Farrukh Bezar
Littlejohn & Co.
Bio
Mr. Farrukh A. Bezar past Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of CSX. Bezar most recently served as founder and managing partner of Lynwood Partners, a leading transportation and logistics advisory firm. Prior to Lynwood, Bezar served in senior leadership roles within the transportation and logistics functions at Clarendon, Booz Allen Hamilton, and A.T. Kearney. He previously held sales and marketing positions at the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company and served as a financial analyst with Chase Manhattan Bank. Bezar received a BA in Economics and Political Science from Northwestern University and an MBA in Management, Marketing and Transportation from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. since 2019.
Didi Caldwell
Global Location Strategies
Bio
As president and CEO, Didi sets the strategic direction of the firm. Her focus is ensuring GLS lives up to its mission to match companies and communities for mutual, sustainable prosperity. Under her leadership, GLS has become a world leader in site selection and incentive negotiation services and has been named to the Inc 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies list twice.
Didi has dedicated more than two decades to guiding companies on their location strategy, with an expertise in large manufacturing and heavy industrial projects. While working as an intern for Fluor Daniel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she had a chance encounter that would change the direction of her career forever. After seven years as a Principal with Fluor, Didi led the spin-out of the site consulting practice to what is now Global Location Strategies.
She is a proud member of the prestigious Site Selectors Guild, the only association of the world’s foremost professional site selection consultants. Didi was the first female chairperson of the organization and has held various leadership roles, currently serving as Chair of the REDI Sites initiative. Her achievements include being named one of the 50 Most Influential People by Greenville Business Magazine, receiving the GroundBreaker Award from GroundBreaker Carolinas magazine, and being recognized as one of the Women of Influence by SC Biz News.
Didi holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Clemson University and an international MBA from the University of South Carolina’s prestigious Darla Moore School of Business. Didi speaks Spanish and is a proud citizen of both the United States and Australia. She is married to Eduardo and together they have four children, Ricardo, Gabriela, Gabriel, and Jonas. When not traveling around the world for work, she spends her time traveling around the world for pleasure, catching as many baseball games and long, scenic runs as possible.
Brian Hammock
CSX
Bio
Before joining CSX, Hammock worked as an attorney for Venable, LLP, in Baltimore and served on the board of directors for the Canton Railroad Company. Prior to joining Venable, he served in the Office of Governor Martin O’Malley as a senior advisor and special assistant to the chief of staff. He has also served as deputy campaign director and field director for Governor O’Malley, and managed a campaign for Howard County Executive Ken Ulman. After joining the private sector in 2011, he was appointed to the Governor’s Task Force on Sustainable Growth and Wastewater Disposal. He also has served on the board of trustees for the Maryland Historical Society since 2011.
Hammock holds a juris doctorate degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Towson University.
Tony Hatch
abh Consulting
Bio
Anthony B. Hatch was honored by being named the 2019 North American Rail Shippers Association (NARS) “Person of the Year”. Tony has been a senior transportation analyst on Wall Street for over thirty years, starting at major financial institutions (Salomon Brothers; Argus, PaineWebber, Natwest Markets) prior to starting his independent analyst/consultancy at the turn of the century. Mr. Hatch's coverage has been focused on the freight transportation segment, particularly surface transportation. Mr. Hatch is known for his knowledge of the intermodal area, where the various modes of freight transport converge, on which he has held several dozen specialized conferences, prior to co-founding and co-leading RailTrends in the 21st century, the rail industry’s most comprehensive conference (www.railtrends.com). Mr. Hatch provides not only “traditional” yet independent institutional transport research but also provides “bespoke” research such as due diligence and other services to “new” players in transport investment such as private equity, infrastructure and activist and other hedge funds in such areas as intermodal, short lines, rail maintenance and construction, railcar leasing and 3pls, as well as specific research for or concerning major railroads in North America as well as in Brazil, China, the UK, India and, especially, Australia. In addition to assignments with various trade and government organizations (such as the Association of American Railroads, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, the United Transportation Union, the Canadian Transportation Agency, the Railway Association of Canada, the Intermodal Association of North America, the North American Association of Rail Shippers, AREMA/NRC/RSI, the Railway Association of the UK, Australian railways, Railinc/Steelroads), various other freight shipper and supplier organizations (including NITL, NGFA, and NEARS/SEARS/MARS/SWARS, etc), and management consulting firms such as Pwc, Oliver Wyman/ Mercer Management, etc. He has also worked with an extensive list of private equity/infrastructure firms in the space, both here and globally. Mr. Hatch, when directly on “the street”, was named to various honor rolls, including the institutional investor (“ii”) and Wall Street Kournal all-star teams and he garnered the top spot in the prestigious Greenwich poll. He is a past president of the motor carrier analysts association. His career highlight had been testifying before congress on railroads, starting in 1998, among other testimonies. Mr. Hatch graduated from Harvard College with an a.b. In American History in 1982. He lives in New York City, and enjoys baseball (watching – LA Dodgers! - and playing), real football (spurs), Harvard sports, in addition to history (British, US, Canadian), politics, and sports cars.
Kenneth Mannka
Nexxiot
Bio
Kenneth Mannka has a diverse work experience in the transportation industry with expertise in operations, safety, and sales. Kenneth is currently the Executive Vice President of Operations North America at Nexxiot, where they have held various roles including Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Sales North America. Prior to that, they worked at RailUSA, LLC as the Director of Safety, Training, and Compliance. Kenneth also had significant roles at R.J. Corman Railroad Group, LLC as the Regional Senior Director-Switching and Director of Operations North. Before that, they gained valuable experience at Genesee & Wyoming Inc. as the Regional Director of Safety and General Manager. Mannka's career began at CSX Transportation, where they worked as a Trainmaster for eight years.
Kenneth Mannka attended West Virginia University from 1988 to 1990, where they studied Community Health and Preventive Medicine. Kenneth then transferred to Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and completed their Master's degree in Community Health and Preventive Medicine from 1990 to 1994. In addition to their formal education, Kenneth Mannka obtained certifications such as Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) from CSX in September 2009, and holds a FRA Conductor Certification from RailUSA, LLC. Kenneth also has a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (ICBB) certification from CSX.
Dan McLaughlin
UP
Bio
Dan McLaughlin, Asst. Vice President - Marketing & Sales Operations
Dan McLaughlin was appointed assistant vice president - Marketing & Sales Operations in May 2022. In this position, McLaughlin is responsible for overseeing strategic planning, customer communications, short line and interline relationships, shipment quality, network, economic and industrial development and technology functions within the Marketing & Sales department.
Dan joined Union Pacific in 2001 as a corporate auditor and then worked in the Strategic Planning department. Since 2007, he has held a variety of roles in the Marketing & Sales organization with increasing responsibility in Bulk, Industrial Products, Union Pacific Distribution Services, Intermodal and Customer Communications. Most recently, Dan served as assistant vice president - Bulk where he was responsible for leading the marketing and sales efforts for grain, grain products, coal and fertilizer.
McLaughlin is the current board chairperson for the YMCA of Greater Omaha and he is also active in youth sports. Dan received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Creighton University. He and his wife, Carrie, reside in Omaha with their three sons.
Peter O’Malley
American Sugar Refining, Inc.
Bio
Peter O’Malley is Vice President for Corporate Relations at ASR Group, the world’s largest refiner and marketer of cane sugar and the owner of the Domino® Sugar Baltimore Refinery.
O’Malley served in various roles in local government, including as chief of staff in both Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Prior to joining ASR Group eleven years ago, he was an attorney at Venable, LLP in the land use and government relations practice areas.
O’Malley earned a BA from the Catholic University of America and a JD from the University of Baltimore School of Law and was admitted to the Maryland state bar. He and his wife live in Timonium, Maryland and have three children.
Todd Tranausky
American Styrene
Bio
Bio
Todd Tranausky is the Logistics Procurement Manager at Americas Styrenics, where he oversees all of the company’s transportation spend across modes. Before joining AmSty in December 2023, he was Vice President of Rail & Intermodal for FTR. While at FTR, he was responsible for providing commentary, data analysis, and forecasts for the FTR freight focused reports and played a key role in producing the FTR Rail Equipment Outlook and Rail Closer Look Series. Prior to FTR, he was the North American Transportation Editor for Argus Media, responsible for overseeing the quality of transportation reports and leading the company’s new product development in this area. Before he was promoted in January 2015, he was responsible for editing the weekly Argus Coal Transportation newsletter along with overseeing the Argus Rail Business publication that focuses on rail and shipper dynamics, critical rate data, rail costs, and regulatory and operational issues in the rail industry. Todd also assessed rail and barge rates for the movement of petroleum products for the Argus Petroleum Transportation Report. A Philadelphia native and diehard Philadelphia sports fan, he graduated Temple University with dual degrees in history and journalism and holds an Executive MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology. He is also a member of the Association of Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers’ Midstream Committee, working on topics of importance to entire petrochemical space as well as being on the board of directors of the Southwest Association of Rail Shippers. trucking/parcel transportation.
He has a Bachelor of Science degree in transportation distribution management from Syracuse University and a Master of Business administration with a concentration in Finance from Rutgers University. He is a member of the executive advisory board for Syracuse University’s School of Supply Chain Management, past President of the board of directors for the North East Association of Rail Shippers, and a contributing editor for Railway Age
Kenneth Sanchez
Chesapeake Specialty Products
Bio
Kenneth Sanchez is President of Chesapeake Specialty Products, Inc.
(“CSP”), a USA based international manufacturer of specialty sand additives,
iron, and steel products for the foundry, industrial construction, and
agriculture industries. Ken is also President of Chesapeake of Korea, Inc.,
(“COK”) a subsidiary of CSP, and sits on Boards of Directors for both CSP
and COK. He sits on the Executive Board of the Regional Manufacturing
Institute, as Treasurer, and has been appointed to the MD/DC District Export
council by the Secretary of the US Department of Commerce. Recently, CSP
was awarded the “E-Award” by the Commerce Department for outstanding
contribution to the Export Expansion Program of America. Ken is also a
member of several committees for the American Foundry Society.
Since joining CSP in 2006, Ken has increased the global footprint of CSP,
signing multi-national distributors and customers. CSP has expanded its
North American footprint with customers now throughout Asia, Australia,
Central America, Europe, and South America. Ken helped to establish the
Asian manufacturing facility in Korea and developed a local customer base
for their foundry products which uses innovative technology. Throughout this
time, CSP established worldwide manufacturing standards and practices and
created high customer satisfaction levels by improving delivery times,
manufacturing processes, and product quality levels.
Before coming to CSP, Ken excelled during a twenty-year career in the
telecommunications industry. Prior to joining CSP, he was Director of Sales
for national communication giants MCI and then Sprint/Nextel, both in the
Commercial Markets groups. In these roles, Ken was responsible for the
sales divisions tasked with retention and growth of commercial accounts. He
was instrumental in growing MCI’s data markets. While positioned as
Director of Sales and Marketing of the Internet MCI division, Ken frequently
presented new technologies as guest lecturer at local Maryland universities
and trade shows.
Ken holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from The University of
Maryland.
Jason Seidl
TD Cowen
Bio
Jason Seidl joined TD Cowen in 2013 as part of the acquisition of Dahlman Rose and covers air freight & surface transportation. Prior to joining Dahlman Rose in 2008, he spent nine years on Wall Street following freight transportation companies. Throughout his career, he has been recognized for his stock picking and EPS accuracy in numerous national polls and surveys. He was ranked #1 in the services Industry and #2 across all sectors in respective TipRanks’ 2023 Top Analysts of the Past Decade Polls. Mr. Seidl also spent nearly four years working in trucking/parcel transportation.
He has a Bachelor of Science degree in transportation distribution management from Syracuse University and a Master of Business administration with a concentration in Finance from Rutgers University. He is a member of the executive advisory board for Syracuse University’s School of Supply Chain Management, past President of the board of directors for the North East Association of Rail Shippers, and a contributing editor for Railway Age