BNSF’s Branscum Named IANA Chairman

The Intermodal Association of North America has named industry leaders Stephen Branscum of BNSF Railway and David Howland of Schneider National as chairman and vice chairman for 2010.

The latest annual IANA board elections also chose Steve Rubin, president of Seacastle Chassis, to serve again as the association’s treasurer.

Branscum is group vice president for consumer products at BNSF, the continent’s largest intermodal railroad. He succeeds former chairman Greg Stefflre, the CEO for Rail Delivery Services.

Howland is vice president at Schneider over the intermodal services of that major truckload carrier; he is on the IANA board in his separate role as vice president of Optimodal, Schneider’s unit that caters to intermodal marketing companies.

The election also chose IANA directors for three-year terms. They include James Hertwig, president of CSX Intermodal, who was re-elected to a new term.

Five others were elected as new directors. They are Thomas M. Kelly, executive vice president and chief operating officer at MOL (America); Kevin Lhotak, president of Reliable Transportation Specialists; Barry D. Michaels, assistant vice president for premium operations at Union Pacific Railroad; Val T. Noel, president of Pacer Cartage; and Phil Shook, director of intermodal at C.H. Robinson Worldwide.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.