Ten years ago, my colleagues at Newcom Business Media and Dan Goodwill & Associates set out to create a high quality educational and networking event for Transportation Professionals and Decision-Makers. From humble beginnings, the conference has evolved into Canada’s premier event in the Surface Transportation Industry. The Surface Transportation Summit now attracts hundreds of Logistics executives, Transportation Industry owners and leaders, vendors to this industry, government officials, consultants, educators, and students.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Summit, the organizers, in partnership with the Freight Management Association of Canada, the Canadian Trucking Alliance and the CSCMP Toronto Roundtable have created an agenda that encompasses the most important issues of the day and assembled an elite group of moderators and panelists to address these topics. As always, the conference will begin with a discussion of the top forces that have shaped the economies and the freight industry in Canada and the United States in 2018 and will power it in 2019. Paul Ferley, Assistant Chief Economist, Royal Bank of Canada, will provide an overview of the direction of the Canadian economy. He will be followed by Walter Spracklin, Managing Director, RBC Capital Markets and David Ross, Research Managing Director, Stifel Financial Corp who will discuss the trucking and rail industries in Canada and the United States. This will be followed by a moderator led discussion with Paul Roach, President & CEO, Belmont Meat Products and Scott Smith, President, JD Smith & Sons who will share their insights on the economic projections for 2019.
The will be followed by an inside look at New Freight Transportation Technologies for Manufacturers, Distributors, and Retailers. In brief interviews, Brian Hodgson, VP, Transportation Strategy, Descartes Systems will provide some thoughts on Shipment Visibility, Dave Brajkovich, Chief Technology Officer, Polaris Transportation Group, and Iliana Oris Valiente, Managing Director, Accenture | Founder at ColliderX Blockchain R&D Hub, will discuss the Blockchain movement, Martin Abadi, Counsel, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP will provide his insights on Connected Trucks and Charles Fallon, Principal, Supply Chain Intelligence will talk about Warehouse Automation.
The Shipper-Carrier Roundtable has always been a popular track. This year Dan Einwechter, Chairman and CEO, Challenger Group of Companies, Tracy Raimondo, Vice President, Logistics, Normandin Transit, John Ferguson, President, Purolator, Andrew Fuller, Assistant Vice President, Domestic Intermodal, CN Rail, Geoffrey Joseph, President & CEO, Joseph Haulage Canada, Martin Pede, Manager Zinc Sales, Hudson Bay Mining and Fiona Renzi-Fantin, VP, Supply Chain, Maple Leaf Foods will debate some of the hot issues facing shippers and carriers in 2018.
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