WeDriveU’s Post

We’re launching #WomensHistoryMonth with a salute to one of our amazing female leaders Ashley Nylen, PMP. We sat down with Ashley to discuss her work in #transportation across the Federal, State, and academic spheres and what inspires her to make a mark in this space. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐃𝐎𝐓 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞? I joined the U.S. Department of Transportation and commenced Federal service in December 2022. Currently, I serve as Acting Assistant Director of Program Development and Strategy on the HASS COE Leadership Team, ensuring operational excellence and efficiency within our office. I formally joined HASS COE as a senior strategist, focused on surface transportation automation research and deployment. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫? I believe my greatest strength as a collaborator is fostering an environment where people feel they can ask questions. I’ve always found that if I have a question on something, typically someone else may also have that same question in their mind! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮? Working in transportation has taught me to ask first, “what is the problem we’re trying to solve?” and then consider how something will impact safety, first and foremost, as well as mobility and efficiency at a system-wide level. Additionally, in public service, I’ve learned the importance of broadly sharing lessons learned so that others can be propelled forward as they embark on similar efforts and advance or iterate whatever it is we’re working on more exponentially. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? I must give initial credit to the University of Iowa (my alma mater) for providing me both academic (BS and MS) and professional research opportunities over the course of 10 years. After working for a local government after grad school, I worked with Dr. Daniel V McGehee at the University of Iowa, who provided me with tremendous opportunity to research and lead several projects involving vehicle automation, as well as engage with many in our community (that I still get to work with today!). Today, my inspiration comes from all the amazing people that operate and maintain our transportation system at the state and local levels. During my time at the Colorado Department of Transportation, I got first-hand experience to observe and support our transportation workers who risk their lives every day to make our transportation system function safely and smoothly. It seems like state and local DOTs are facing ever-increasing challenges (resources, societal, fiscal, you name it!). Every time I drive by a snowplow or see a worker on the roadway, I can’t help but think about the massive sacrifice those people are making and the devotion among countless others that support them.

There have been many worthy individuals inducted into the International Maritime Hall of Fame over the years, but Rolf Habben Jansen is a special case. It was my honor to introduce him at the recent dinner, organized by the Maritime Association of the Port of New York & New Jersey. July 1 will mark his 10th anniversary as CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG, and it is no exaggeration to say the company bears no resemblance to the one he took over. And it increasingly bears little resemblance to other container shipping companies. I say this with perspective, having known the company and each of its CEOs going back to Bernd Wrede in the 1990s. Adolf Adrion and I were on a flight together to Newark from Halifax Port Days on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. We landed in between the first and second towers being hit, meaning we shared air space with the hijackers. It is no disrespect to those earlier executives to say Rolf has taken Hapag-Lloyd light years beyond the company of those days, indeed beyond the industry of those days. Times were different. A big difference and one that Rolf is driving home is that today, quality service and profitability at a company "fully focused on liner shipping" are not incompatible. Case in point is connecting its entire dry container fleet via tracking devices, which Hapag-Lloyd announced in 2022 and is now rolling out. For customers it doesn’t just mean “visibility”; it means real things like containers being provided to them faster because it’s known precisely when and where they become available. It gets to profitability because it’s now known who is holding on to containers for too long and where they are backing up; pinpointing micro choke points on an aggregate basis is the key to improving utilization of the full container fleet, meaning new container costs, leasing costs and maintenance costs, not to mention repositioning costs, all go down without service being sacrificed. Its Gemini alliance with A.P. Moller - Maersk amounts to a moonshot plan to transform transit time consistency to the level of express carriers, or nearly so; the height of ambition regardless of the obstacles involved. My colleagues and I at the Journal of Commerce, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, have long admired Rolf for his openness and transparency with the market, his willingness to be on stage with us at TPM engaging in dialogue with customers in an effort to build understanding and collaboration and tamp down acrimony. His colleagues see his leadership, describing him as tough and demanding but authentic, fair and motivating. Congratulations Rolf and all of Hapag-Lloyd for this well deserved honor.

Here, a break down of business class vs. first class to help you decipher when that award ticket or upgrade (or downgrade, depending on where you’re coming from) is actually worth the price.

Pushing boundaries in all directions… William Hui went from a conversation about systems engineering to record setting by simply igniting his passion for transit. I first learned of his adventure in an American Public Transportation Association Communications Solutions committee meeting and one month later, he completed it. This is just another reason to attend industry events: you learn more than just industry practices and case studies, you learn about the people and their passion. Don’t stop at just doing your job. Fuel the passion inside of you, do what you love, and drive. #motivation #professionaldevelopment

Great progress achieved, but more needs to be done to keep this momentum going and shift our over-reliance away from private motor vehicles toward sustainable public transport. https://lnkd.in/dxF7K9pZ

Learning about mobility within global mobility from a panel of experts at the Midwest Relocation Conference - what a unique angle - so interesting and informative! Thank you Amanda Pritt, CRP, GMS-T, Lori Johnson, CRP, GMS, Ben Cross, SCRP, Eileen MacDonald! #MRC2024

The W. P. Carey School of Business – Arizona State University did an economic impact study on Phoenix's airports. I think there is some really interesting stuff in here and shows how much business is done at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and is connected to the airport. This happens all in one day: - 1,077 commercial aircraft arrivals and departures – about 45 per hour - 121,638 passengers moving through the terminals - 1,067 tons of air freight handled - $576,000 worth of purchases of food & beverages in the terminal - 15,400 revenue producing ground trips via rideshare, taxi, vans and buses - 4,550 contracts issued at the Rental Car Center - $19.3 million in spending by air visitors in the region

BTN's 25 Most Influential People of 2023 / Day 19: Jeff Klee, AmTrav #CEO.   ---   The year 2023 was defined by many changes, as industry leaders searched for solid footing on new terrain. Those efforts are chronicled in BTN’s 2023 Most Influential. For the next 25 days, we’re featuring each name on that list one-by-one.

HERE joins ITF's Corporate Partnership Board

Have you stopped to think about what value TMCs bring travel buyers? We sat down with our global and regional leaders Marcus Eklund, Melissa Elf, William McDonough, Bertrand Saillet, and Steve Norris to hear their thoughts (which may surprise you!). Take a look here: https://okt.to/WzJlyV #FCMTravel #TMC #BusinessTravel #CorporateTravel #TravelManagement #FCMThink