New Speakers Announced for Upcoming "Rebuilding America & Creating Jobs: A Maritime Initiative"

The Maritime Executive will host a national Maritime Initiative, "Rebuilding America and Creating Jobs," in Baltimore on October 12 & 13, 2011, the beginning of a national campaign to jumpstart the American economy that will continue throughout 2012 and right up to Election Day in November. Today, the Jones Act generates $100 billion in economic activity while providing employment for more than 500,000 Americans. While this is a good start, much more can be done through the Jones Act to rebuild America's industrial base and generate hundreds of thousands of desperately needed new jobs.

America's marine highways have been underutilized for decades due to failed federal policies and inadequate funding mechanisms. Today, while the infrastructure is in place, U.S. vessel operators, shipbuilders, training institutions and port authorities have been overlooked as vital assets in the U.S. economic recovery plan. The Maritime Executive, with your support, aims to change that perspective in Congress and, most importantly, among the American people through a media campaign titled Strong Ships for America and a series of strategic Jones Act conferences.

Meet some of the key speakers participating in the conference:

Percy R. Pyne IV 

Panel Speaker 

Mr. Pyne is the founding Partner & Chairman of American Feeder Lines Holding LP
Mr. Pyne has been involved in shipping for over nine years. It has always been his dream to create a Short Sea/Feedering system in the United States. Mr. Pyne has spent his entire career, over 35 years, in the real estate industry. He worked his way to CEO at Galbreath Ruffin and eventually went on to start his own company, The Pyne Companies Ltd. in 1991, a full service real estate management and investment company. In 2004 Mr. Pyne took over a struggling Bahamian based Real Estate Fund, Phoenix Four, which he rescued from the brink of bankruptcy and turned into a solvent entity with numerous income producing assets.

Today Mr. Pyne acts as the Co-founder and Chairman of American Feeder Lines, the United States’ first Short Sea/Feeder Shipping liner service.  The company began service in June 2011 with the New England Halifax Shuttle connecting the international Canadian port of Halifax, Nova Scotia with the New England ports of Portland, Maine and Boston, Massachusetts. Within the next few years AFL plans to expand its fleet to service both the U.S. East and Gulf coasts. 

Glen Paine

Panel Speaker

Glen Paine is the Executive Director of the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduates Studies (MITAGS) / The Conference Center co-located near the Baltimore / Washington International Airport, and the Pacific Maritime Institute, located in Seattle, Washington.

The schools have been providing vocational training programs for professional deck officers, masters, pilots, and military personnel for over forty years. They are among the leading maritime training and simulation centers in the world today.  Curriculum now includes over 100 courses, covering such diverse topics as operational research, ship modeling, ECDIS, VTS, LNG, medical, emergency response, and security.  The school is co-located on the same campus as the Conference Center that includes a 232-room hotel, 400-seat dining room, 350-seat auditorium and 45 meeting rooms.

Glen is President of the Ship Operations Cooperative (SOCP), the Maritime Industries Academy Foundation (MIAF), Director of the USMMA Alumni Foundation – Chesapeake Chapter, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC), Nautical Institute, Propeller Club of Baltimore, and the Council of Master Mariners (CAMM).  He was recognized by the Maritime Executive in 2002, 2007, and received the USMMA Alumni “Outstanding Professional Achievement Award” in 2003.  He also has been a member of the International Organization of Masters, Mates, and Pilots (IOMMP) since 1978.

Glen holds a master’s degree in general administration from the University of Maryland, an undergraduate degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and a USCG Merchant Marine Chief Mate, Unlimited Tonnage, Oceans, License.

Michael Roberts

Panel Speaker

Mr. Roberts is the Senior Vice President, general counsel and corporate Secretary for Crowley Maritime located in Jacksonville, FL. For nearly 20 years, Roberts has represented Crowley on legal, regulatory and legislative issues. After several years of government service and private law practice in Washington, DC, Roberts joined the company in 1991 as a corporate counsel. He was promoted to vice president of government relations in 1994, a role he served until 2000.

The next nine years were spent in private practice in Washington, DC, most recently as a partner with Venable, LLP, one of The American Lawyer's top 100 law firms. While there, he represented Crowley and other clients involved in domestic and international trade and transportation. He returned to Crowley in September 2008 as senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary.

Roberts has worked on most of the major legal, regulatory and legislative issues that the company has faced over the past two decades. These include laws governing the domestic trades, such as the Jones Act;maritime promotional programs, such as the Maritime Security Act; economic regulation of the shipping industry, such as the Ocean Shipping Reform Act and more. He has also managed Crowley’s political action committee, and helped to coordinate trade association work supporting the interests of the American maritime industry.

He also taught business law as an adjunct professor at American University, Washington College of Law. Roberts is a life member of the National Defense Transportation Association; a member of the Propeller Club of the United States (DC Board of Governors, 1994 to 2003); a member of the Maritime Administrative Bar Association (served as president from 1999 to 2000); a member of Coastwise Coalition (founding chairman) and a member of the Navy League of the United States.

Roberts has a Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors from Michigan State University, and a Juris Doctor degree cum laude from American University, Washington College of Law.

With overall responsibility for the legal, government relations and risk and insurance functions of the company, Roberts supervises an in-house staff that includes many lawyers and other professionals, and manages the activities of outside counsel and consultants employed by the company.

Roger Bohnert

Panel Speaker

Mr. Bohnert is the Deputy Associate Administrator of Intermodal System Development for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration. 

Roger Bohnert brings a diverse maritime, operations, and policy background to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration.  A career U.S. Coast Guard Officer and licensed Merchant Mariner, he entered the Senior Executive Service in the Department of Transportation in 2003.

As the Deputy Associate Administrator of the Office of Intermodal System Development, he assists in developing policy and programs aimed at reducing congestion, removing barriers to the efficient movement of freight and passengers and environmental sustainability.  Areas of emphasis include congestion mitigation projects; port, intermodal and terminal development; passenger and cruise industry support; shipper and carrier outreach; and deepwater ports.  He is the agency lead for the Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grant program, which has allocated over $200 million to port and marine transportation projects since 2009. He oversaw the newly launched America’s Marine Highway Program, which seeks to expand the use of our nation’s coastal and inland waters to transport freight and passengers more efficiently. 

Prior to joining the Maritime Administration, Roger was the Acting Director of the Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response and Military Assistant to the Secretary of Transportation.  While in the Coast Guard, he spent over thirteen years aboard Cutters, and sailed as Commanding Officer of two vessels. He holds a Merchant Marine license as Master, unlimited tonnage, all oceans.

Media Sponsor:

Capt. John Konrad

Captain John Konrad is co-founder of the blog maritime blog gCaptain.com and author of the book Fire On The Horizon, The Untold Story Of The Gulf Oil Spill. He is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage and, since graduating from SUNY Maritime College, has sailed a variety of ships from ports around the world. John currently lives in Morro Bay, California with his wife and two children. 

Additional Speaker bios are available here. 

To learn more about the conference or to register, click here.