ITI Board of Directors Fall Meeting and Intermodal Transportation Panel Address the Current Status and Future Trends in Public Transport and Global Trade

DENVER, CO, November 4, 2011 – The Board of Directors of the Intermodal Transportation Institute (ITI) at the University of Denver recently held its fall meeting on campus. The Board welcomed Ronald D. Widdows, Senior Advisor, Retired Group President and CEO, of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), and Chairman of the Board, World Shipping Council, as its keynote speaker and also hosted an Intermodal Transportation Panel on public transportation issues.

Mr. Widdows addressed the large group of attendees and focused his remarks on the challenges of trade and transport in today’s world, the role that NOL and its partners play in this global economy, and the outlook for, and the future trends in, the maritime industry.

In his introduction of Mr. Widdows, ITI Board Chairman Stephen G. Branscum (BNSF Railway Group Vice President, Consumer Products Business Unit) recognized the strong support for ITI by the NOL Group’s container shipping business, APL. APL is a founding member of the ITI Board and has supported 13 students to the ITI graduate program since 1999.

ITI also hosted an Intermodal Transportation Panel, moderated by William W. Millar, President of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and ITI Board member. Mr. Millar was joined on the panel by Richard F. Clarke with the Regional Transportation District (RTD--Denver) and Mark Imhoff with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). The panel addressed current trends in public transportation, including public-private partnership financing and high-speed passenger rail.

“ITI’s Intermodal Transportation Panel proved to be a very informative discussion, addressing national, regional, and local issues affecting passenger transportation,” said Mr. Branscum. “A broad range of passenger transportation issues was debated, with tremendous input from the attendees, which included students in the ITI Executive Masters Program who were on campus for their fall residency. It was a very successful transportation forum.”

At the close of the panel discussion, Mr. Branscum presented Mr. Millar, who will retire from APTA this month, an ITI plaque that recognized his long commitment to public transportation through “advocacy, innovation, and education”. “In addition to his tireless efforts in the public transportation sector, Mr. Millar became a member of the ITI Board of Directors on 30 July 1998,” said Mr. Branscum. “He, in particular, is responsible for organizing a team to develop the Passenger Transportation Course for the ITI Executive Masters Program. He also served as lead faculty of the course for Cohort 1 and then continued to participate on the faculty team. The University of Denver, the ITI, and the ITI Board have benefitted greatly from his participation and his commitment to this unique graduate program that focuses on both passenger and freight transportation,” said Mr. Branscum in closing.

About ITI

The Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver offers an Executive Masters Program that awards a Master of Science in Intermodal Transportation Management from the University of Denver. This graduate degree program prepares transportation industry managers for the increasingly complex, global business environment where knowledge of finance, quantitative processes, supply chain, transportation law, and public policy issues as well as freight, passenger, and intermodal transportation operational strategies are critical management tools for success. For more information on the ITI Executive Masters Program call: 303-871-4702 or visit: www.du.edu/transportation.