SENIOR TEAM MEMBER CREDENTIALS AND EXPERIENCE:

Graham Brisben, President

Graham began his transportation career at Burlington Northern Railroad, performing operational and financial analysis in the areas of asset deployment and utilization, network optimization, and yield management. He later served as a Trainmaster at the Chicago, St. Louis, and Ft. Worth terminals, where he developed and implemented new management methods for terminal operations, including authoring the company’s first yardmaster operations manual. Graham went on to serve as District General Manager for America’s largest bulk truck carrier, Quality Carriers, where he started and developed the multi-state Chicago District for the TransPlastics dry bulk division.

In addition to full sales, marketing, operations, P&L, and safety responsibilities, he also started and managed new plastics rail transfer and warehousing operations in Minneapolis and Chicago, and developed and published the company’s Standard Operating Procedures for bulk truck drivers handling plastic resins. Graham also opened and managed Canadian National Railway’s Chicago CargoFlo bulk transfer facility, and he helped CN implement new transload facilities in Detroit and Hamilton, ON. Graham founded Plastics Logistics Group, LLC in February 2001. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa.
Contact Graham: gbrisben@plasticslogistics.com

Dan Corley, Senior Rail Equipment Consultant

Dan is a 15-year veteran of the chemicals and plastics transportation field.  His special expertise is in railcar fleet planning, procurement, and management, and is regarded as one of the leading railcar lease and purchase negotiators in the country.  Dan developed his skills at Exxon Chemical, where he began as railcar Fleet Planner and Manager for the polymers division and eventually assumed responsibility for the purchase and lease of over 12,000 railcars.  In his post at Exxon Chemical, Dan directed an annual railcar acquisition budget of $20MM and managed all car lease and purchase negotiations for the company. 

Dan later moved on to Westlake Chemical as the rail fleet manager, with responsibility for railcar lease and purchase negotiations, fleet sizing and budgeting, repair and preventative maintenance, and the sublease and disposition of excess owned railcars.  His stewardship of the Westlake fleet resulted in millions of dollars in savings from improved car management and negotiation techniques.  Dan holds both a BA in Business Administration and an MBA from Baylor University.
Contact Larry: dcorley@plasticslogistics.com

Larry Davis, Senior Logistics Consultant

Larry brings to PLG and its clients over 30 years of experience in rail transportation from the carrier perspective, most recently as the Director of Chemicals Marketing for CSX Transportation. He began his career with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in the area of loss and damage claims prevention before migrating to marketing and logistics services within the CSX organization. As the Market Manager for Plastics and later the Director of Chemicals Marketing, Larry directed the marketing, pricing, and contract negotiations for a $500+MM portfolio of business that included nearly every major and mid-market shipper of plastics and chemicals.

In leading CSX’s chemicals market growth initiatives, Larry generated recurring new business worth over $15MM annually. Larry holds a BA in Communications from the University of Southern Mississippi and an MBA from Jacksonville University. He has also completed executive education programs at the Georgia Tech Logistics Institute and the Association of American Railroads Test Center in Pueblo, CO.
Contact Larry: ldavis@plasticslogistics.com

Jeffrey Dowdell, Senior Logistics Consultant

Jeff is a Senior Consultant with Plastics Logistics Group L.L.C. with 31 years of experience in Supply Chain/Logistics management. His particular expertise is in rail, truck and barge operations, including contract negotiations within the plastics and chemicals industries. Jeff’s professional experience includes senior logistics management positions with Mobil Chemical, BASF Corporation, and ExxonMobil. Most recently as the America's Transportation Sourcing Manager following the Exxon-Mobil merger, Jeff was responsible for the consolidation, negotiation and management of all domestic rail and truck transportation contracts.

Additionally, Jeff was responsible for the leasing and procurement of ExxonMobil's significant U.S. rail car fleet. As Manager of Supply and Distribution at Mobil Chemical, Jeff led the supply chain organizations for the one billion-pound Polystyrene Business Group and then the two billion-pound Polyethylene Business Group. Projects during these responsibilities included Supply Chain Optimizations, identifying optimum production scheduling cycles and inventory targets, along with network rationalization and freight savings opportunities. With BASF, Jeff managed Logistics for five polymer plants with multiple compounding, packaging and distribution centers throughout the NAFTA region.

Jeff's information systems experiences include implementation of SAP R2, focusing on the order entry, warehousing / terminals, and inventory control modules for BASF Polymers. His experience also encompasses planning and implementation of logistics operations for new facilities in Mexico and Saudi Arabia for BASF and Mobil Petrochemical, respectively. Mr. Dowdell is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Industrial Engineering and has had ongoing education and training in Total Quality Management, ISO9000, SAP, and Sales and Operations Planning.
Contact Jeff: jdowdell@plasticslogistics.com

Mike Francis, Senior Railcar Mechanical Consultant

With over 28 years of experience, Mike is a seasoned railcar mechanical expert and car inspector. His special area of knowledge is in chemical industry fleets, including tank cars of all types and covered hopper cars for resins and other products. In his various professional roles, Mike has personally performed over 10,000 railcar inspections and has represented the interests of railcar owners, lessors, lessees, and neutral third-party inspection services. Mike began his career in 1975 and spent 20 years with GE Capital Railcar Service and it’s predecessor companies. At GE, Mike rose to become the Director of Field Maintenance, where he established car inspection standards and procedures and developed corporate equipment acquisition processes that were used in the purchase of over 5,000 railcars.

Mike went on to work for ChevronPhillips Chemical Co., where he had full maintenance management responsibility for a fleet of 9,000 railcars, including 1,800 tank cars and 7,200 hopper cars. Mike established ChevronPhillips’ corporate standards for railcar specifications for the polyethylene hopper car fleet, including mechanical specs, parts, construction details, designs, paint specifications, lining material specifications, and lining application specifications. While managing ChevronPhillips’ new car construction process, no warranty claims were required on the 1,200 new railcars purchased under Mike’s direction. During his career he has for several years represented the American Chemistry Council on the AAR’s Tank Car Committee. Mike is a veteran of the United States Navy, and holds numerous certifications in his field, including Certified International Coatings Inspector as designated by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers.
Contact Mike Francis: mfrancis@plasticslogistics.com

Gordon Heisler, Senior Logistics Consultant

Gordon is an accomplished logistics executive with over 30 years experience in liquid and dry petroleum and chemical distribution.  In his most recent post with Sunoco, Inc., Gordon managed the company’s transportation group with an annual freight and equipment budget of over $150MM and a staff of 30+ employees and contractors.  In addition to logistics strategy development, business process improvement, and extensive contract negotiations, Gordon also led the transportation due diligence assessment and subsequent acquisition and integration of eight chemical plants, 700 gasoline stations, and two refineries into Sunoco from 1996 through 2005.  In leading the rail and motor transportation contracting for Sunoco, Gordon negotiated over $40MM in savings for the company over a six year period and was able to secure service performance clauses in rail contracts that resulted in over $2MM recovered in rail carrier service failure compensation to Sunoco.  Gordon also negotiated subsidies from rail carriers that funded the conversion of three facilities to private rail switching and the construction of over four miles of in-plant rail storage tracks. 

In 1992, Gordon founded, trained and managed the Sunoco Transportation Emergency Response Incident Team and implemented railcar safety and loading programs that resulted in 26 rail carrier safety awards.  Gordon also represented Sunoco in important rail competitive access initiatives, including negotiating Sunoco’s Marcus Hook and Epsilon sites into the Shared Assets Area as part of the Conrail breakup and successfully gaining BNSF access to Sunoco’s Bayport, TX plant as part of the San Jacinto Rail project.  Gordon is a member of the Council of Logistics Management, National Industrial Transportation League, and a former Director of the American Plastics Council – Transportation and Logistics Committee.  He is an experienced presenter of chemical logistics business issues to members of the US Senate, House of Representatives, and the Surface Transportation Board, and has also made numerous presentations to industry groups such as NITL and CLM.  Gordon holds a BS in Business Administration from Rider University and has had continuing executive education through the Northwestern University Transportation Center. 
Contact Gordon: gheisler@plasticslogistics.com

Georges Karam, Senior Engineering Consultant

Georges is the former Vice President of Engineering for the German industrial giant Waeschle, which is now part of Coperion Corporation. With a staff of 22 engineers and designers, Georges led Waeschle teams on multi-million dollar bulk materials storage, conveying, and railcar loading system projects for BASF, DuPont, and Dow Chemical. Georges also engineered and managed the turnkey installation of various pneumatic bulk material conveying systems for Baxter Health Care, EMS-CHEMIE, Sony, 3M, Triple S Plastics, and other processors throughout the U.S. and Mexico. He also designed and implemented a system of stainless steel drying bins for plastic resins. Georges is a graduate of Western Michigan University, where he earned his degree in mechanical engineering.
Contact Georges: gkaram@plasticslogistics.com

Kathy Langan, Senior Rail Procurement Consultant

With 19 years of experience within the transportation industry, Kathy brings an insider’s knowledge and perspective on the US rail industry to PLG clients.  She began her career in the law department at CSX Transportation before moving into sales.  She has handled various types of accounts and commodities, with the last 5 years focusing on major chemical and plastic accounts. 

As Senior Account Executive, Kathy was successful in negotiating large, complex contracts on competitive chemical and plastic resins business, taking 5 major contracts from the competition while meeting customers’ needs.  This included winning for CSX a 90% award on a competitive multiple-origin and destination traffic bid.  Kathy brought CSX nearly $75MM in new annual business that was either new to rail or captured from competing railroads, and also was instrumental in creating and negotiating innovative contracts for customers including guaranteed service agreements and alternate format contracts- some of which were unprecedented at CSX.  Kathy earned her BA in Jurisprudence from the University of Baltimore and MAS in Marketing & Management from Johns Hopkins University.
Contact Kathy: klangan@plasticslogistics.com

Robert Levy, Senior Logistics & Development Consultant

Bob Levy is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in logistics, industrial development, and finance. Bob was previously a partner and director with Transdevelopment Corporation (Atlanta, Portland, Mexico City and London), responsible for numerous national-scale transportation development and consulting projects with clients such as the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Union Pacific, CSX Transportation, Canadian National, General Motors, Ford and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines. His role with Transdevelopment Corporation was to lead the firm’s project finance subsidiary, North American Terminals Corporation. At the Port of Los Angeles, Bob was Assistant Director of International Marketing for the Far East, Europe and South America and the Port’s Rail Services Manager. He was also Managing Director for Convergent Technology Group, Inc. a financial advisory firm in Seattle, where he led an M&A and venture capital practice focused on supply chain management and manufacturing technology companies.

Prior to Convergent, Bob was Vice President of Strategy and Development (Technology and Consulting Group) for AMEC plc., a UK-based global design, construction and plant services firm. He managed business unit mergers and acquisitions activity, process optimization and gain sharing initiatives for mining, metals, paper, food and consumer packaged goods clients such as BHP Minerals, DeBeers, Noranda Metals, Suncor Oilsands, Keebler, Nabisco, Air Canada, Sears Logistics Services, Anderson Windows, Mead Paper and International Paper. Mr. Levy received an M.A. in Transportation and a Management Certificate in Business Administration from the University of Washington and a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Michigan.
Contact Bob: rlevy@plasticslogistics.com

Michael McGuckin, Senior Logistics Consultant

Mike has more than 25 years of experience in chemicals transportation and logistics, and a special knowledge of marine transportation, operations, and product spill remediation.  His career began as an Officer in the US Merchant Marine, where he supervised a watch and gained hands-on experience as a shipboard operating engineer on a variety of oceangoing vessels. 

Mike spent 19 years with Exxon Chemical, where he held senior planning and procurement positions in terminals, marine, and rail operations.  Mike was the senior manager in charge of Exxon’s Chemical Olefin and Solvent terminal operations, and later became the chief railcar procurement agent, managing $20MM in purchased and $13MM in leased tank and hopper car equipment annually.  Mike also managed the $35MM annual transportation and logistics budget for Exxon’s PARAMIN Division.  Following his tenure at Exxon, Mike went on to lead business development strategies for logistics software products at Transentric, LLC (formerly Union Pacific Technologies). 

Mike joined PLG in 2003 and has served as lead project manager for several of the firm’s largest projects.  He is a graduate of the Maine Maritime Academy with a B.S. in Marine Engineering, and earned his MBA in finance from Farleigh Dickinson University.
Contact Mike McGuckin: mjmcguckin@plasticslogistics.com

Roger Nelson, Senior Rail Consultant

Roger is a 35-year veteran of the railroad industry who began his career in 1970 as a locomotive fireman for Burlington Northern Railroad.  Roger rose through the ranks at Burlington Northern, serving as Terminal Superintendent, Chief Engineer, and Division Superintendent at various locations across the system and eventually became General Manager of the two largest operating regions on the railroad at Denver, CO and St. Paul, MN.  In 1992 he was appointed Vice President-Safety. 

In 1996 Roger founded and became President and COO of North American RailNet, Inc., one of the largest short-line holding companies in North America.  Under Roger’s leadership, NAR grew to six railroads, 2000 miles of track, and 125,000 annual carloads operating in eleven US states and Canadian provinces before the successful sale of the company in 2005.  During his career Roger served as Executive Director of the American Short line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) and is a past director of the Association of American Railroad Superintendents.  Roger earned a BA and MA from the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated summa cum laude.
Contact Roger: rnelson@plasticslogistics.com

David Pettry, Senior Rail Engineering Consultant

David is a seasoned railroad track and signal maintenance executive with extensive expertise in track structures, materials, engineering, and signals. He spent 35 years with CSX Transportation and its predecessor roads, beginning in 1969 as a trackman on the Baltimore and Ohio. After assignments as Assistant Division Engineer and Division Engineer at various locations around the CSX system, David was appointed as the Assistant Chief Engineer of Productions and Programs, where he was responsible for development and execution of the company’s $200-300 million annual track structures capitalization budget. During that time he led a management staff of 38 and mobile track gangs of 600-1100 personnel on major track infrastructure projects throughout the system. His efforts resulted in a 250% increase in major tie and curve rail team productivity and a 75% improvement in safety performance.

David finished his career at CSX as the Assistant System Chief Engineer, where he had full responsibility for track and signal maintenance and performance for nearly 60% of the railroad’s 23,000 route miles. The seven operating divisions under David’s leadership improved signal switch reliability by 70%, reduced 10 mph slow orders on principal routes by 90%, and reduced overall slow order miles by 60%. David also developed the railroad’s Track Inspectors Training Program. He is a graduate of Beckley College and has completed several professional railway track and structures training programs, including the Railway Engineering Program at Northwestern University and the Railroad Analysis, Design, & Maintenance program at the University of Delaware.
Contact David: dpettry@plasticslogistics.com

Mike Spahis, Senior Logistics Consultant

Mike spent 17 years with Fina Oil and Chemical Company (later AtoFina), where he rose to become the senior executive in charge of corporate logistics and distribution, directing the movement of over four billion pounds of resin via 18,000 domestic and international shipments across all modes – air, rail, truck, intermodal, and ocean. Mike had responsibility for an annual transportation budget of $130M, and oversight of more than 100 distribution centers and 5,700 railcars in the AtoFina fleet. During his time at AtoFina, Mike negotiated reductions in rail contracts that saved $5M annually, despite limited competitive access at production plants. He also implemented railcar fleet financing and management innovations that resulted in over $20M in savings, and expanded Fina’s logistics network to aid the growth of the polymers business from one billion to four billion pounds of annual capacity. Mike also led various information technology initiatives, including development of new sales and logistics systems integrated with the corporate SAP rollout.

Mike later served as Vice President and COO of the logistics consulting and outsourcing firm Triadas, LLC, where he directed logistics diagnostic consulting studies for major chemical organizations and managed the planning and implementation of e-business supply chain solutions. Mike is a member of the council of Logistics Management and the National Industrial Transportation League, and a former Chairman of the American Plastics Council’s Transportation and Logistics Committee. He has testified on Capitol Hill and before the Surface Transportation Board on chemical industry transportation issues. Mike is a graduate of Midwestern State University and the University of Texas, where he earned a Masters of Chemical Engineering degree.
Contact Mike Spahis: mspahis@plasticslogistics.com