Transportation & Supply Chain Institute - Cohort 19

2021 Winter

Cohort 19 TRANSPORTATION & SUPPLY CHAIN INSTITUTE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

Welcome to Denver

Cohort 19 Student Profiles Mohit Bhat Zach Clark Chris Hoffmeister Nicole James

Kevin Kranz Ray Noonan Bob Rentz Micki Rust Patrick Thomas

Cohort 19 Mohit Bhat Canadian National Leader in Digital Platforms & Product delivery, Data Engineering, Technology Innovation and Architecture Mohit Bhat is a seasoned leader, skilled in developing diverse, high performing teams, and charged with bringing innovation and cuttingedge technology to all areas of CN. By delivering disruptive platforms & products, next-generation enterprise architecture, and a calculated technology strategy, he is driving CN’s technology transformation.

Cohort 19 Zach Clark Port of Virginia Director of Stevedoring Born and raised in the Hampton Roads area, Zach attended James Madison University, where he received a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Social Science and a minor in Secondary Education. In 2010, he began his career with APM Terminals as a yard superintendent, before joining Virginia International Terminals, LLC (VIT) later that same year. Over the first two years of his career with VIT and the Port of Virginia, he served as an Assistant Operations Manager in the Gate, Rail, and Yard departments. In July 2012, Zach was promoted to Assistant Manager of the Operations Control Center, overseeing the operational use of their terminal operations system.

From January 2015 through November 2015, Zach served as Gate and Yard Manager at Virginia International Gateway, before being promoted to General Manager of Operations in November 2015, a position he held for 3 years. In November of 2018, he was promoted to Director of Rail Operations for the Port of Virginia, overseeing the rail operations at both Virginia International Gateway and Norfolk International Terminals. In October of 2020, the Port of Virginia established its stevedoring operations, and Zach was chosen to lead that operational unit as Director of Stevedoring.

Cohort 19 Christopher Hoffmeister Hub Group Executive Vice President, Account Management Previously, Chris served as Senior Vice President of Retail and held numerous positions within Hub Group Brokerage and Logistics teams. In 2002, he started with Hub Group in our St. Louis office.

There he led efforts to develop multimodal solutions for some of Hub Group’s largest retail customers. In Atlanta, Chris led the southeast regional team and started the Disaster Response solution that support their customers during national disasters.

In addition to his role at Hub Group, he serves on the committee for Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). Chris enjoys playing and watching all sports and most importantly love spending time with his wife and daughter.

Cohort 19 Nicole James Canadian National Railway Director of Reliability, Mechanical As an accomplished leader with over 17 years of experience in the rail industry, Nicole is well known for her leadership. She has successfully accomplished and continues to lead complex rail operations with a focus on safety, customer service, productivity and teamwork.

In her current role, Nicole has the responsibility of improving car and locomotive reliability through data driven trending analysis. Her team provides the planning/production department with the information to complete preventative maintenance and modification programs that result in overall improved fleet health.

Nicole’s team is leading a transformational change in the mechanical department by digitizing standardized maintenance programs across the fleet of 2,400 locomotives. Her goal is to assist the mechanical production team in shifting from a reactive approach to a scheduled maintenance culture. In addition to having a passion for the business, Nicole has learned that perseverance, strong principles and team work are critical to success.

Nicole began her career with BNSF Railway as Transportation Management Trainee in Ft Worth, Texas. Holding several positions with increasing roles of responsibility within the operating department she was engaged as a Front Line Supervisor, Terminal Manager, Terminal Superintendent, Regional Director of Crew and Corridor Superintendent. Within these positions she had responsibility for 1300 miles of mainline territory, on time performance for 90 passenger trains a day and oversight of 500 train service/management employees. Her positive outlook and expertise led to success in safety milestones, on time performance of intermodal fleet and execution of a multi-million dollar maintenance program. Each time she accepted a new challenge, she was quick to execute strategies to improve velocity, safety, and reduce cost. Her successes were acknowledged by elevating to additional leadership opportunities.

Nicole holds a bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in Transportation and Logistics from Iowa State University. Outside of work Nicole enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband Jake and daughter Kendall. They reside in Saint John, Indiana.

Cohort 19 Kevin Kranz OmniTRAX, Inc. Director of Financial Planning & Analysis Kevin Kranz is a Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at OmniTRAX, Inc. Since joining OmniTRAX in 2016 as a senior financial analyst, he has continuously increased his role in all areas of corporate finance. With a growth driven mindset he has guided the organization through multiple acquisitions as well as redefined corporate reporting and analysis. Prior to OmniTRAX, Kevin had 10 years of various experience in accounting and finance positions. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from The College of New Jersey. Kevin was born in Millville, New Jersey and moved to Denver, Colorado to pursue his passion of the outdoors, especially hiking.

Cohort 19 Ray Noonan Direct ChassisLink, Inc Director of Client Solutions In this role, Ray is instrumental in managing and developing the customer experience for the various participants in DCLI’s private chassis pools.

Prior to joining DCLI, Ray spent 5 years with TRAC Intermodal in their Commercial and IT Departments. He held various leadership roles, most recently as the Sr. Manager of Customer Solutions where he worked with both Ocean Carriers and Motor Carriers to improve their daily billing operations. Prior to that role, he led the Revenue Management Team focused on contract optimization and joined the company in 2013 as a business analyst working on ocean carrier’s conversions to a direct chassis billing model.

Ray comes from a family that has long ties in the intermodal field and is currently the 3rd generation from his family to work in the industry. He was formally introduced into the intermodal sector when he joined Rail Head CFS/R&S Logistics, family owned warehouse and trucking companies in 2006. During his 7 years with the company he managed various aspects of the business including the warehouse operations which included both CFS, export, and custom exam operations. In his last role as Director of Operations he oversaw the intermodal trucking operation that was focused on serving the NY/NJ metro area.

Ray has his undergraduate degree in Management & Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY. While at RPI he was part of the varsity football team and in his senior year was awarded the school’s Henry Kumpf award given to a senior-athlete who has demonstrated a strong degree of motivation, desire and determination in contributing to the success of the team. He currently resides in Charlotte, NC with his wife Christine and two children Bella and RJ.

Cohort 19 Bob Rentz OmniTRAX, Inc. Associate General Counsel Bob’s responsibilities at OmniTRAX include corporate and commercial transactional law, primarily related to business development and mergers and acquisitions. He works extensively with executive management, internal stakeholders, and external counsel to grow OmniTRAX business, protect company interests, and mitigate risk. Previously he was Corporate Counsel at OmniTRAX, with responsibility for supporting the oilfield services, real estate, industrial development, procurement, and pricing functions of the organization.

Prior to OmniTRAX, Bob worked for TriZetto Corporation, a healthcare information technology company as a Senior Analyst developing contractual agreements with some the United States’ largest medical insurance providers.

Bob holds a Bachelor of Science in International Business Management from Central Michigan University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado and enjoys mountain biking, golfing, and hiking in his free time.

Cohort 19 Micki Rust TTX Company Manager of Asset Management Micki began her rail industry career in the Billing Department at GE Railcar Services, a railcar leasing company in Chicago. In December of 2015, she was offered an opportunity at TTX Company in the Finance Department as the Contract Compliance Auditor. In that role, she studied car hire rules and audited mileage and liability records before moving into the Fleet Department where she has held various positions, including car and program management. Micki has been in her current role of Manager of Asset Management since March of 2020.

Micki and her team coordinate and manage the daily distribution for any of the 168,000 TTX railcars that require maintenance, program modification, storage, or scrap. In addition, Micki is involved with strategic decisions that support future TTX railcar storage needs, and is responsible for initiating, negotiating and executing railcar storage contracts as well as maintaining relationships with storage facilities.

Micki ensures that TTX contracted storage facilities provide optimal service and are in prime locations to serve TTX and contract shop locations.

Micki graduated in 2003 from Winona State University in Winona, MN with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and as a four year scholarship recipient student athlete on the Volleyball Team. She currently lives in the Chicagoland area with her devoted husband and two amazing children.

Cohort 19 Patrick Thomas J.B. Hunt Transportation Director of Pricing, Intermodal After growing up in central Louisiana, Patrick moved north to attend college at the University of Arkansas where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics with a minor in transportation and logistics. While completing his undergraduate degree, he competed in cross-country and track for the Razorbacks. After graduation in 2003, Patrick began his career in the J.B. Hunt intermodal division.

Since 2003 he has worked in various departments within the intermodal division. From his start in the rail service department monitoring intermodal shipments between ingate at a rail yard to outgate from a railyard, he moved to a role monitoring shipments from point of booking to rail ingate and from rail outgate to delivery. After time spent on the service side, Patrick began working with equipment balances for containers and chassis before landing a role leading a group responsible for billing, booking, and service for one of their largest and highly service sensitive accounts. Finally, Patrick spent the past 3 years as Director of Intermodal Pricing where he oversees a team responsible for pricing business from the west coast. In addition, his team is responsible for managing pricing for several large accounts which total over $1B in annual revenue.

Outside of work, Patrick enjoys spending time with his wife Christin and their two children Marisa (6 years old) and Pierce (4 years old).

When not busy with family activities, he enjoys gardening and outdoor activities including hiking and running.