Member Spotlight

Member Spotlight: Rian J. Nemeroff

The Traffic Club of Philadelphia is excited to present our September Member Spotlight, featuring a true pillar of our organization, Rian J. Nemeroff!

Rian is the Senior Vice President of Consumer Products, Marketing & Sales at Reading & Northern Railroad. He is a long-time member of the Traffic Club of Philadelphia, having served on the Board starting in 2002 and as Club Administrator from 2004 to 2014. We asked him to share some highlights from his remarkable career and his enduring relationship with the club.

Rian's Story

Rian's passion for logistics started early. He credits his major in Business Logistics at Penn State University for transforming him from a "mediocre student" into a Dean's List student. His first job was with the International Paper Company, which was headquartered in NYC at the time.

Today, his role at Reading & Northern Railroad focuses on generating revenue in forest products and adult beverages by expanding business with existing customers. He also works with connecting railroads to ensure competitive pricing to win new business.

Rian manages the Forest Products portfolio at RBMN, which benefited from an aggressive marketing program to encourage wood pulp producers to take greater advantage of R&N's Ransom Warehouse to stage safety stock closer to the Procter & Gamble tissue mill at the end of their line in Mehoopany, PA. R&N also saw growth in paperboard moving to the many box plants on the railroad as the need for corrugated material continues to grow.

Traffic diversity is one of R&N's strengths, and R&N also experienced carload and revenue success moving coal, plastic resins, metals, and food and ag commodities. The result of this diverse traffic base led R&N to have its most successful year moving freight despite the decline in frac sand.

Reading & Northern Railroad, with its corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, is a privately held railroad company serving over 80 customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties. It has expanded its operations over the last 40 years and now transports nearly 35,000 carloads of freight (which removes over 200,000 trucks from the highway), while its Passenger Department welcomes nearly 340,000 riders annually. Reading & Northern operates its freight and steam- and diesel-powered passenger excursions over 400 miles of track, owns almost 2,000 freight cars, and employs over 350 dedicated people.

A key point from Rian is that you do not have to have a rail siding to do business with the railroads.

He welcomes communications to discuss customers' supply chains and find new opportunities for rail to be part of the solution.

Rian also shared a personal story that exemplifies the camaraderie and mentorship within the industry:

My Charlie Marshall story is... he's the person who taught me how to tie a bow tie. I always admired people who tied their own bow tie and I could never figure it out from the schematics. I reached out to Charlie when I was a Conrail employee, and he took me into the executive washroom and showed me how to do it.

Charlie Marshall was a former Conrail executive who later became General Counsel for Genesee and Wyoming.

Q & A Section

We asked Rian about his experience with TCP and the value of membership. Here are his responses:

Q: How would you describe TCP to someone that has never heard of us?

A: "Professional association focused on Transportation and related industries such as warehousing, consulting, trucking, freight forwarding, etc."

Q: What value have you gained from being a Member?

A: "great networking organization"

Rian's daughter has even benefited from TCP's community, having been a three-time recipient of scholarships, including the Tucker, Einhorn, and Yetman merit awards.

We're so grateful to have dedicated long-time members like Rian in our community. Join us in celebrating his accomplishments and continued contributions!

Stay tuned for our next Member Spotlight!