Tenn-Tom Conference Set For August 9–12

Stakeholders of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (Tenn-Tom) will gather in Point Clear, Ala., on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay at the Grand Hotel on August 9–11 for the 41st annual Tenn-Tom Waterway Conference.

The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Council will tee off the three-day conference with a golf tournament August 9 at Lakewood Golf Club, home to two Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail courses. The day will culminate with the chairman’s reception, held bayside at the Grand Hotel’s grand ballroom patio.

The second and third days of the conference will begin with a breakfast buffet hosted by Yellow Creek Port, a state-owned multimodal port located at Mile 215.5 in Iuka, Miss. The second day of the conference will also feature a reception and silent auction benefitting the Agnes Zaiontz Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum and Intermodal Learning Center, followed by a banquet-style supper featuring Dick Burleson, a retired NCAA football official and motivational speaker.

Reflecting the diverse operations and stakeholders of the waterway, the Tenn-Tom conference will feature presentations and panel discussions touching on commercial navigation, waterway management, recreational boating, site selection and economic development.

Mitch Mays, administrator of the Tenn-Tom Waterway Development Authority and president of the Tenn-Tom Waterway Development Council, said that diversity and the waterway’s four-state reach are what make both the waterway and its conference special. The Tenn-Tom Waterway Development Authority is a four-state compact that includes representatives from Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, where the Tennessee River empties into the Ohio River.

“What makes this a unique entity is that we have two different agencies that work hand-in-hand to promote the use of the waterway and Marine Highway 65,” Mays said. “The four-state compact has pushed through some significant initiatives over the years, from the creation of the waterway to, now, the deepening study. The council brings in the perspectives of commercial operators, recreational boaters and anglers. For the conference, we have people coming from not just the four states but from all over the Southeast and beyond, from the Ohio River Valley and the Northeast.”

As always, the Tenn-Tom conference will feature updates from the Mobile and Nashville Engineer Districts, the two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers districts connected to the waterway. Attendees will hear reports from Col. Jeremy Chapman, commander of the Mobile District; Nelson Sanchez, chief of the Mobile District’s operations division; Justin Murphree, operations manager for the Tenn-Tom; Anthony Perkins, operations manager of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway, which originates near Birmingham, Ala.; and Lt. Col. Robert Green, the new commander of Nashville District.

Stakeholders will also hear from Capt. Ulysses Mullins, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Mobile, along with other Coast Guard representatives who work along the waterway.

Two members of Congress, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), will speak at the conference. Wicker, who has represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate since December 2007, currently serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Committee on Commerce and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Aderholt, now in his 14th term in the House of Representatives, currently serves on the House Committee on Appropriations; the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education; the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee; and the Defense Subcommittee.

Other speakers will include the following:

• Aimee Andres, executive director of Inland Rivers, Ports & Terminals Inc. (IRPT), a trade association representing professionals connected to ports and terminals along the nation’s inland waterways;
• A representative from Global Location Strategies who will focus on the site selection process as it relates to properties along the Tenn-Tom;
• Kimberly Russo, director of America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association, who recently completed the Tenn-Tom portion of the Great Loop aboard a 41-foot Silverton called The Perch;
• Bethany Stich and Carol Short from the University of New Orleans Transportation Institute, which combines research, education and outreach initiatives to promote advancements in both passenger and freight transportation systems;
• And David Thornell, an author, founder of Small Town Solutions Consulting and an expert on rural economic development.

Registration for the Tenn-Tom conference is open and available online or by printed PDF. The early bird registration period ends July 11. Registration information and sponsorship details for the golf tournament are also online. The conference rate for lodging at the Grand Hotel runs through 5 p.m. (central) on July 17. Attendees should register for the conference prior to making reservations directly with the hotel. For more information, visit tenntom.org/development-conference-information.