Student Poster Competition

Cassia Bomer Galvao

Assistant Professor

Texas A & M Galveston

Dr. Galvao is recently promoted to be an Associate Professor at the Department of Maritime Business Administration of Texas A&M University at Galveston. She is an Economist and Social Scientist by training and holds a Master's in Political Economy and Ph.D. in Social Sciences, both from the Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her research encompasses Maritime Economics, Policy and Management. She is a Fulbright Program Alumni and worked in the private sector for 10+ years for multinational maritime shipping & logistics companies. Her research utilizes qualitative data, applying techniques of content analysis and multi-method analysis, including interdisciplinary studies supported by an extensive network of collaborators. 

Her published research covers topics in Port Governance, Port Development, and Shipping Markets, including specialized issues in wind energy, refrigerated cargo and cruise markets. Presently she is working on several projects related to the Blue Economy focused on Port-City Relationship; Green and Sustainable Shipping; ESG and Stakeholder Management; including cutting-edge themes in Maritime Workforce development amidst Automation, Digitalization, and Decarbonization of the maritime industry.

She is a Guest Editor for the Transport Policy Case Studies Journal and a peer reviewer in several top-ranked journals in the Maritime Policy and Management field. She has 15+ years of experience in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in the International Trade and Maritime Business domain. She served as senior personnel at the TAMUG NSF REU Program (OceanUS). She serves at the NASEM/TRB (Transportation Research Board) Committees for Ports and Channels and Marine Environment and served at the IAME (International Association of Maritime Economists) Secretariat (2019-2021). 

Dr Galvao is a Professional Certified Marketer by AMA – American Marketing Association and is a member of IAMPE - International Association of Maritime and Port Executives.


 

Margaret A. Kidd

Program Director and Instructional Associate Professor

University of Houston

Margaret Kidd joined University of Houston in 2016, as Instructional Assistant Professor, Supply Chain & Logistics Technology. In 2018 she was promoted to Program Director and in 2022 was promoted to Instructional Associate Professor. Currently she serves on EIC, North & Central America Regional Advisory Board, Houston Maritime Centre Board of Trustees and University of Houston, Community Relation Alliance, Committee Member.

She is frequently in the media including, BBC World News, Fox Morning with Maria, Fox Sunday Night in America with Trey Goudy, NPR, Transport Topics, CNBC, Washington Post and many more, discussing supply chain disruption and solutions. Most recently, Margaret was featured on the cover of World’s Leaders as one of the World’s Outstanding Women in Supply Chain, 2022 and Breakbulk Magazine, Issue 2, 2024.

Margaret has a BBA, MA Cross-Cultural Studies, and has completed 60 doctoral credits in Urban Planning & Environmental Policy with a focus on port-city interface, sustainability, and economic development.
 

Andrew Young

Corporate Manager of Logistics and Manager BGL

Bechtel Global Logistics

Andrew Young is the Corporate Manager of Logistics and Manager of Bechtel Global Logistics, responsible for developing a coordinated logistic strategy across all business units. His focus is on; advancing and integrating logistics across the full spectrum of projects – from feasibility studies to project execution, supporting ‘EPC’ integration, and delivering optimized solutions to projects and clients based on cost, schedule and risk mitigation. He provides leadership and guidance to logistics
staff deployed on projects globally, and a centralized core team responsible for maintaining a functional logistics support structure that provides direct assistance to individual projects, optimizes synergies across projects, and institutes processes and procedures that standardize best practice across the company. 

Andy’s Bechtel experience includes three years as the Transport Assurance Manager – where he was recognized as a ‘Bechtel Distinguished Technical Specialist’ [BDTS], three years as the OG&C Functional Logistics Manager, two years as the Chartering Supervisor for the Wheatstone LNG Project and two years in the field as the In-Country Logistics Manager for the Curtis Islands LNG projects in Australia.  Prior to Bechtel, Andy worked as a Technical Project Logistics Manager for Alstom Power in Switzerland and prior to that he was a Commercial Manager (Sales, Tendering and Project Management) for Abnormal Load Engineering in the UK.  


 

Beth Heyn Kennedy

Supply Chain Client Executive

Gartner

Bill Keyes

Director of Logistics

Fluor

Bill is an experienced and proven leader with over 25 years of logistics and supply chain experience. He has spent much of his career in the field and has traveled extensively throughout the United States, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North and East Africa, and Asia. This experience has given him a comprehensive perspective of the importance of early planning and setting a logistics strategy for the successful execution of capital projects. He has a wealth of expertise in the project sector, supporting Fluor's Energy, Urban, and Mission Solutions business lines. 
 
He is currently the Fluor Logistics Lead on a net-zero carbon emissions integrated ethylene cracker and derivatives project. His previous professional experience is as a Director of Construction Logistics for NEOM and Fluor's Global Director for Logistics Operations. He retired from the US Army in 2012. 

 

Dennis Devlin

Project Logistics Business Development Director

Maersk Project Logistics

Dennis Devlin is Head of Growth, North America with Maersk Project Logistics.   He has spent most of his career in various roles in the field of project logistics.

Prior to his current role with Maersk, he held various positions of increasing responsibility for BDP International in Philadelphia at BDP’s corporate headquarters, in Shanghai where he had regional responsibility for project logistics in Asia, and later in Houston.  He also worked previously in the Panprojects Division of Panalpina, and for DB Schenker and GEODIS.  

He also serves on the Editorial Board of Breakbulk Magazine and on the Advisory Board for the Breakbulk Americas Conference.  He has been a past speaker at various Breakbulk Americas Conferences since the early 2000s.

Dennis is a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and a 1987 honors graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, with degrees in Economics and Political Science.  He also pursued studies in Glasgow, Scotland, where he struggled to understand Glaswegian English; in Paris, France where he studied (and learned) French; and in Taipei, Taiwan and Shanghai, China, where he studied Mandarin Chinese.  

 

Esmeralda Smith-Garcia

Director, Business Development Global Projects Industry Solutions

DB Schenker

Esmeralda has been in the logistics industry 25 years. She started her career in this business as an admin, then going into project operations shortly thereafter, realizing she had a love for it. In the meantime, as she has worked under the freight forwarder window mostly, she has enjoyed assisting with 3 startups in the supply chain/logistics industry(one in freight forwarding, truck brokering and the other in warehousing). She has also enjoyed working the breakbulk/project MPVs(multi-purpose vessels) and roro liner carrier side of the business. She has gone from project operations to business development in her career and has enjoyed and learned from all of the different opportunities over the years.  Never a dull moment!

Jake Swanson

Regional Vice President- Americas Operations, Industrial Projects

DHL Global Forwarding

Jake Swanson is the Regional Head of the Americas Region for DHL Industrial Projects.

He has worked with DHL for 5 years in various capacities within the Industrial Projects group.  He has worked in the transportation and logistics industry for over 20 years, and has experience on the EPC, Project ocean carrier and freight forwarder sides of the industry. He graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Logistics and Intermodal Transportation and then spent a year sailing on container vessels.

Jake holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Houston.

 

John Hark

Regional Director, North America

Bertling Logistics

John has been in the Houston maritime industry for 30+ years and holds a Bachelor of Science in Maritime Administration from Texas A&M. He started with Bertling in 2002 as Director of North America Vessel Operations. After moving to Bertling’s logistics division, he held various management roles within North and South America.

He is currently the North America Regional Director. John has also been an Adjunct Professor with Texas A&M University since 2002. Active in various industry and education/workforce initiatives, John sits on advisory councils for Lone Star College, Houston Community College, TSU and San Jacinto College and is a board member of the Port Houston Partners in Maritime Education nonprofit organization.

In April 2020, he founded the Houston Supply Chain/Logistics Education Collective to proactively minimize the logistics industry talent gap and foster industry relationships with educators and students in the Greater Houston region.

José Manuel Velarde

Sr. Manager, Indirect Procurement - CAPEX, MRO, Maintenance, TARs, Staffing - N. America & LATAM

Huntsman Corporation

Leandro Brusque

Supply Chain Manager, Subsea Construction

Ocyan Oil & Gas

Marco Poisler

COO – Global Energy & Capital Projects

UTC Overseas

Noureen Faizee

Director, Inside Sales

Worley

Payne A. Fischer

Regional Manager - Industrial Projects NAM

Kuehne + Nagel Inc.

Peter Dill

Senior Purchasing Manager - Indirect

Huntsman Corporation

Peter Jessup

Supply Chain Consultant

Proactive Change LLC

Sandra Guadarrama

Senior Project Logistics Manager

Linde Engineering

Stephen Spoljaric

Corporate Manager of Global Logistics

Bechtel Corporation

Thomas Skellingsted

President

4D Supply Chain Consulting

Thomas Skellingsted joined 4D Supply Chain Consulting in 2021. He is President of the company and based out of London, UK and Houston, Texas, USA. 

He has a proven track record of both theoretical and practical experience. He gained a degree in Strategy Management from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland, and a degree in Management Execution. 

Thomas Skellingsted has more than 30 years of experience within transport and logistics—starting in the transport industry as a freight forwarder trainee in 1988 in Denmark and since then holding various management roles. 

Toni Harrison

Business Development for US Projects

Geodis