(Speaker bios are still being collected and will be published on this page once complete. Check the agenda for a list of confirmed speakers and their companies)
Transportation & Response Symposium
Speakers List
Greg Hallet is an Emergency Response Specialist with Shell and is the Co-leader the Shell Response Action Team for HazMat response in the Americas.
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In his 15 years at Shell, Greg has worked around the globe with multiple levels of the business, leading Frontline Staff, Leaders, and Senior Management in pre-planning for incidents, emergency response training sessions, incident investigations and supporting fire and HazMat responses.
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Greg’s response history with large incidents includes the Fort MacMurray Wildfire in 2016, Brazil Northeast oil spill in 2019, and Hurricane Ida in 2021. Greg and his team continue to lead multiple safe and successful HAZMAT responses for incidents involving reactive, flammable and TIH products in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
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With 19 years in municipal emergency services, he has served as a Firefighter, Captain, and Training Officer with several Fire Departments, and been awarded the Alberta Emergency Services Medal.
Greg continues to serve as Fire Instructor for Shell’s Corporate Fire School at the TEEX Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station several times a year.
Greg Hallet
In Mr. Elkins current position as Director of Hazardous Materials Compliance with the Bureau of Explosives' / AAR, and in his previous experience in law enforcement, having served 27 years as a Special Operations Police Officer with the Metro Nashville, Tennessee Police Department, he has seen first-hand how First Responders rush toward incidents that most others are running from. Andy strongly support programs that provide information that keep these responders, and the communities they serve, safe.
Director of Hazardous Materials Compliance
-American Association of Railroads
Andy Elkins
Tyler Parker manages hazardous materials and environmental incident prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery for the Houston area. Tyler joined Union Pacific Railroad in 2014. His education consists of numerous certifications related to hazardous materials, and environmental response, including the DOD Fire Service. Tyler also has an A.S. in Emergency Management from the U.S.A.F. and a B.S. in Human Resource Development from Southwestern College. Tyler's pre-railroad experience includes three years as Environmental Technician at iSi Environmental and six years at the Kansas Air National Guard in Emergency Management. In his spare time he enjoys taking his children fishing, camping, and four-wheeling. He also spends time riding his motorcycle.
Hazardous Materials Management
Union Pacific Railroad - Houston, TX
Tyler Parker
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Scott Skelton
Principal Exposure Scientist for Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health
LLC (CTEH®) in Little Rock, Arkansas
Scott is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) with 17 years of experience in chemical safety for emergency response, industrial toxicology, and energy industries. Scott graduated from Arkansas State with a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry, and Montana Technological University with a Master of Science in Industrial Hygiene. Scott is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Fire Science from Oklahoma State University. His career remains focused on worker exposure and exposure control for Emergency Response events and Industrial Toxicology, while pursuing novel research in hydrocarbon firefighting and exposure during foam application. To date, Scott has responded to over 2000 chemical and natural disaster responses of national and international significance. These include train derailments, chemical plant fires, well-control events and large-scale releases from pipeline, marine, storage, and offshore exploration.
Tom has 48 years of experience in quality assurance, design, repair, and inspection of railroad tank cars. Over his career he has developed numerous inspection, repair, training, and quality assurance programs. For the last 25 years he has provided regulatory compliance support to railcar owners and repair shops alike that assists them with any of their AAR or FRA compliance issues.
Tom spent 25-years with Graver Tank and Union Tank Car Company (UTC) starting in 1975, 7-years in new car engineering designing and building new cars and 13-years in fleet repair engineering and inspection services. Tom also served as Rescar’s Vice President of Quality Assurance and spent 16 years with AllTranstek, and additional 5-years with Watco Compliance Services prior to joining in Salco Products in 2016 as the VP of Technical Service. Tom now serves as the SVP of Quality and Regulatory Compliance for all the A.Stucki companies.
Certified Quality Auditor, (CQA), through The American Society of Quality (ASQ), is a member of both the Railway Supply Institute (RSI) Quality Assurance Committee and Committee for Tank Cars
Tom DeLafosse
Ryan’s current role includes ensuring technical and regulatory requirements are satisfied for the safe transportation of hazardous materials via rail, roadway and waterway. Additionally, his duties also include Product Stewardship regarding the safe transportation, storage and handling of products and transportation emergency response. His experience includes inspections, auditing, investigations, emergency response and regulatory compliance.
Ryan Giddings is a Certified Safety Professional with more than 10 years of experience in the chemical manufacturing industry.
Ryan Giddings
Knowledgeable, up-and-coming leader in a Global Hazmat transportation companies management and operational procedures. After extensive work with freight forwarders and several years with NRS Group (Interflow) he later joined COSCO SHIPPING, where he quickly raised within the ranks and became the leader of its DG program across the US and Canada. He is accredited with the exponential growth of the Global Fortune 500 Company’s DG program in the US and represents them in global research for more innovative ways to address the increasing concerns of misinformation and clarity when it comes to the sharing of DG information. In addition to his work with COSCO, he is also a board member of respected industry associations like IVODGA (International Vessel Operators Dangerous Goods Association), where he amongst his peers discusses and writes proposals on UN regulations affecting the industry as a whole.
Ryan Giddings
Ryan has 30+ years of product development and engineering in the fire equipment/apparatus and specialty vehicle fields. Ryan has had the opportunity to develop engineer and bring to production new emergency vehicles from ground up through new chassis, cab, bodies, aerials, and pumps. Very few have had the opportunity to literally engineer a fire apparatus from bumper to bumper, especially new product lines. This allows him to manage the engineering and production teams for quality and resilience in the products. Ryan is a veteran firefighter of 20+ years and has extensive training in Flammable Liquids Firefighting, Hazardous Materials Response, Confined Space Rescue, Advance Level Command, National Incident Management System, High Angle Rescue, Driver, and Pump Operations. As a hazmat technician, Ryan was able to work towards his specialist in hydrocarbons fuel spills and fuel in-depth fires. This has allowed Ryan a better insight into the engineering and development of new firefighting tools for the fellow firefighter. “I know the pain of apparatus or equipment not performing the task at hand in a critical situation, firefighting we have to perform at a level above with little room for error. Many times, it’s a life or death decision in a split second and expect our tools and equipment to be there without fail.” Ryan is a certified IFSTA and ProBoard Instructor. Ryan has successfully participated in and successfully commanded many large-scale industrial fire events and rescues.
US Fire Pump Company, LLC
Chief Engineer and Chief Emergency Response Technician
Ryan Nawrocki
José N. Guillén
COSCO Shipping Lines
(North America) Inc.
Sr. Manager
Dangerous Goods Department
John R. West, PE CHMM PMP
Mr. West is a professional engineer, hazardous materials manager, and project manager with 23 years of experience in high-stress decision-making and flexible problem-solving. John’s many years of performing emergency response work give him the ability to quickly assess hazards and provide expert guidance for the containment, monitoring, and removal of hazardous chemical and oil spills. He has implemented multiple new programs for companies including developing an FAA-compliant commercial sUAS (drone) program, standing up an Emergency Response group, establishing an American Association of Railroads compliant repair shop, and most recently has relocated from the United States to Singapore to establish new emergency response operations in the Asia Pacific Region.
Vice President of Operations at OURAY
Mr. Higgins has over 20 years of experience in the hazardous materials field operations with a focus on mitigation of hazardous materials within a contracting regime. His experience includes: Incident Command and Project Management of personnel, equipment, and logistical assets for a variety of incidents including emergency response to transportation disasters (train derailments, tanker rollovers), natural disasters, chemical plant recoveries, large contaminated earth moving and in-situ remediation project, storage tank removals, industrial site services, and large-scale hazardous waste management. Mr. Higgins current duties include Vice President of Operations.
Drew Higgins