Executive Moves: NFTC, Tiger Cool Express and Prince Rupert Port Authority

The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) appoints new board chairman, Tiger Cool Express names chief executive officer and the Prince Rupert Port Authority’s president and CEO retires.    Tiger Cool Express (TCX), a temperature-controlled intermodal transportation provider based in Overland Park, Kan., has named Steve Van Kirk chief executive officer on Tuesday, succeeding Tom Finkbiner, who will move to non-executive chairman of the board of directors.
   Prior to joining TCX, Van Kirk was president of Swift Intermodal for five years. He also spent 12 years at Schneider National, five years with Procter & Gamble, and served as an infantry officer in the United States Army for 12 years.

   The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), a Washington, D.C. organization that promotes an open trading system for U.S. businesses, appointed former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, as its new board chairman, effective this Friday. Gutierrez is succeeding Ambassador Alan Wolff, who has been NFTC Chairman since 2011. Wolff is taking on a new position in Geneva as deputy director general of the World Trade Organization.
   Gutierrez served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2009. He also spent nearly three decades at the Kellogg Company, eventually becoming chairman and CEO; worked as vice chairman of the Institutional Clients Group at Citi; and chairs the U.S.-Cuba Business Council at the Chamber of Commerce.

   Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) President and CEO Don Krusel is retiring, effective immediately, and Joe Rektor, the port authority’s chief financial officer, is assuming the role of interim president and CEO while a search is conducted for Krusel’s replacement. Krusel joined the Canadian port in 1987 as its chief financial officer, and served as president and CEO since 1992.