The 2016 Surface Transportation Summit will take place at the International Centre in Toronto on October 13. The event will be co-hosted by Newcom Business Media and Dan Goodwill & Associates in partnership with the Ontario Trucking Association and the Freight Management Association of Canada. There will be some exciting changes this year.

As always, the conference will be kicked off by a look ahead to the Economy in the year ahead. Carlos Gomes, Senior Economist, Scotiabank will share his overview of 2016 and make some projections for the coming year. For the first time, the Summit will showcase two of North America’s top freight industry investment analysts. Walter Spracklin, Managing Director, Capital Markets, RBC Investment Securities, will offer his insights on the freight transportation industry in Canada. John Larkin, Managing Director of Research, at Stifel Financial Corp., will provide a status report on the current state of the freight industry in the United States.

Wendell Erb, President & CEO, The Erb Group of Companies will provide some commentary on the economy from a trucking company perspective. He will be joined by a Rob Bryson, recently retired Vice-President at Parrish & Heimbecker, who will provide observations and perspectives from a shipper’s perspective.

The second track will also be a first for the Summit. Over the course of the last two decades, Ian Wright has emerged as one of the leading minds of the electric transportation era. After co-founding Tesla Motors in 2003 and then breaking away to build the fastest street legal electric car in the world– the X1, Ian Wright proved that electric vehicles could deliver high-performance without compromising intrinsic efficiency. In recent years, he has moved on to pursue a larger vision—solving EV economics. Ian Wright, CEO of Wrightspeed, will provide a keynote address on The Future of Trucking.

This address will be followed by The View from the Top: The transportation executive’s perspective on the major trends driving transportation in 2016 and beyond. Rolly Uloth, President, The Rosedale Group, Douglas Harrison, President & CEO, Versacold Logistics Services, Michael Bourque, President, Rail Association of Canada, Adrian Pavone, President, Cardinal Couriers Ltd. and Peter Aumonier, Senior Vice President, Northbridge Insurance, will share their thoughts and strategies on how they will be steering their organizations in 2017.

Prior to the lunch break, several carrier and shipper executives will engage in a panel discussion in the always popular shipper- carrier roundtable. JJ Maislin, President, Maisliner, Trevor Kurtz, General Manager, Brian Kurtz Trucking Ltd. and Michelle Arsenau, Managing Partner, GX Transportation will provide the trucking industry perspectives. Heidi Syer, Division Transportation Manager at PepsiCo Canada and Martin Pede, Director of Procurement, Glencore Canada Corporation will share their thoughts from a shipper’s viewpoint. This promises to be a lively discussion.

Immediately after lunch there will be two sets of breakout sessions. In one track we will hear from three individuals who are involved in the launch of a new set of transportation services. Craig Fuller, CEO of Transportation Futures Exchange will introduce a freight financial clearing house and capacity exchange for shippers seeking to lock in capacity and for carriers wishing to sell fixed capacity contracts. Martin Abadi, barrister & solicitor, Fernandes Hearn LLP will outline potential solutions offered by the Uber model to such problems as the misallocation and/or unemployment of trucking resources, (i.e. trucks moving empty, potential for overall cost efficiency, improved transparency and quality control across supply chains). Darrell Benvenuto, CEO and Founder of NCX (National Carrier Exchange) will outline a newly created free operations, dispatch and tracking platform for all freight carriers in the US, Mexico and Canada. This track will introduce you to some of the “hot” technologies and new services that could have major impacts in North America freight markets.

Running parallel with this track will be a session entitled “Thriving in Challenging Economic Times.” This is a tough year for the Transportation industry. Lower freight volumes are putting pressure on business leaders to steer their companies successfully through this difficult period. In this track, you will hear from three business leaders who will share their strategies on how to achieve good results in a down year. One OTA member, to be announced shortly, will discuss strategies his company employed to drive positive revenue growth. A second OTA carrier will address strategies to control operating costs while allowing his company to produce positive financial results. Steve Sashihara, CEO of Princeton Consultants will discuss how to utilize technology to improve operating efficiencies and generate a solid bottom line. This track will be moderated by Marco Beghetto, VP Communications & New Media, Ontario Trucking Association.

This will be followed by a session on Creating the Supply Chain of the Future. A number of profound changes are taking place in supply chains across Canada. Customer demands are intensifying as E-Commerce and multi-channel distribution create pressures for more agile and responsive distribution networks. New technologies such as 3D Printing, Uber, the Internet of Things and big data are upending current business models. Paul Kretz, VP, Logistics, Indigo Books & Music, Valerie Normand, Director Parcels & E Commerce Solutions, Canada Post Corporation and Jennifer Lee, Partner and National Retail and Omnichannel leader, Deloitte Canada will participate in a panel discussion on The Supply Chain of the Future. Michael LeBlanc, Senior Vice President of the Retail Council of Canada will moderate this track.

During the same time slot, there will be a very interesting discussion on Leadership and Mentoring in the Trucking Industry. Many organizations are trying to prepare for the great changes ahead. Specifically they are trying to address succession planning and bridging the generational gap in identifying and preparing the next cohort of leaders. To address these issues, we have identified two experts in the areas of leadership and mentorship. Angela Splinter, CEO, Trucking HR Canada will examine some proven approaches to attract more high quality management into the trucking industry, in particular more women into what has been a male dominated industry. Carolina Billings, President & Managing Partner, NLI Label will provide some practical strategies on how to improve succession planning at multiple levels within an organization.

The last educational track will also be another first for the Summit. Ian Evans skied from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole. He has climbed 5 of the 7 highest peaks on the 7 continents. He has circumnavigated Iceland by bicycle, cycled “end to end” in the UK from Lands End to John O’Groats and has run 10 full marathons in under 4 hours each. Since 1997, Ian Evans, President, Ian Evans & Associates Inc., has specialized in the restructuring and refinancing of transportation companies including airlines, courier and trucking businesses. Ian will talk about Reaching New Heights in your Life and Career.

In addition to the great educational content, there will be two extended networking breaks, an extended lunch hour and a post-Summit reception so the attendees can meet friends and colleagues and visit the sponsors of the event. For those of you trying to connect with Canadian trucking companies, logistics service providers, vendors and/or shippers, there will be multiple opportunities to do so. Register now to take advantage of the “early bird” rate. See you at the Summit in October.

For more information on the Summit or to register, go to www.surfacetransportationsummit.com . To stay up to date on the latest developments at the Summit follow #sts16 on Twitter.