New award to be presented Nov. 16 at Intermodal Expo Welcome Reception The Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) has named Ben Shelton, Union Pacific Railroad's general director of premium operations, as the winner of its inaugural Chairman's Award. Shelton will receive the prestigious industry award at a presentation ceremony during the 2009 Intermodal Expo Welcome Reception in November at the Anaheim (CA) Marriott.

The new award recognizes exceptional contributions of an individual, or individuals, who have provided outstanding service to IANA and the intermodal transportation industry as either a longstanding volunteer or as a member of the Association's staff. The award is presented by the IANA Board of Directors based upon the Association's recognition of an individual's contributions.

'Ben Shelton has been a tremendous supporter of the intermodal transportation industry overall, and a valuable resource to so many of us individually' said IANA Chairman Greg Stefflre. 'He has provided great insight and steadfastness in his work on IANA's committees, and has been one of the most dependable and enthusiastic volunteers in the Association's history.' During his career at the Union Pacific, Shelton has been extremely active in improving intermodal operations and maintenance procedures and has served many vital volunteer roles for IANA.

He has been a member of the IANA Operations Committee for a decade, leading its Terminal Process Best Practices Task Force while also actively serving on four additional task forces. He has also served for many years on the IANA Maintenance and Repair Committee as a member of two of that committee's task forces, and has served as an alternate on the Intermodal Interchange Executive Committee since 1997. Shelton is also one of three panelists, representing rail equipment providers, in the Dispute Resolution Process of the Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Access Agreement.

Shelton also served as the first private industry co-chairman of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Intermodal Freight Technology Working Group from 2006 to 2008, an organization with which he remains actively involved. He entered the transportation industry in 1966 with less-than-truckload carrier Strickland Transportation and joined Union Pacific Motor Freight as general director for labor relations in 1984. Shelton retired from Union Pacific in September 2009 and plans to move back to his home state of Arkansas later in the year.