The members of the American Waterways Operators (AWO) elected a brand new slate of leaders this week in the course of the affiliation’s Spring Convention and Annual Membership Meeting. Rick Iuliucci, vice chairman, The Vane Brothers Company, was elected chairman; Kelly Teichman, chairman of the board, T&T Marine, was elected vice chair; and Brian Hughes, vice chairman operations & gross sales, Hughes Bros., Inc., was re-elected treasurer.
Iuliucci succeeds outgoing chairman Clark Todd, president & CEO, Blessey Marine Services.
The tugboat, towboat and barge business is proud to function the most secure, most economical, and most environmentally sustainable mode of freight transportation within the United States, and AWO appears to be like ahead to constructing on the high-caliber management of Clark Todd and his predecessors in elevating and championing waterways transportation,” mentioned AWO president & CEO Jennifer Carpenter. “Throughout his career, Rick Iuliucci has consistently and wholeheartedly dedicated himself to the betterment of our industry, and we are excited to embrace the coming year with Rick at the helm.”
“I cut my teeth as a deckhand out on the boats, and eventually worked my way up to captain,” mentioned Iuliucci. “And although my day-to-day work is no longer out on the water, that experience is very much at the core of who I am, and it’s at the core of how I approach my service to AWO.”
He mentioned that mariners are the “center of everything we do at AWO,” and famous that the affiliation’s work ought to have a optimistic impression on each mariners and the businesses they work for.
“Creating that impact is at the heart of what it means to be our industry’s advocate, resource and united voice, and that will be my focus as Chairman, as we tackle the challenges facing all of us,” he mentioned.
Iuliucci famous a number of priorities for his chairmanship, together with elevating security throughout the business; persevering with to construct robust assist for the Jones Act; advancing the business’s management function in sustainability; cultivating robust partnerships on the federal and state degree; and creating the workforce wanted to fulfill the rising demand for marine transport.
“This is an ambitious agenda for a big year ahead, but I am optimistic about our industry’s ability to seize the moment, because we have AWO – to be our advocate on Capitol Hill, with the administration, the Coast Guard, and the Army Corps of Engineers, in state capitols around the country, and with the media; to be our resource in providing tools, information and opportunities to make us better; and to be the united voice of our diverse industry,” Iuliucci concluded.