EMMETT RESIGNS AS NIT LEAGUE PRESIDENT, SEARCH BEGINS FOR SUCCESSOR

EMMETT RESIGNS AS NIT LEAGUE PRESIDENT, SEARCH BEGINS FOR SUCCESSOR    Edward M. Emmett, president since 1992 of the National Industrial Transportation League, an association of manufacturers and shippers with headquarters in Arlington, Va., said Tuesday he would resign, effective May 6.
   Under his management, the NIT League has become an international presence, a peer of European shipping councils.
   In the past year, the NIT League has formed an alliance of convenience with the World Shipping Council, an organization of ocean carriers in Washington, D.C., to advance U.S. efforts in effecting a harmonized international regime for the carriage of cargo at sea.
      Representatives of the NIT League and the WSC have recently served on the U.S. delegation to sessions of UNCITRAL’s Working Group III, which is currently developing the text of an international cargo convention.
   “I’ve put lot of effort into making the league an organization with international stature, and that metamorphosis will always be the highlight of my time as president,” Emmett told Shipper’s News Wire on Tuesday.
   Asked why he had resigned, Emmett said, “for some time, my wife, Gwen, and I have wanted to move back to Texas, where three of our four children now live. This decision is heartfelt and a simple one: we want to be nearer to our family,” he said.
   Emmett, 53, said he would not retire. “I’m looking for a job. I’ve given a lot of thought to some options.” One is to develop an international venture with former British minister of transport Malcolm Caithness, a longtime friend.
   As for Emmett’s successor, the NIT League’s executive committee will serve as a search committee. “I have taken myself out of that process,” Emmett said. “If someone sends me a resume, I’ll pass it on to the committee. It’s for them to decide.”
   Tom Pellington, NIT League chairman, said in a statement, “Ed’s leadership and commitment to the league will be deeply missed.”