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Career Tracks: Supply chain professor nets CSCMP award

CSX, HubTran, IWLA, Hill, VIA Motors, Volga-Dnepr and McGriff announce appointments, promotions and elections

Matthew Waller is the dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. (Photo: CSCMP)

Matthew A. Waller has been named the recipient of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP) 2020 Distinguished Service Award.

The award will be presented during the CSCMP EDGE 2020 Live! Conference and Exhibition opening session Sept. 20. 

James Wainscott joins CSX’s board. (Photo: CSX)

Waller is the dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. He also is a professor of supply chain management and holds the Sam M. Walton endowed leadership chair in business.

He was a co-founder of both Bentonville Associates Ventures and Mecari Technologies. He is the co-author of “Purple on the Inside: How J.B. Hunt Transport Set Itself Apart in a Field Full of Brown Cows” and “Integrating Blockchain into Supply Chain Management.” 


CSX

CSX Corp. announced that James L. Wainscott has been appointed to the Jacksonville, Florida-based company’s board of directors.

Wainscott is the retired chairman, president and chief executive officer of AK Steel Holding Corp. He joined AK Steel as vice president and treasurer in 1995. He was named president, CEO and a member of the board of directors in 2006. Wainscott retired as president and CEO in 2015 and as chairman of the board in 2016. 

He has served on the board of Parker-Hannifin Corp. since 2009. Wainscott also is the vice chair of the Council of Chief Executives. 

HubTran has hired Tom Durrenberger. (Photo: HubTran)

John J. Zillmer, chairman of CSX’s board of directors, said he looked forward to benefiting from Wainscott’s “insight and experience.”


“Jim’s deep knowledge of key industrial markets and his proven leadership will be assets to CSX as we work to strengthen our position as North America’s best-run railroad,” Zillmer said.

HubTran

Transportation industry automation platform HubTran has hired Tom Durrenberger as vice president to head the company’s factor segment. 

During a five-year tenure with Boston Consulting Group, Durrenberger led multiyear consulting engagements with some of the world’s largest companies to bring new technologies to market. He will use that same skill set at HubTran, leading product development, guiding client relationships and managing all aspects of the company’s business serving factors.

Matt Bernstein, CEO of Chicago-based HubTran, said Durrenberger’s “consulting and tech background is a huge plus for our factoring customers. Factors can look forward to even more innovation, better service and new ways to use HubTran to improve their bottom line.”

HubTran earned a spot on FreightWaves’ 2020 FreightTech 25 list of most innovative companies. 

International Warehouse Logistics Association

The International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) has named Leslie Ajlounny as 2020-21 chairman.

Leslie Ajlounny chairs the IWLA. (Photo: IWLA)

Ajlouny is the chief marketing officer for Evans Distribution Systems in Melvindale, Michigan.

“Leslie has a great history in our industry, serving her company, her employees and the broader supply chain,” said IWLA President and CEO Steve DeHaan. “And she becomes part of IWLA history as the second woman to take the chairmanship.”


Ajlouny previously served as the association’s vice chairman. She succeeds Brett Mears, president of Houston-based Palmer Logistics, who becomes the IWLA immediate past chairman.

In other IWLA appointments:

Jared Stadlin, vice president of Linden Warehouse and Distribution in Linden, New Jersey, ascends to vice chairman and chairman-elect from treasurer.

Scott Mayfield, president of Kenco Logistic Services in Chattanooga, Tennessee, becomes the association’s first-ever convention officer.

Peter Wilson, president and CEO of Sonwil Distribution Center in Buffalo, New York, will serve as secretary/treasurer.

Hill International

Hill International has named Drew Jeter president of the Americas Region, effective Monday.

He succeeds Michael V. Griffin, who is retiring after a 39-year career with Hill. Jeter will oversee the operations of Hill’s Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southern, Western and Latin American regions.

Philadelphia-based Hill International provides construction risk management.

Jeter brings to Hill more than 35 years of experience leading the development and delivery of facilities and infrastructure programs in public and private sectors around the world. He had a 13-year tenure with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., formerly CH2M Hill Companies Ltd., most recently serving as vice president of program management. Prior to joining CH2M, Jeter served as a civil engineering officer in the Air Force for 23 years, attaining the rank of colonel. 

VIA has promoted Thierry Caussat. (Photo: VIA)

VIA Motors

Thierry Caussat has been promoted to chief technical officer of VIA Motors International Inc.

Caussat had served as the company’s vice president of software and systems engineering since June 2016.

VIA Motors CEO Bob Purcell said Caussat is “without a doubt one of the world’s leading automotive electric drive systems experts, providing a competitive edge in the company’s applied technology in the all-important electrification of the automotive industry.”

Caussat said Orem, Utah-based VIA is “an industry leader, providing clean, quiet, connected, cost-effective and customer-satisfying urban delivery electric vehicles — vehicles which come with superior lifecycle economics for use across a broad blue-chip fleet customer base. This is an incredibly exciting time to be in the forefront of this epic transformation taking place in the auto industry.”

Caussat has more than 30 years of automotive industry experience, including involvement with three electric vehicle startups.

Volga-Dnepr

Volga-Dnepr Group has promoted Konstantin Vekshin to the position of chief commercial officer to implement a marketing and sales plan as well as sales team centralization and digitization.

McGriff has hired Annette Nitti. (Photo: McGriff)

Celebrating its 30th year of operations, the Russian Volga-Dnepr Group is an alliance of all-cargo airlines: Volga-Dnepr Airlines, the world’s largest operator of the AN-124 and modernized IL-76-TD-90VD; AirBridgeCargo, a leader of scheduled B747F operations; and ATRAN, a B737F operator dedicated to the e-commerce market.

Vekshin joined the group in 1997 as a sales executive. Since 2018 he has been Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ executive president of charter cargo operations. His long career also includes serving as the vice president of Centurion Cargo Airlines’ charter and government division and vice president of air freight charters for Bertling Logistics.

McGriff

McGriff said it has hired four industry veterans — Annette Nitti, Daniel Johnson, Holly Williams and Josh Thompson — for its transportation practice. All four are joining McGriff from Aon.

Nitti has been hired as a senior vice president and account executive in Aurora, Illinois. She has 27 years of experience in the insurance industry. She previously served as a senior account executive in Aon’s transportation practice.

Daniel Johnson joins McGriff. (Photo: McGriff)

Thompson will be the executive vice president in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has 14 years of experience in the transportation and logistics insurance industry. He previously served as an executive director in Aon’s transportation and logistics practice.

Johnson has been named a vice president and account executive in Sherwood, Arkansas. He began his insurance career in Aon’s transportation training program before moving into brokering and account executive positions.

Williams was hired as an assistant vice president and senior account manager in Little Rock. She has 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. For the past 19 years, she was a senior account manager for Aon and handled many of the firm’s largest transportation accounts.

McGriff, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the largest U.S. transportation insurance brokers. It is a subsidiary of Truist Insurance Holdings, the fifth-largest insurance broker in the United States and the sixth largest in the world. 

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Click for more FreightWaves/American Shippers articles by Kim Link-Wills.

Kim Link Wills

Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills has written about everything from agriculture as a reporter for Illinois Agri-News to zoology as editor of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. Her work has garnered awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Magazine Association of the Southeast. Prior to serving as managing editor of American Shipper, Kim spent more than four years with XPO Logistics.