U.S. Identity Preserved Alliance Annual Meeting
April 7

8 a.m.: Strategic planning
Board of directors and invited guests only

1 p.m.: Welcome

USDA High Quality Specialty Grains program update

Action team reports

Chair and staff reports 

3 p.m.: Annual Meeting with elections

Awards and recognition

5:30-7:30 p.m.: Boat Reception
For annual meeting and Transportation Go! participants

Transportation Go!
April 8

Welcome – 8:30 a.m.
Bryan Severs and Randy Duckworth, U.S. Identity Preserved Alliance

 Featured speaker: The view from the mouth of the value-added supply chain funnel
Gene Seroka, Port of Los Angeles, and John Wolfe, Northwest Seaport Alliance

Featured speaker
Patrick Fuchs, Surface Transportation Board

Road transportation panel
Brent Bois, Calhoun Truck Lines; Max Fisher, National Grain and Feed Association; and TBA

Featured speaker
Anthony Fisher, U.S. Maritime Administration

Alternative funding & grants for Great Lakes terminals & ports panel
Libby Ogard, Prime Focus, LLC; Travis Black, Director, Inland Waterways Gateway (St. Louis), Acting Director, Great Lakes Gateway, Maritime Administration

When it goes wrong: Avenues for shippers to seek remedy panel
Carlos Pozuelo, Barnes and Thornburg; Ashley Craig, Partner, Venable LLC

Speaker: A comparative analysis of container freight movement on the Great Lakes & rail inland
Sten Konst, Spliethoff

Speaker: MSC on exports
Peter Raineri, Mediterranean Shipping Company (Invited)

Barriers and state of the railroads
BNSF

Translating panel: Rethinking export resiliency
Dwight Robinson, LA Grain; Ted Prince, Tri-Cities Transloading; Danielle Adams, The Pasha Group

Issues, threats and opportunities for Class II and III railroads panel
Mark Wegner, Twin Cities and Western Railroad Company; Andy Bradfield, Iowa Interstate Railroad

Speaker: A view on the proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger
Larry Lloyd, Assistant Vice President, U.S. Government Affairs, CPKC

Day 1 closing comments and what we learned
Jennifer Schneider, Puris and Gary Williams, U.S. Identity Preserved Alliance

Network Reception at InterContinental Hotel – 5:30-8 p.m.
Presented by Illinois Soybean Association, Illinois Department of Agriculture and Ports of Indiana

Transportation Go!
April 9

Day 2 Welcome – 9 a.m.
Randy Duckworth, U.S. Identity Preserved Alliance

Featured Speaker
Mike McCoshen, Administrator, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation

Priorities & current projects for increasing trade & utilization of the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Seaway Panel
Ken Carey, Canadian Seaway Management Corporation; Peter Hirthe, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation

Featured speaker
Max Vekich, Federal Maritime Commission

Speaker: Instability of port & related inland ramp earliest return dates, an analysis
Vijay Harrell, Trade Lanes

Great Lakes ports investments & growth panel
Jody Peacock, Ports of Indiana; Burns Harbor; and Brian Oszakiewski, American Great Lakes Ports Association

Featured speaker: U.S. & UK trade viewpoints – Rekindling trade with the United Kingdom
Richard Hyde, British Consulate General – Chicago

Speaker: The “other side of the haul – imports”
Jonathan Gold, Executive Director, National Retailers Federation

Speaker: The Union Pacific & Norfolk Southern merger proposal
Reed Janousek, Assistant Vice President Bulk, Union Pacific Railroad

Closing comments and 2027 Transportation Go! announcement – 2:30-2:45 p.m.
Randy Duckworth, U.S. Identity Preserved Alliance