New Illinois State Freight Advisory Council Appointed

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) today announced that 41 members with extensive experience and expertise in the multimodal movement of freight have been chosen to serve on the new Illinois State Freight Advisory Council. The council, representing both the private and public sectors across the various modes of transportation, will advise IDOT on the best policies and practices for improving freight transportation statewide, helping to maintain the state’s position as the freight hub of the nation.

“The movement of freight is critical to the state’s economy and a key component to developing a transportation system that makes sure Illinois continues to compete in the global marketplace,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann L. Schneider. “The members of the Illinois State Freight Advisory Council all come with impressive backgrounds and are certainly up to the task. I look forward to working alongside them and hearing their input as we look to build upon our multimodal vision for transportation in Illinois.”

Each year, more than 700 million tons of freight moves in and out of Illinois across multiple modes of transportation.

The new members of the Illinois State Freight Advisory Council include representatives from the shipping and freight industries, agriculture, manufacturing, academia, economic development and local government.
The panel of experts, with extensive knowledge of the state’s system of highways, waterways, airports and railroads, will advise IDOT and other state agencies on all issues involving freight transportation. An initial focus will be on the Long Range State Transportation Plan, the Freight Mobility Plan and the State Rail Plan.

The council is patterned after the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Freight Advisory Committee, which Secretary Schneider was appointed to chair last year. The council’s first meeting will be this spring, at which time a meeting schedule will be determined. The charter members are:

• Ann L. Schneider, Illinois Transportation Secretary, Illinois Department of Transportation
• Kristi Lafleur, Executive Director, Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
• Larry Walsh, Will County Executive
• Rebekah Scheinfeld, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Transportation
• Bruce Bird, Macon County Engineer, Illinois Association of County Engineers
• Mike Dunn, Executive Director, Chicago-Rockford International Airport
• Matt Hart, Executive Director, Illinois Trucking Association
• Don Schaefer, Executive Vice President, Midwest Truckers Association
• Spencer White, Senior Vice President, Genesee & Wyoming, Inc.
• Michael Forde, Chairman, Illinois International Port District
• Mike McCarthy, President, Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis
• Stanley Scofield, Jr., Senior Manager, Central Region Field Operations, APL, Ltd.
• Ed O’Neil, Director, Integrated Logistics, Caterpillar, Inc.
• Eric Gilbert, Senior Vice President, Infrastructure & Logistics, CenterPoint Properties
• James Ford, Project Executive, Clayco, Inc.
• Paul Wellhausen, Executive Vice President, Lewis and Clark Fleeting, LLC
• Robert Nathan, Co-Founder & CEO, Load Delivered Logistics, LLC
• Merritt Harrison, General Manager, Maritime Delivery Services, Inc.
• Adam Roth, Executive Vice President, NAI Hiffman
• William McInerney, retired Founder & CEO, Phoenix International Freight Services, Ltd
• Robert Stock, President & Owner, Stock Transport, Inc.
• Raymond Drake, Vice President State Government Affairs, United Parcel Service
• John Greuling, President & CEO, Will County Center for Economic Development
• Ed Barry, Research Analyst, Chicago Laborers District Council LMCC
• Bill Taft, Logistics Division Manager, Growmark, Inc.
• Benjamin Brockschmidt, Executive Director, Infrastructure Council, Illinois Chamber of Commerce
• Kevin Rund, Senior Director of Local Governments, Illinois Farm Bureau
• Scott Sigman, Director, Transport & Trade, Illinois Soybean Association
• Daniel Eichholz, Associate Director, Illinois Petroleum Council
• Thomas Vander Woude, Deputy Executive Director, Transportation & Infrastructure, South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association
• Kate Brown, Volunteer, Truck Safety Coalition
• Christopher Clott, Dean, College of Business and Health Administration, University of St. Francis
• Yanfeng Ouyang, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois
• Libby Ogard, President, Prime Focus, LLC
• James Wolfe, Chairman and CEO, Knight Partners, LLC
• Wes Lujan, Public Affairs for Illinois, Union Pacific Railroad
• Paul Piekarski, Chairman, Illinois State Legislative Board, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen
• Mark Poulos, Executive Director, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting
• Shoshiwa Mabina , Program Coordinator, IDOT Highway Construction, City Colleges of Chicago (Kennedy-King College)
• Omar Duque, President, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Mark D. Schweitzer, Managing Director of Intermodal and International Freight, Archer Daniels Midland Company