2014 Summer Meeting – Speaker Biographies

Frank Adcock

AVP Marketing – TTX Company
Frank Adcock, AVP Marketing for TTX Company, is a rail veteran with 27 years of railroad market experience. At TTX, he has led the marketing and business planning functions for the past seven years. Prior to joining TTX, he was Marketing Director at CSX Transportation with positions in intermodal, paper & forest, and automotive marketing covering an 11-year period. Before CSXT, he progressed at BNSF Railway and Burlington Northern Railroad over seven years through several different commercial roles in automotive and intermodal as well as field and headquarters operating positions. Frank also held a sales position with American President Intermodal (what today is known as Pacer). He received a bachelor’s degrees in Transportation/Distribution and Finance from the University of Colorado and then an MBA from Pepperdine University.
 

Susan J. Arko

Assistant Vice President – Railroad Education and Development – CSX Transportation
Susan J. Arko is the assistant vice president of railroad education and development at CSX, based in Atlanta, Georgia. In this role, Arko leads efforts to provide training and development to all CSX employees, from newly hired front-line operations employees to seasoned managers throughout the company.

Arko joined CSX in 1988 and worked as part of the CSX Intermodal team for 20 years in roles in finance, sales and customer service. In 2010, she was name assistant vice president of Customer Service for CSX Transportation. Throughout her 26-year career with CSX, Arko has demonstrated a keen understanding of customer needs and a passion for delivering service excellence while serving in numerous leadership roles. In 2002, Arko received the CSX Chairman’s Award for Excellence in recognition for her leadership and commitment to the company.

Prior to joining CSX, Arko was a vice president at Marine Port Terminals for more than a decade.

Arko has been actively involved with several leading community organizations. She served as a mentor with the United Way’s Stein Fellowship, serves on the Board of Advisors at Equality Means Business and is involved with the EQ=AL Inclusion Councils. For more than a decade, she served as the ambassador chair for the CSX United Way campaign and sat on the board of directors at the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Jacksonville for several years before moving to Atlanta.
 

Michael J. Berg

Deputy Secretary – Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT)
As Deputy Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), Mike Berg is the chief operating officer for a state agency with 3,500 employees, dozens of field offices and an annual budget of more than $3 billion.

Berg is a native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in civil and environmental engineering.

He joined WisDOT as an engineer in the Green Bay office, steadily rising through the ranks, eventually becoming a supervisor in design and construction in 1988. In 2000, Berg was named district director for WisDOT’s former District 4, heading up the department’s Wisconsin Rapids office. In 2005, Berg returned to Green Bay as director of the Northeast Region, where he oversaw many large and small transportation improvement projects, including the start of construction on the massive US 41 project.

Mike and his wife, Brenda, have three adult children.
 

Glen Courtwright

Director Strategic Operations – Georgia-Pacific LLC
In his current position as Director Strategic Operations for Georgia-Pacific, Glen leads the Rail Operations department which is responsible for the development and management of rail logistics and operations for the Building Products, Pulp & Paper, and Consumer Products business groups of Georgia-Pacific. Glen has been with Georgia-Pacific for 19 years and has held various positions in rail and motor carriage logistics throughout the company.

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 President of the National Association of Rail Shippers (NARS). He has previously served as President for the Pulp & Paper Transportation League, the Southeast Association of Rail Shippers, and the Atlanta Transportation Club.

Glen and his wife Lynn have been married 40 years, have three children and reside in Atlanta, Georgia.
 

Herb M. Jones

U.S. Director of State and Local Government Affairs – Canadian Pacific Railway Company
For the past five years Herb Jones has served as Canadian Pacific’s U.S. Director of State and local Government Affairs. Previously, since 2005, he was Director of Government Affairs at the Dakota Minnesota & Eastern Railroad (DM&E) in Sioux Falls, SD.

Before his railroad duty Jones spent eight years working in Washington, DC as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy during the George W. Bush Administration, and as Chief of Staff to then-U.S. Representative John Thune.

Prior to working in Washington, he served in several capacities under the administrations of South Dakota Governors Walter D. Miller, George S. Mickelson and William Janklow. In addition to the government-related positions he has also worked in the field of finance as a broker and investment advisor with several financial institutions.

Jones received a B.S. in Political Science from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD.
 

Steve Knott

General Director of Freight Car Distribution and Acquisition -Union Pacific Railroad

• Graduated from University of Nebraska with degree in Business Administration
• 16 years’ service with Union Pacific Railroad
• Have held positions in Agricultural Products, Union Pacific Distribution Services, Industrial Products, Business Planning and Integration, and Car Management
• Served as Union Pacific’s member of the AAR Equipment Assets Committee involved with Car Distribution and Car Hire rules
• Current role is General Director of Freight Car Distribution and Acquisition
• Responsible for all car types except Auto Racks and Intermodal

Brock Lautenschlager

Rail Services Director – CHS
Brock Lautenschlager, Rail Services Director at CHS, has over a decade of experience in rail transportation. Brock joined CHS in March 2014 and is responsible for leading all rail transportation activities in CHS’ Grain Marketing Division including logistics, business development, private fleet management and shipment documentation.

He previously worked in the Marketing and Sales division for Canadian Pacific Railway, which has provided him with experience in seeing how supply and demand fundamentals are impacting the movement of grain, grain products and biofuels in the rail industry.

Brock and his wife, Melissa, and their three children reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
 

Robert Lease

Vice President Service Design and Performance – BNSF Railway Company
Bob Lease was appointed to his current position of vice president, Service Design and Performance, in June 2011. In this role, he oversees the scheduling of railroad operations to meet customer expectations and market requirements to optimize use of the BNSF network. He is responsible for service design functions for the Coal, Agricultural, Industrial and Consumer Products business units.

Bob joined the Burlington Northern, a BNSF predecessor, in 1978. During his tenure with the company, he has progressed through a number of positions of increasing leadership responsibility including trainmaster; manager, Operations Analysis; assistant superintendent, Transportation; superintendent, Operations; terminal superintendent; director, Unit Train Operations; division superintendent; general director, Transportation; general manager, Division Operations; and regional vice president for the Central Region. Prior to his current position, Bob served as regional vice president for the South Region since December 2008.

Education

• Bachelor of Arts in business, Washington State University
• Bachelor of Science in economics, Washington State University

Affiliations

• Chairman and CEO, Los Angeles Junction Railway
• Director, Belt Railway of Chicago
• Director, Kansas City Terminal Railway
• Former director, American Association of Railroad Superintendents
• Former director, Terminal Railroad of St. Louis

Personal
Bob has a grown son and daughter. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife, Terri.

BNSF
BNSF Railway is one of North America’s leading freight transportation companies operating on 32,500 route miles of track in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is one of the top transporters of consumer goods, grain and agricultural products, low-sulfur coal, and industrial goods such as petroleum, chemicals, housing materials, food and beverages. BNSF’s shipments help feed, clothe, supply, and power American homes and businesses every day. BNSF and its employees have developed one of the most technologically advanced and efficient railroads in the industry. We work continuously to improve the value of the safety, service, energy, and environmental benefits we provide to our customers and the communities we serve.
 

Mike McClellan

Vice President Industrial Products – Norfolk Southern Corp.
Mike McClellan was named Vice President Industrial Products in July of 2013. In this position, Mike is responsible for 5 business divisions for the NS:

• Agriculture & Consumer Goods
• Chemicals
• Metals & Construction
• Paper, Clay & Forest Products
• Short Line Marketing and Commercial Development

Mike joined Norfolk Southern in 1998 as Assistant Vice President of Intermodal Planning. He became Vice President of Intermodal Marketing in February 2000, and Vice President of Intermodal and Automotive Marketing in January of 2005. He began his career in 1985 in Conrail’s Marketing department. Since then, he has worked for the Transportation Practice of Ernst & Young, as well as serving as an independent transportation consultant.

Mike holds a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati. He serves on the boards of various organizations in the Hampton Roads area.
 

Jerry Rodriguez

Kansas City Power & Light Company
Mr. Rodriguez started in the energy sector with Aquila in 1996 based in Omaha starting on the gas side as a scheduler and trader moving with Aquila to Kansas City in 1999 until Aquila exited the merchant gas business in 2002. Mr. Rodriguez started, owned and operated a small transportation company prior to his return to the energy business with Kansas City Power & Light in 2007. Jerry moved to rail logistics in 2008 and now manages a fleet of 2,500 cars supplying coal to 2 utilities with 6 plants. Jerry has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska. He lives in Kansas City with his wife and 4 rescue dogs and is looking forward to his retirement in Hawaii.
 

Rick Shearer

CEO – Superior Silica Sands
Rick Shearer is a board member as well as the CEO of Emerge Energy Services (emes), a publicly traded energy mlp business with annual revenues in excess of one billion dollars. Rick is also the President & CEO of Superior Silica sands headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. He has had a distinguished career in chemicals & plastics with union carbide corporation before becoming the head of the industrial minerals division at North American chemical company in 1994 where he led record growth of that company’s boron and sodium sulphate business. In 1997 Mr. Shearer became president of U.S. Silica Company where he guided this leading industrial sand business to record performances for the next 7 years. During that time, Rick became the founding chairman of the Industrial Minerals Association of North America.

After a 5 year stint as CEO of a Canadian Minerals Company, Rick became President & CEO of Superior Silica Sands in 2010. With his arrival this company has rapidly grown to become one of the leading frac sand suppliers in North America. Since its public launch in May 2013 Superior Silica Sands and Emerge Energy Services has been recognized for its extraordinary growth and success by Wall Street, being the top performing energy mlp on Wall Street in 2013. Superior Silica Sands is proud of its many contributions to the improved quality of life in the local communities where they have operations.
Mr. Shearer has a Bachelor of Science Degree from A-B college in West Virginia, as well as a MBA from Eastern Michigan University.
 

Greg Walling

Vice President of Network Design – The Kansas City Southern Railway
Greg Walling has lead part of The Kansas City Southern Railway’s operations as Vice President of Network Design since November of 2013. Since joining KCS in 2006, Walling has held the positions of Director- Service Design, General Director- Service Design, and Asst. Vice President- International Network Services. In his current capacity Walling leads the disciplines of Service Design, Rail Car Fleet Management, Operations Advanced Systems, and Rail Network Services.

Prior to joining KCS, Walling held transportation roles for Norfolk Southern between 2000 and 2006.

Walling is a graduate of the College of Charleston and University of Missouri- Kansas City.