Former Ingram Barge CEO to lead Vanderbilt Center for Transportation Research

Craig E. Philip, a nationally recognized leader in marine and intermodal transportation industries and former CEO of Ingram Barge Company, has been named director of the Vanderbilt Center for Transportation Research. He also is a research professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

VECTOR emphasizes the integration of transportation engineering, planning and management, and represents Vanderbilt as one of the member institutions of the Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education, the Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute, and the Southeastern Transportation Center.

Craig Philip

“I am honored to be joining a world class institution and engineering school, and look forward to sharing my management and  policy experiences with our students, and collaborating with faculty across  Vanderbilt,” Philip said.

Philip has spent more than 35 years in professional and senior management capacities in various transportation industries, and has held adjunct faculty positions at Princeton and Vanderbilt. He earned a master’s and doctorate degrees at MIT, and his bachelor’s degree at Princeton, all in civil engineering.

“We are extremely fortunate to have an industry and thought leader of Craig’s caliber directing VECTOR. Our faculty and students are excited to be working with him on tackling the interdisciplinary challenges facing the nation’s transportation networks,” said Doug Adams, Daniel F. Flowers Professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Philip’s research focus includes infrastructure resilience and the application of risk management tools to public policy making, management and sustainability of freight transportation networks and operations, carrier safety management and regulations, and balancing multi-stakeholder interests.

As an industry leader, Philip has actively engaged in public policy development with regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Transportation and with infrastructure providers such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Philip began his career at Consolidated Rail Corporation and later served with Southern Pacific Railroad as vice president of the Intermodal Division.

From 1993 to 2014 he served as president and CEO of Ingram Barge Company as it grew to become the largest American domestic marine transportation carrier.  In 2008 the Craig E. Philip Chair in Engineering was created by the Ingram family to honor him. George M. Hornberger is the Craig E. Philip Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Hornberger also is the director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment.

In 2010 Philip was designated a Distinguished Diplomate in the Academy of Coastal, Ocean, Port and Navigation Engineers. In 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional honors accorded an engineer.

Philip also has served as chairman of the American Waterways Operators, the National Waterways Conference and the National Waterways Foundation, the U.S. Chamber’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and as a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Executive Committee as well as the Marine Board.

He currently serves as a U.S. Commissioner of PIANC (international water transport congress) and on the boards of the ArcBest Corporation, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Freight Advisory Committee, the Seamen’s Church Institute, the Red Cross of Tennessee and the Nashville Civic Design Center.

Contact:
Brenda Ellis, (615) 343-6314
Brenda.Ellis@Vanderbilt.edu
Twitter @VUEngineering