Ferries Conference is produced by Colibri Northwest.
Ferries Conference is produced by Colibri Northwest.
Brent Baker is a senior vice president and managing director within WSP’s advisory services practice, where he oversees the systems finance and economics business line. Brent specializes in transportation project finance, pricing, revenue and expenditure forecasting, financial modeling, benefit-cost analysis, and funding studies. His advisory and consulting experience includes highway, ferry, rail, and transit projects for a wide range of public and private sector clients. A key strength is his ability to comprehend the many facets of complex problems, allowing him to effectively collaborate with varied subject matter experts to synthesize and deliver coherent outcomes. His recent work includes toll projections and financial planning for toll and price managed lane projects; capital program financial modeling and plan development; federal grant and loan applications and negotiations; demand, revenue and expenditure projections; and presentations to state legislators, executive management, and transportation commissioners. For three decades, he has supported ridership and revenue forecasting, patronage surveys, and planning studies for Washington State Ferries.
Mark is a senior transportation consultant and project manager with Kimley-Horn, a full-service engineering and planning firm with more than 7,000 staff in offices across the United States. Mark has provided strategic leadership on major projects for agencies such as Washington State Ferries, WSDOT, Seattle DOT and Sound Transit, working with them and their stakeholders to improve safety, connectivity, and multimodal transportation systems. Mark is well-known in the transportation community for his collaborative approach to creating innovative solutions across policy, planning, and engineering, including early planning for the replacement of the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal in Seattle.
Neil has 25 years of experience in the aviation industry, working in various air traffic control operational, management and commercial leadership roles in the UK, Middle East and North America. For the last seven years he has been responsible for global business development for a leading technology original equipment manufacturer in the ATM and airports industry, implementing transformational innovative technology in a fast-growing market. At Artemis Technologies, Neil is responsible for business development across the public transport sector.
bio coming soon
Ray Bucheger is a partner at FBB Federal Relations and has more than 20 years of experience in Washington, DC, working in state government, in Congress, and in the private sector. Ray draws on his diverse experience and extensive contacts at the White House, throughout the Executive Branch, and on Capitol Hill to guide his clients through a wide range of issue areas, including transportation and infrastructure, energy and environment, international trade, defense, homeland security, tribal issues and sports. Ray has extensive experience in transit policy and played a key role in the development of existing federal grant programs that support public ferry systems. Ray earned his undergraduate degrees in economics and political science and a master of science in applied economics at Marquette University.
FBB Federal Relations is a Washington, DC-based federal government affairs consultancy firm. The FBB Federal Relations team has decades of experience in Washington, DC, providing their clients with creative advice and aggressive strategy. FBB clients include multinational corporations, prominent trade associations, non-profit organizations, transit organizations and state and local governments.
Mr. Joseph Burgard is the managing director and a partner at the Red and White Fleet, a passenger vessel company in San Francisco, CA. Mr. Burgard has been a licensed captain since 1993 and has served in the passenger vessel industry in many operational roles over the past 35 years. Throughout his career, Mr. Burgard has led or been involved in numerous alternative fuel and emissions control projects, most recently directing the acquisition of a new build, 600 passenger, plug-in hybrid electric vessel and as a cofounder in Zero Emission Industries which initiated the first hydrogen fuel cell vessel project in the US.
Stacey Crawshaw-Lewis is a partner at Pacifica Law Group, and serves as bond counsel to municipalities, state agencies and other issuers in financing a wide range of community and regional projects. She is frequently retained to advise county, city, and other municipal clients on the range of revenue options available under federal and state law, including for financing passenger ferry and other transit facilities. Stacey has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America in Public Finance Law for more than 10 years, including selection as Lawyer of the Year in Public Finance Law in Seattle for 2017. She has served on the board of directors for the National Association of Bond Lawyers. Stacey was awarded the National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL) 2020 Carlson Prize for her work as the lead author of the article “Practical Considerations in Electronic Disclosure by State and Municipal Bond Issuers” that was published in the 2020 Spring issue of The Bond Lawyer and the 2019 Fall edition of the Municipal Finance Journal. Stacey graduated from Brown University, magna cum laude, including a general course at the London School of Economics, and received her JD from the University of Washington, JD, with high honors, Order of the Coif (Washington Law Review, Managing Editor, Judge Lawless Award).
Liz Diedrich is the founder of Diedrich RPM, and the former owner of Destiny Cruises, LLC.
Liz invented and manufactured her first product at age 20, while still in college, which she sold to Tupperware. Throughout her 25-year career Liz has developed and led businesses in strategic planning, sales, marketing and research, earning a reputation for generating innovative strategies that create competitive leverage and increased sales and revenue.
Liz founded her marketing business in 1994 as Creative Marketing, which she subsequently re-branded Diedrich RPM (Research Propelled Marketing) to develop and lead marketing strategies for her clients.
Her team has conducted quantitative studies in more than 1000 geographic markets that targeted more than 4 million consumers and business decision-makers.
In July 2013 Liz founded Destiny Cruises, LLC, where she gained experience in providing passenger vessel services on Gull Lake, MN. Before selling the operation in 2019, Liz developed demand studies, operational plans to marketing campaigns specifically aimed at the passenger vessel community.
Liz is active on multiple boards for public, non-profit and private companies served two terms on the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Board and was previously the chair for Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce, she served as a director for Scholarship America, and on the business advisory boards of Anchor Bank, MOM’s, and MNSCU.
John Hildreth is the Kimmel distinguished professor of construction management and the associate dean for research at Western Carolina University. He is a civil engineer by training with a developed expertise in the economics of transportation asset management. John is an experienced researcher and has completed multiple research projects related to the effective and efficient management of mobile equipment and the capital-intensive assets of transportation systems.
John promotes the use of life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) methods to quantify the economic impacts of electrification on ferry systems. LCCA also provides necessary insight into the economic changes resulting from electrification generally. He recently completed a study of the technical and economic feasibility of electrification options for the North Carolina Ferry System fleet. He serves as a consultant to companies and agencies across the US.
Michael Eaglen is a naval architect and chartered engineer with a long and varied marine industry career ranging from yacht design, America’s Cup optimisation and consulting structural engineering to shipyard management and industry governance. His experience spans luxury yachts, racing yachts, military, commercial and patrol vessels as well as geothermal and wind energy.
Having been Commercial Manager and then CEO of Auckland shipyard McMullen & Wing for 9 years, Michael stood down in 2019 to establish EV Maritime. EV Maritime is a cleantech design, engineering, consultancy and technology company headquartered in Auckland New Zealand, with additional personnel in Australia, Canada and Thailand. It pro-actively developed a 24-metre 25-knot long range battery electric fast ferry, of which two are now under construction in New Zealand for Auckland Transport. EV Maritime recently signed a strategic partnership with Australian shipyard McMullen & Wing and is also working with shipyards in the USA and Canada to help catalyse capability development in electric ferry manufacture around the world.
Michael is a Director of the Marine Industries Association of New Zealand, former Chair of the New Zealand Marine Industry Committee for the 36th America’s Cup, former Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Marine Export Group and former President of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects NZ Division and of the Naval Architectural Society of New Zealand.
Tim Hanners is the operations and maintenance manager for WETA. San Francisco Bay Ferry, WETA’s public passenger ferry service, operates nearly 150 daily departures on six transbay routes. Tim’s team manages a fleet of 16 high-speed catamarans and more than 100 captains, deckhands and engineers employed through WETA’s contract operator. Under Tim’s leadership, WETA has commissioned eight new vessels since 2017 (all US EPA Tier 4 or Tier 4 equivalent) with three more under contract.
Prior to his current role, Tim served as WETA’s maintenance and engineering administrator, leading fleet planning and construction as well as terminal maintenance programs. Tim previously served as the manager of engineering for Golden Gate Ferry and began his career as a marine vessel engineer for Blue & Gold Fleet.
Mark Keneford is the managing director of Wärtsilä Canada as well as leading the sales team responsible across Canada to represent Wärtsilä marine solutions to shipowners, ship design companies and shipyards, in all vessel segments. Mark spent 27 years in the Canadian Navy as a marine systems engineering officer and project manager. He sailed in ships and had operating tickets (Navy equivalent) for steam, diesel and gas turbines.
Since 2008 Mark has been employed in Wärtsilä. He is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) and the Canadian Institute of Marine Engineers CIMARE (St. Lawrence branch).
Justin LeBlanc is a career federal government relations professional with more than 25 years of experience in marine affairs, maritime, and transportation policy and fisheries. Having worked for Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Justin focuses on clients from the Pacific Northwest. Following his experience on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Justin was the vice president of government relations for the National Fisheries Institute and served as the executive secretariat of the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations before beginning work as a contract lobbyist.
David is the owner of Power Engineering. He joined Power Engineering as an intern in 1991. David was impressed with the construction methods the company employed on a project on an air hanger at Oakland’s Moffet Field. Rather than setting up scaffolding to climb up to rebuild the hanger trusses, the Power Engineering team rappelled downward from the ceiling. This innovative approach to construction engineering continues to inspire him on complex projects more than 30 years into his career with Power Engineering.
Prior to joining Power Engineering, David earned his bachelor of science degree in marine engineering from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and spent four years on active duty as a US Naval officer. He earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from Stanford University.
Brian Moeller is technical sales manager for BMT, where he leads North America sales efforts for design and engineering of vessels including ferries, crew transfer vessels, and
government and security vessels.
A graduate of the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering, Brian has more than 13 years of marine industry experience in
engineering and sales roles. He is experienced in ship concept design and has expertise in propeller design and application engineering.
Seamus Murphy is the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA), which operates SF Bay Ferry service throughout the region.
Prior to joining WETA, Murphy spent more than a decade overseeing external affairs and strategic communications for the San Mateo County Transit District (District), which operates the Caltrain commuter rail system and SamTrans bus service. As the District’s chief communications officer, Murphy led efforts to secure funding for transformative projects including the $2 billion Caltrain Electrification Project. He was also responsible for passing state legislation that paved the way for voter approval of revenue measures creating over $200 million/year in new transportation investment for improvements and services throughout the Peninsula.
Murphy has been recognized as a leader focused on building strong coalitions that can effectively advocate for solutions to the industry’s most pressing challenges. He is a recipient of Mass Transit Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40” award and is a key player in local, regional, state and national efforts to sustain, improve, and expand public transportation for all who depend on it.
Peter and his team work with transit agencies, municipal administrators, elected officials and associations to develop policy, communicate policy to stakeholders and successfully implement public policy in the field. Areas of particular expertise include marine transit policy, industrial and urban land use, print communications and public relations. Peter has 35 years of experience in maritime publishing, conference production, industrial and marine lands policy, and advocacy for the maritime and commercial fishing industries. From 1999-2020 Peter was president of Philips Publishing Group and publisher of Fishermen’s News, Foghorn and Pacific Maritime Magazine, monthly magazines for the commercial fishing, marine transit, and maritime transportation industries.
David is a co-founder and board member of Artemis Technologies, a global leader in transformative clean maritime solutions based in Belfast, UK. David was instrumental in the creation of the Belfast Maritime Consortium, led by Artemis Technologies, including securing of a £33m grant from UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund to develop the company’s transformative eFoiler® technology and launch the world’s first 100% electric foiling passenger ferry.
David is chair of Maritime UK’s Regional Council, a member of the UK Department for Transport’s Maritime Council which was established in 2023 to provide the top level of governance across all themes and drive delivery of the UK Government’s Maritime 2050 recommendations, and a member of Operation Zero working groups, a UK government initiative launched during COP26 with the mission to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vessels for offshore wind operations and maintenance in the North Sea’s wind farms.
David Sowers is Washington State Ferries’ (WSF) director of terminal engineering and in this role leads the planning, design, permitting, and construction of capital improvement, preservation, and maintenance projects at each of WSF’s 19 terminals and its Eagle Harbor maintenance facility.
Before joining WSF, David was WSDOT’s deputy program administrator for the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program, where for 10 years we worked to deliver the world’s largest bored tunnel and related projects. David joined WSDOT in 1999, after working in the private sector for 6 years as a consultant.
David has degrees in civil engineering from Michigan State University and Auburn University and is a registered professional engineer in Washington.
Marsha Tolon, PLA, ENV SP, is an environmental and permitting lead at Washington State Department of Transportation Ferries Division (WSF) for maintenance and capital projects. In this capacity she has worked with the Mukilteo and Seattle multimodal terminal projects from planning through construction, and with highway projects during a 28-years career at WSDOT.
Dilip is a principal with Moffatt & Nichol in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has been practicing coastal engineering for about 30 years. His area of expertise is engineering analyses and design for flood mitigation and sea level rise adaptation projects; redevelopment of urban waterfronts; sediment management; and wetlands restoration. He is an early design innovator in addressing sea level rise and is leading the sea level rise and public use planning for many of the large urban waterfront redevelopment projects in the San Francisco Bay region. He has also played a significant role on adaptation planning for large infrastructure projects such as ferry terminals and the SFO airport, restoration projects such as the South Bay Salt Ponds, and recreational/open space projects such as Crissy Field and China Basin Park.
Dilip is on the board of directors of the Bay Planning Coalition and chairs the Sustainable Waterfronts Committee; he was also a key participant on the Resiliency Committee for the Port of San Francisco’s Waterfront Land Use Plan Update. He obtained his graduate degrees from Texas A&M University, and undergraduate degree from Bangalore University.
Amanda Wyma-Bradley is a senior policy advisor on transportation issues for US Senator Patty Murray. Amanda has worked on Capitol Hill for several years overseeing a broad portfolio of issues. Prior to her legislative work in Senator Murray’s office Amanda worked as an assistant for US Representative Adam Smith (WA-09).
Amanda is originally from Washington State and holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from Seattle Pacific University.
The above schedule, topics, and speakers are subject to change.
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