MARS 2024 Summer Meeting & Scholarship Golf Outing — July 8-9, 2024

Save The Date! X

2015 Summer Meeting – Speaker Biographies

Stevan B. Bobb

BNSF Railway Company
Steve Bobb was appointed executive vice president and chief marketing officer for BNSF Railway in January 2013. In this capacity, he is responsible for the company’s sales and marketing activities, customer service, economic development, equipment management and intermodal facilities. Previously, he was group vice president, Coal Business Group, leading BNSF’s coal sales and marketing team.
Prior to his position in the Coal Business Group, Bobb served as general manager of BNSF’s Texas Division and vice president, Business Unit Operations and Support. Before that, he was group vice president, Agricultural Products.

Bobb began his career in the railroad industry in 1987 with Burlington Northern in information systems. From 1988 to 1992, Bobb held several business analysis, planning and yield management positions. In 1992, Bobb moved from director, Yield Management, to director, Marketing, Minerals business unit. Bobb was responsible for the Chicago field marketing group until 1995 when he was promoted to general director, Chemicals business unit. He was appointed vice president, Minerals business unit, in June 1996 and vice president, Chemicals business unit, in October 1996. He was named group vice president, Agricultural Products, in June 1999. He was appointed vice president, Business Unit Operations and Support in March 2004. Bobb then joined the operating department as a general manager in June 2005.

Education

  • Bachelor of Science in plant and animal science; Minor in agricultural economics, North Dakota State University
  • Advanced Management Program and International Senior Managers Program, Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration

Affiliations/Community Involvement
Bobb is a board member of the Community Enrichment Center (CEC), a non-profit serving Tarrant County families in crisis. Resources provided by the CEC include a food pantry, a women’s shelter and transitional housing, as well as education and employment services. Bobb also serves on The Medical Center at Alliance Board of Trustees.
Personal
Steve and his wife, Jo, have two daughters and live in Fort Worth.
 


 

Christopher Bohn

CF Industries
Chris Bohn was appointed vice president, supply chain, in January 2014 and promoted to senior vice president, supply chain in January 2015. Mr. Bohn previously served as the company’s vice president, corporate planning, a position he had held since October 2010. He joined CF Industries in September 2009 as director, corporate planning and analysis. Prior to joining CF Industries, Mr. Bohn served as chief financial officer for Hess Print Solutions. Earlier in his career, he was vice president global financial planning and analysis for Merisant Worldwide, Inc. He also held financial analysis and strategy positions with Searle Pharmaceuticals and the 3M Corporation. Mr. Bohn earned his BS degree in Finance at Indiana University and also holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

 


 

Mike Coleman

Union Pacific Railroad
Mike Coleman is Director of Transportation & Infrastructure for Union Pacific’s Industrial Products group with responsibility for service planning, customer facility infrastructure and capacity projects. Prior to his current role, Mike was based in Little Rock, AR with sales responsibilities for Industrial Products working with lumber, paper, steel, and aggregate customers. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He lives in Omaha, NE with his wife Courtney and their daughter Brenna.


Joe Gorgonio

Nova Chemicals
Joe Gorgonio is the Rail Fleet Manager for NOVA Chemicals. Prior to joining NOVA in 2000 he worked for many years in sales for CSX Transportation and Praxair. He began his career as a field service engineer with Dowell Schlumberger.

Joe holds a Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from West Virginia University and a MBA from Duquesne University.

At NOVA, Joe is responsible for commercial management of all rail assets. He also works with internal business clients to ensure the various rail fleets effectively meet all forecasted production requirements.

NOVA has a rail fleet of over 1200 tank cars including general purpose and pressure cars. NOVA also utilizes over 6300 pellet hopper cars used to transport polyethylene plastic pellets.

 


 

Edward J. Hall

GE Transportation
Ed is the Senior General Manager, Engineering, for GE Transportation. In this role he leads the Diesel Engine Engineering organization.

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.

 


 

Benjamin J. Hartford

R. W. Baird
Ben Hartford is Baird’s senior analyst covering Transportation/Logistics. Ben has covered the transport sector since joining Baird in 2005, and has had senior analyst responsibilities since 2011. He was recognized as a “Rising Star” in Institutional Investor Magazine’s 2012 All-America Research Team Rising Stars list; and by StarMine as the No. 2 earnings estimator in Road & Rail in 2012, the No. 1 earnings estimator in Air Freight & Logistics in 2013 and the No. 2 earnings estimator in Air Freight & Logistics in 2014. Ben received a BS with honors in Finance and an MS in Accounting from Indiana University.

 


 

Jeff Landin

Wisconsin Paper Council
Jeff Landin is president of the Wisconsin Paper Council, a statewide trade association that represents the pulp and paper industry in Madison and Washington. He has held this position since June 2007. The Paper Council monitors a wide variety of subjects including air and water quality regulations, tax policy, forestry, and energy issues that impact the viability of the paper industry in Wisconsin.

Prior to working with the Paper Council, Landin was the Executive Director of the Portage County Business Council in Stevens Point, WI. He has also held several other positions in the public and private sector.

Landin earned his Master of Arts in Public Policy and Administration from Binghamton (NY) University and his Bachelor of Arts in Government from King’s College (PA). He resides in Grand Chute, WI with his wife, Patty, and his two children, Alex (17) and Carson (16).

 


 

Larry Ratcliffe

CSX Transportation, Inc.
Larry Ratcliffe is AVP Network & Capacity Planning at CSXT in Jacksonville, FL. In this role Ratcliffe is responsible for the strategic planning of the CSXT network. This role encompasses route capacity analysis, analysis of traffic flows as they impact network requirements, development of network investment strategies, infrastructure planning, implementation of network capacity projects, strategic operating alliances, and CSXT’s participation in Chicago CREATE.

Ratcliffe is a career railroader with over 35 years in the industry having started as a telegrapher on the Milwaukee Road while earning his undergraduate degree in Mathematics. Upon graduating, he hired with the Missouri Pacific Railroad where he worked a number of locations managing transportation field operations and field engineering functions. After earning a masters’ degree in Industrial Engineering Ratcliffe joined CSXT predecessor, Conrail, in 1982 as a Senior Operations Improvement Analyst in Philadelphia.

During his career he developed and implemented a program to improve customer service for local switching operations and has led the joint facilities department where he was responsible for negotiating and administering the operating contracts between railroads. Later, as head of Network Operations at Conrail, he tested the feasibility of decision support tools where his team designed and implemented the first unit train scheduling system. As proposed mergers and negotiations heated up in the 1990’s Larry was attached to several teams that reviewed merger plans and submitted testimony to the STB. Ratcliffe has been involved with various aspects of strategic planning and network planning for the last 10 years.

 


 

Curt Reynolds

Cargill
Curt Reynolds is currently Logistics Leader for Cargill Metals Supply Chain Business Unit North America with responsibility for truck, rail, barge, warehousing, stevedoring, imports and logistics spend across eight steel service centers. He has 28 years of experience in various transportation, logistics, and supply chain management positions working across Cargill’s Ag Horizons, Corn Milling, Grain Oilseeds Supply Chain, Kitchen Solutions, Cargill Meat Solutions and Energy, Transportation and Metals businesses.

He’s a graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in transportation and logistics and an emphasis in management. He’s also a certified member of the American Society of Transportation and Logistics.

Curt began his career as a Grain Merchant in Cargill’s grain business in West Des Moines, Iowa. After a year, he moved to Cargill’s Corn Milling Business Unit in Dayton, Ohio and was later promoted to Transportation Supervisor. He served as Transportation Manager for Cargill’s Grain and Oilseeds Supply Chain NA’s refinery and sunflower/flax crush plant in West Fargo, ND. In 1999, he was promoted to Regional Transportation Manager for Cargill’s Grain and Oilseed Supply Chain NA’s Softseed Region’s with logistics responsibility for Cargill’s Grain and Oilseeds Supply Chain canola crush plant in Clavet, Saskatchewan, Canada.

He relocated to Cargill’s Corn Milling Business Unit in Minneapolis back in 2001 and held several management positions in the supply chain organization. In 2006, he joined Cargill Kitchen Solutions as McDonald’s Supply Chain Manager with responsibility for the farm to fork supply chain with McDonald’s USA on the egg category.

In 2008, he joined Cargill Meat Solutions in Wichita, KS as Key Account Logistics Manager where he developed and led the supply chain strategy to improve our supply chain performance for Cargill Beef and Pork Business Unit’s key accounts with a cross functional team approach.

He joined Cargill’s Energy, Transportation and Metals Platform in 2012 as Trade Execution Lead in Minneapolis, MN where he oversaw the supply chain team for Metals, Transport Fuels and Coal trade flows in North America.

Curt currently serves on The Twin Cities Salvation Army Advisory Board in Minneapolis, MN and was the former Vice Chair of both the Twin Cities Advisory Board in Minneapolis, MN and The Salvation Army Advisory Board in Wichita, KS.

He resides in Chaska, MN with his wife and daughter.

 


 

Taylor Robinson

PLG

 


 

Paul Titterton

GATX
Paul Titterton is Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for GATX’s North American railcar leasing business. In this role, he has responsibility for portfolio management, sales, customer service, structured finance, strategy, and marketing. Mr. Titterton has served in a variety of increasingly responsible roles within GATX in the areas of business development, strategy, structured finance, investment analysis, government affairs, and portfolio management since joining the company in 1997.

Paul is a CFA charterholder, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Harvard College in American History. He lives in Wilmette, Illinois and is married with three children.
 
 
 


 

Marty Wendt

Archer Daniels Midland Company
Marty Wendt joined Archer Daniels Midland Company in 2002. In 2007, Mr. Wendt moved to ADM’s corporate headquarters at Decatur, IL, and was appointed Director of Rail Logistics and Rates.
Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Wendt served as the Regional Manager for the Grain Division in Toledo, Ohio. His responsibilities included managing the Grain assets, building an origination program and trading commodities via Truck, Rail and Vessel for Toledo and Michigan.

Mr. Wendt majored in Agronomic Business, and graduated from The Ohio State University in 1983. He and his wife, Pam have three sons and one daughter and reside in Mt Zion, IL.

Back to MARS Home
Back to MARS Home