed as Executive Director for the Port of Los Angeles by the Los Angeles City Council on June 11, 2014. An industry-known leader, he brings more than 28 years of experience in shipping, global logistics and executive management to the Port. As Executive Director of the busiest container port in North America, Gene Seroka is responsible for managing a $1 billion budget, leading a team of more than 900 employees, advancing major capital projects, growing cargo volumes, and promoting innovative, sustainable
practices that improve Southern California’s economy and quality of life.
Jeff Silver Chief Executive Officer Mastery Logistics Systems
Jeff Silver joined American Backhaulers in 1984, fresh out of the University of Michigan with an undergrad degree in Economics. He helped grow the business by focusing on customer interactions and the sales force, training, and designing its ground-breaking technology. When ABH was sold to CH Robinson, Jeff spent a year helping to integrate the businesses and working to adapt the ABH system to the needs of the global company, and then retired. During his retirement, Jeff completed an MBA at Michigan as well as a Masters of Engineering in Logistics at MIT. In 2006, he and his wife Marianne, who created the methods of recruiting and training and focus on culture that have been copied by many in the industry, co-founded Coyote Logistics, which he led through its acquisition by UPS in 2015, after which he spent several years working with the broader UPS group on automation and advanced technology.
MEMBER DIRECTORY
Leadership Level
Sustaining Level
Association Level
Dan Abramson
Senior Vice President, Head of Sales | FourKites dan.abramson@fourkites.com
David Arganbright
VP | Government Affairs | OmniTRAX Inc. darganbright@omnitrax.com 215.205.0202
Andrew Bata
Regional Manager (North America) | UITPInternational Association of Public Transport andrew.bata@uitp.org 917.403.3445
Alliance for Sustaining Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Department of Energy
Morton, David
UT Austin Vaccines Planning Tool: COVID-19 Modeling Accelerator (CMA)
University of Texas at Austin, John Hopkins University
Morton, David
Value-focused Robust Optimization for Disaster Response
Arizona State University, Department of Homeland Security
Morton, David
Collaborative Research: Adaptive Gaussian Markov Random Fields for Large-scale Discrete Optimization via Simulation
National Science Foundation
Nelson, Barry
Mobility as a Service Network Optimization via Simulation
General Motors Corporation LLC
Nelson, Barry
Toward an Integrative Approach to Machine Learning for Traffic Management
National Science Foundation
Nie, Yu; Wang, Z.
SCC-PG: Improving Healthcare Access in Marginalized Communities Through Smart Connected Technologies
National Science Foundation
Nie, Yu; Blomberg Stathopoulos, A.; Zhu, Q.
EAGER: Collaborative Research: An Autonomous Modular Vehicle Technology-based Multifaceted Mobility Service Paradigm – A Proof-of-Concept Study
National Science Foundation
Nie, Yu
Rethink Ride-hail: from Understanding Limits to Reaching Full Potential
National Science Foundation
Nie, Yu
PFI BIC Smart CROwdsourced Urban Delivery (CROUD) System
National Science Foundation
Nie, Yu; co-PI Blomberg Stathopoulos, Amanda
Alterations of Sleep and Circadian Timing in Aging
National Institute on Aging
Reid, Kathryn
Effect of Sleeping Place on Objective and Subjective Sleep Quality
Technogel Italia S.r.l
Reid, Kathryn
Improving Veterans Referrals by Optimizing Network Design in Response to COVID-19
Army Research Office
Smilowitz, Karen
EAGER ISN: Unraveling Illicit Supply Chains with a Citizen Science Approach
University of Notre Dame, National Science Foundation
Smilowitz, Karen
Exploiting Network Structure in Routing Problems: Applications to School Bus Routing
National Science Foundation
Smilowitz, Karen
PFI: AIR-TT SAFE (Situational Awareness for Events): A Data Visualization System
National Science Foundation
Smilowitz, Karen
Alterations of Sleep and Circadian Timing in Aging
National Institute on Aging
Turek, Fred
Mechanisms Underlying Sleep Disturbances in Parkinson’s Disease
U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command
Turek, Fred
Effects of Spaceflight on Gastrointestinal Microbiota in Mice: Mechanisms and Impact on Multi-System Physiology
NASA Ames Research Center
Turek, Fred
Team Dynamics, Networks and Assembly (Team DNA)
University of California at Los Angeles, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Uzzi, Brian; Contractor, N.
QUANTA Quantitative Network-based Models of Adaptive Team Behavior
University of California, Santa Barbara, Army Research Office
Uzzi, Brian
Operator 4.0 via Fatigue and Motion Analyses in Human Digital Twin Enabled Framework for Smart Manufacturing
UI Labs, Picatinny Center for Contracting and Commerce
Zhu, Qi
CPS: Medium: Batteryless Sensor Enabling Smart Green Infrastructure
National Science Foundation
Zhu, Qi
S&AS: INT: Autonomous Multi-Robot Visual Monitoring for Urban, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Management
University of California, Riverside, National Science Foundation
Zhu, Qi
CPS: Synergy: Securing the Timing of Cyber-Physical Systems
National Science Foundation
Zhu, Qi
NUTC STAFF & EVENTS
HANI S. MAHMASSANI
Director
masmah@northwestern.edu
847.491.2282
BRETON JOHNSON
Senior Associate Director
bretj@northwestern.edu
847.491.2194
ANDREA CEHAIC
Assistant Director
andrea.cehaic@northwestern.edu
847.491.2280
TORENE HARVIN
Senior Program Coordinator torene.harvin@northwestern.edu
847.491.7287
MARINKO KULJANIN
Financial Assistant
mrinko.kuljanin @northwestern.edu 847 491 2275
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY TRANSPORTATION CENTER
600 Foster Street, Evanston, IL
847.491.7287
tcinfo@northwestern.edu
transportation.northwestern.edu
Director & Staff
THANK YOU
About the Business Advisory Council
Unequaled by any academic transportation advisory board in the country, the Northwestern University Transportation Center (NUTC) Business Advisory Council (BAC) has long been a major force behind the Center’s success. The BAC is structured through four distinct levels of membership: Leadership, Sustaining, Individual, and Association. Each category carries with it a set of membership benefits, as well as a suggested level of commitment and financial support for Transportation Center research, education, and outreach initiatives.
All BAC members enjoy access to Northwestern’s world-class faculty, opportunities for networking with industry peers, invitations to and involvement in special programs and events, insights into cutting-edge research and industry trends, discounted tuition fees for the Center’s Executive Education Series, and access to Northwestern’s bright student population and renowned Transportation Library.
The BAC meets twice yearly on the Evanston campus to foster an exchange of ideas among its members and Center faculty, staff, and students. The meetings are designed to explore the areas of interest and relevance to BAC member companies. Each meeting features working sessions, panel discussions, and speaker presentations, as well as opportunities for more informal networking and exchange.
About the Transportation Center
For the last six decades, the Northwestern University Transportation Center (NUTC) has proudly conducted research, provided education and performed outreach for the benefit of the Northwestern community and transportation networks worldwide.
