New IANA CEO Anne Reinke Aims to Lift Intermodal
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New Intermodal Association of North America CEO Anne Reinke wants to elevate the industry’s profile and Capitol Hill presence. But before she makes any moves, she’s going to learn the ropes.
“One of the things that I read years ago — actually when I started at TIA — was this book called ‘The First 90 Days,’ ” said Reinke, who IANA in September said would replace retiring CEO Joni Casey at the end of 2024. Prior to joining IANA, Reinke spent four years leading the Transportation Intermediaries Association.
“What you should do for the first 90 days is a lot of listening and learning, and not acting or reacting,” Reinke said. “It’s really to understand. So, if we have these technical programs that I’m starting to learn about, I need to understand from everyone’s standpoint what’s important to them [and] what they think needs to be improved.”
Reinke stressed how this approach helped make her transition at TIA less overwhelming, and believes it can do the same as IANA steers into a politically uncertain environment.
Casey
“We’ve got a new administration, we’ve got a new Congress, and the issue of advocacy is a complicated one because there will be issues [with] this new administration we’ll be 100% aligned on, and there will be issues that we are not aligned on at all,” Reinke said. “So, how do you navigate those kind of waters?”
Adding to the challenge is shepherding the IANA membership, especially when the role of advocacy hasn’t always been at the group’s forefront.
“IANA has not dabbled in that and for a number of reasons,” Reinke said. “I think sometimes it’s hard to reach consensus from the stakeholders that we have in our organization. However, it’s not impossible. I would say getting us in front of policymakers is really critical, [and] not only for our name recognition. If ultimately our purpose is to grow the market share of intermodal — which it is — one way to do it is to make sure that everyone is educated about the utility that we have; our ability to cure the supply chain dysfunction when it exists.”
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IANA has already been refocusing attention on educating the public about the importance of intermodal, and Reinke hopes to bolster those efforts by leveraging her background in both advocacy and public relations. A key element in that effort will be leveraging relationships with industry stakeholders to partner on important issues.
“I’ve been in transportation my whole career,” Reinke said, “so I’ve been fortunate to make friendships with a lot of critical people who are important to the overall cause. Whether it’s Ian Jefferies at [Association of American Railroads], or Chris Spear at [American Trucking Associations], or Jeff Shoaf at the Associated General Contractors of America.. All of these folks are important to us. And so, ultimately, one of the things that we’ll be thinking about is how we can work together, what are the issues that make sense, what are the issues that we can rally behind.” .
Reinke can also rely on a range of experience over two decades. Prior to her time at TIA, she served two years as deputy assistant secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corp.
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Going forward, she plans to explore ways that intermodal can regain market share it has lost since 2019, and on understanding the association’s technical programs to better understand and improve them. Among them is the Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement, which the group describes as a “standard industry contract that governs the interchange of equipment between intermodal motor carriers and equipment providers,” including ocean carriers, railroads and equipment leasing companies.
Reinke stressed that, as she steps into the role, she’s following in the footsteps of a long-tenured leader who leaves the organization in good shape.
“Joni Casey has really set me up for success,” Reinke said of the outgoing CEO, who is retiring after 27 years at the helm. “The organization is well run. We have money in the bank, we’ve got a pivotal role to play. We have a utility, and a reason, and a purpose, to our existence. And so all of that really makes it easy to take the reins, if you will.”
