News Release
FOR RELEASE - February 7, 2013
Contact: Aaron Ellis, aellis@aapa-ports.org
(703) 684-5700
American Association of Port Authorities
Phone: (202) 792-4033
www.aapa-ports.org
U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, the new chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and W. Ralph Basham, a principle with Command Consulting Group in Washington, D.C., and former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and director of the U.S. Secret Service; will help round-out an already illustrious selection of speakers at the American Association of Port Authorities’ (AAPA) 2013 Spring Conference in Washington, D.C., March 18-19.
Rep. Shuster, representing the 9th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, has served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee since he was elected to Congress in 2001 and was named its chairman in January. He previously served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, and as chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management.
Lt. Gen. Bostick, who is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ commanding general, was named the 53rd U.S. Army Chief of Engineers last May. In this role, he is responsible for more than 37,000 civilian employees and 600 military personnel who provide project management and construction support to 250 Army and Air Force installations in more than 100 countries around the world.
Mr. Basham, now in private practice, has served in senior leadership positions at four of the eight operational components in what is now the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and did so as a senior executive presidential appointee in the Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He led an agency of over 53,000 employees as commissioner of the U.S. CBP, the nation’s largest law enforcement agency and the largest operational component of DHS with overall responsibility for U.S. border security. Prior to that, he served as the director of the U.S. Secret Service, where he had overall responsibility for the security of the president, vice president, all living former presidents and their families.
As part of AAPA’s Spring Conference program at The Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel, U.S. Representatives Janice Hahn (D-CA) and Ted Poe (R-TX) will be honored as the association’s 2013 “Port Persons of the Year.” Other program speakers for this year’s event include U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (who chairs the Senate Environment & Public Works Subcommittee on Oversight); CSX Transportation Vice President Derrick Smith; Morgan Stanley Executive Director Ira Smelkinson; Fitch Ratings’ Senior Director Seth Lehman; William E. Craft, the U.S. Department of State’s deputy assistant secretary for trade policy and programs; and Marcus H. Sachs, Verizon Communications’ vice president for national security policy.
AAPA anticipates more than 150 port and related industry leaders and guests will take part in the two-day conference.
For more information about AAPA’s 2013 Spring Conference program and agenda, go to www.aapa-ports.org/2013spring.
| WHO: | American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) |
| WHAT: | A host of luminaries addressing transportation infrastructure, security and environmental policy issues at AAPA’s 2013 Spring Conference event. |
| WHEN: | Business programs run 12:00 noon – 4:15 p.m. on Monday, March 18; and from 8:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19; with additional committee and related meetings before and after these times that are reserved for AAPA members. |
| WHERE: | The Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel, 999 9th Street NW, Washington, D.C. |
| MEDIA: | Credentialed journalists interested in covering AAPA’s Spring Conference business agenda for media purposes are asked to contact Aaron Ellis, aellis@aapa-ports.org, to obtain a media pass. |
