Industry People On The Move—January 2024

• Steve Schappell has been appointed senior vice president of logistics and network operations for American Commercial Barge Line, where he is responsible for the company’s Fleets, Terminals and Interchange business unit. He will also lead a digital transformation initiative to enhance ACBL’s logistics competencies, including boat and barge optimization, barge fleet strategy, mainline network performance, dispatch operations and more.

Schappell joined ACBL in July 2021 as vice president of supply chain and continuous improvement. Prior to his tenure at ACBL, he held various supply chain and logistics management positions with A.P. Moller-Maersk, including serving as chief procurement officer for Maersk Drilling. Additionally, he brings extensive organizational and leadership experience from his 11-year career in the Army, where he served as an infantry and quartermaster officer.

• Terral RiverService Inc., headquartered in Lake Providence, La., recently hired Tiffany Jackson as its new personnel manager. She is responsible in part for keeping the company’s 30-plus vessels fully crewed. Her previous experience includes 17 years in the healthcare industry.

“I have been very impressed with the job Tiffany is doing for Terral,” said Johnny Martin, chief operating officer. “Her communication skills and cheerful personality are a great asset to the company.” Stanley Tabor, operations manager, added, “Tiffany has brought a ‘next level’ sense of energy and enthusiasm to our hiring practices. She embraces the opportunity and challenges to help us grow.”

• Terral also announced it had appointed Booth Buys as the company’s new human resources and benefits coordinator. A native of Vicksburg, Miss., Buys graduated from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science in interdisciplinary studies and concentrations in kinesiology and biology. After graduation, he worked for Elite Performance and Rehab as a technician, assisting patients in many different areas to address their needs.

• Bristol Harbor Group Inc. has announced the promotion of Daniel Eling to the position of engineering manager. Eling, a senior naval architect with six years of experience at the firm, holds a Bachelor of Science in ocean engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. He is a licensed professional engineer in Virginia and Rhode Island. Eling worked for 15 years as a naval architect in Washington, D.C., on numerous U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, commercial and international naval projects.

At Bristol Harbor Group, Eling is a project manager for new construction and major conversion work on commercial and government passenger and work vessels. Some of his engineering specialties include stability, weights, distributed systems and design integration.

• Ports of Indiana has improved its engineering and accounting resources with the hiring of new staff members at three locations. The organization hired two veteran engineers in its Mount Vernon and Indianapolis offices, and a senior accountant at the Burns Harbor port. Brad Mills and Tim Barnett bring more than 53 years of combined engineering experience to Ports of Indiana, joining Mark Keen, a certified public accountant with a master’s degree in accounting. This marks the first time in many years Ports of Indiana will have engineering and accounting roles based at the ports.

Mills, a licensed professional engineer with more than 30 years of civil engineering experience, joins the Mount Vernon port office. He has played key roles in southwest Indiana development as executive director of the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Area Plan Commission for 11 years and the Evansville Metropolitan Planning Organization for seven years. Mills has also run his own engineering company for 22 years and has extensive experience as a senior engineer for construction of commercial, industrial, environmental and roadway projects in Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia.

Barnett brings 23 years of experience in commercial construction, engineering and industrial development to the Indianapolis office and is on the University of Evansville Civil Engineering Advisory Council. He has served as project manager for Reynolds Construction Company, vice president of business development for F.A. Wilhelm Construction and in various roles with Bowen Engineering for 11 years, including director of business development of the Power Division.

Joining the Burns Harbor port, Keen has served as senior bank examiner for the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions and, previously, as senior accountant for Centier Bank in Merrillville, Ind. He earned a master’s degree in accountancy from Western Governors University, and he is CPA certified by the Indiana Board of Accountancy and is a Certified Examiner In-Charge licensed by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.

The state ports agency also recently filled two key executive finance roles with the hiring of Chief Financial Officer Brian Burgess and Vice President of Finance Erica Jackson.

Burgess brings 35 years of strategic planning, financial analysis and budgeting leadership to Ports of Indiana, having most recently served as CFO of Fiserv Education, a division of financial technology company Fiserv Inc. Before his tenure at Fiserv, Burgess worked more than 18 years with SLM Corporation and Navient Inc. He earned Bachelor of Science and MBA degrees from Indiana University.

Jackson played key financial leadership roles at Ports of Indiana from 2019 to 2021, first as controller and then CFO, before joining the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions. Before Jackson initially joined Ports of Indiana, she was promoted into multiple accounting and human resources management roles for Blue Ribbon Transport, Kemba Credit Union and Automotive Finance Corporation. Jackson holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Toledo and will receive an MBA in data analytics from Indiana Institute of Technology in early 2024.

• The Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), the national association representing the U.S. shipbuilding, maintenance and repair industry, announced  the appointment of Kevin Terry as senior defense advisor, overseeing the organization’s national ship repair and security, as well as the industry workforce development and education initiatives.

Prior to venturing into the private sector ship repair industry 10 years ago, Terry held the position of commanding officer at Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Newport News, where he was responsible for overseeing the Navy’s aircraft carrier and submarine new-construction and repair programs at Newport News Shipbuilding.

He joined the private sector in June 2014 when he joined General Dynamics NASSCO as the Pacific Northwest program manager, overseeing the

commencement of the CVN MSMO contract in Everett and Bremerton, Wash. In July 2015, Kevin’s capabilities led to his appointment as the general manager of General Dynamics NASSCO-Norfolk. In this role, he managed more than 800 employees across multiple facilities.

• Capt. Richard Roberts has retired after 47 years on the Western Rivers. He started his career in 1977 with Southern Harbor Towing. He later worked for C&J Towing, and since 1981 has worked for McGinnis, an affiliate of McNational Inc. He started out as a deckhand and got his captain’s license in 1986.