Passing the torch: NITL aims to prepare its next generation of leaders 

By Julie Sneider, Senior Editor 

About a year ago, the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) board recognized the trade association was losing some longtime members to retirement. Those NITL colleagues included business leaders who served on the association’s board and others who shared with each other their decades of experience in the transportation, shipping, logistics and the supply chain industries.  

Fast forward one year later, and NITL has come up with its response to its experience gap by launching the “Emerging Leaders” program, an initiative to help prepare a younger generation of leaders with the skills, knowledge and resources to pick up the mantle from their predecessors to advance NITL’s agenda.  

It’s also the association’s attempt to help develop future leaders of the shipping industry, says Nancy O’Liddy, NITL’s executive director. 

“Last year was a bad one for retirements at NITL,” says O’Liddy, who has extensive background in business and organizational management and development. 

The genesis of Emerging Leaders, she says, stemmed from an observation that NITL board member David Brooks made at a gathering of board members. Brooks is chief operating officer of ARMADA Supply Chain Solutions. 

“For me personally, [Emerging Leaders] seemed like a great opportunity to meet shippers who are multimodal in their approach.” — Daniel Anderson, Trinity Industries Inc.

“He’s looking around at the people sitting at our board table and says, ‘To be honest, we really need some emerging leaders to be on our next board,’” O’Liddy recalls. “And that’s one of our goals with the Emerging Leaders program: to develop future leaders who can become part of NITL’s board of directors.” 

To get the program rolling, O’Liddy put out a call for potential enrollees — people at the management or vice-president level — who could commit to participating in at least four sessions of a year-long class. The program’s curriculum not only digs into the pressing issues affecting shippers today, it also provides training in communication, networking, teamwork and other leadership skills. 

Program enrollees are required to attend a minimum of four classes and participate in interactive workshops, mentorship sessions and real-world projects. 

“We purposely didn’t call the program ‘Young Professionals’ because today we all have to work so much longer and, as a result, you could be ‘emerging’ at age 50,’” O’Liddy says.  

“Last year was a bad one for retirements at NITL.” — Nancy O’Liddy, NITL executive director

The program targets people in their early 30s to their early 50s, although the Class of 2025 includes someone as young as 26. 

O’Liddy hoped to attract at least 12 people for the program’s inaugural year, but she happily wound up with 16 individuals representing nine companies. The 2025 class consists of 10 men and six women. O’Liddy personally recruited women to join the class because she believes a diverse mix of classmates is important for developing the participants’ leadership skills. 

Companies with employees enrolled in the 2025 class are ARMADA Supply Chain Solutions, Trinity Industries Inc., Timbereye Inc., Nestle Purina PetCare Co., Packaging Corp. America, Big M Transportation, Shell Chemical LP, Syensqo Oil and Gas Solutions, and Road & Rail Services. 

Co-chairing the 2025 Emerging Leaders class are Daniel Anderson, vice president of corporate strategies at Trinity, and Kris Matthews, director of field services at ARMADA. Anderson and Matthews both helped shape the program, and ARMADA is its sponsor 

Matthews says he saw the program as an opportunity to gain new skills and learn from people who work in other industries. 

“I work primarily in the food industry and learning how folks in other industries do things — the similarities and differences — really interested me,” says Matthews, who recently marked his 17th year working for Nestle Purina PetCare. “The networking opportunity appealed to me.” 

Matthews also wanted to learn more about how NITL advocated for its members by having a voice in the legislative and regulatory process. 

Meanwhile, Anderson — who has worked for Trinity, the rail-car products and services company, for nearly 15 years — got involved with the program in part to get to know and network with other future leaders in the shipper community. 

“Rail is an insulated industry in that we don’t often reach out to our fellow parts of the supply chain,” says Anderson. “And for me personally, [Emerging Leaders] seemed like a great opportunity to meet shippers who are multimodal in their approach. I hope to learn from them about how we [in rail] can think about the supply chain in a multimodal way as opposed to the myopic, rail-centric way.” 

“Communication skills are everything, and how you communicate is so important.” — Elisabeth Barna, NITL consultant

In fact, learning how to be comfortable meeting people from other organizations is a skill that Emerging Leaders participants will learn. For many, meeting new people at a trade conference or business gathering can be challenging, Anderson and Matthews say.  

For example, younger professionals today are less inclined than previous generations to attend after-work events such as “happy hours,” they noted.  

“It’s harder to create environments where emerging leaders can meet each other,” says Anderson. “That's a function of some of the generational changes where people in my generation would prefer to go home after work. If I can leave a conference early and get home to put the kids to bed in lieu of going to a happy hour, I’m going home.” 

During the first Emerging Leaders’ session, which was held virtually, participants already started to feel more comfortable breaking the ice with their fellow classmates, says Anderson. Even getting to know people virtually — a lesson from doing business during the pandemic — is a new but necessary way to operate, notes Anderson. 

“It's a skill set that I think many of us, at least in rail, are mastering now, and it'll lock new productivity potential for the future,” he says. 

To run the Emerging Leaders program, NITL brought in Elizabeth Barna, a consultant with extensive experience in providing communications, marketing and professional development expertise to transportation and logistics companies. For many years, she was an executive with the American Trucking Associations, where she oversaw communications and strategy, including the ATA’s future leader development program. 

The first Emerging Leaders class focused on the participants getting to know each other and the NITL organization.  

“We walked them through who the NITL staff is, what are all the different committees and how they can get involved in those committees,” Barna says. “I think some of them were surprised to see the depth of everything that NITL does and that it’s more than just an annual conference. It was good to see that as soon as the session was over, three of them signed up to join a committee right away.” 

The session also introduced the class to existing NITL board and committee leaders so that the participants will feel comfortable meeting and/or connecting with them at future events, Barna says. 

Future classes will bring in guest speakers and focus on topics such as the ins and outs of the legislative and regulation creation process. Topics the participants asked to learn about also will be covered, including skilled workforce issues that impact the supply chain, rail service reliability, artificial intelligence and technology. 

“There’s also a big interest in learning more about tax and trade — especially with the tariffs out there,” says Barna.  

The final class will meet in person a day before the NITL Engage Policy Forum to be held in Washington, D.C., in October. The participants will receive a full day of hands-on training in leadership, networking, media communications, public speaking and presentation-giving skills. 

By the end of the four sessions, it’s hoped the Emerging Leaders participants will be ready to help lead NITL — and their own companies — into the future, Barna says. 

When advising business leader wannabes, Barna suggests they take advantage of any training opportunities offered by their employers. Also, seek out one or more mentors for guidance, she says.  

But most of all, Barna advises them to sharpen their communication and listening skills.  

“I think communication skills are everything, and how you communicate is so important,” she says.