Meet The Speakers

Jim currently serves as the President of the Truckload Carriers Association. He began his transportation career in 1978 working for the Western Maryland Railroad before leaving to work for D.M. Bowman in January 1986. Jim served as Managing Director of the Transportation Industry Division for Willis of Nashville, TN starting in 1992 before returning to D.M. Bowman, Inc. in 1999, where he most recently served as President until March 2022.

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Jim and his wife, Starla, will be celebrating 41 years of marriage this year.  They have two sons, Jason (spouse Kim) and Keith (spouse Sara), a grandson, Aden, and granddaughter Mila.

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Jim has a variety of interests, among those are outdoor activities, travel, reading, and most importantly, spending time with his family.

Kevin's 40 year journey with The Erb Group started when he was just 17 as a part time job during high school. That job included washing trucks on the weekend as well as helping out in the yard and on the dock loading trucks. After completing high school, he moved into a local dispatch role working nights routing straight trucks for store door delivery. He has been with Erb International Operations for 32 years, moving through various roles, and currently holds the position of SR Director of US Operations  

David Heller is the Senior Vice President of Safety and Government Affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and is responsible for communicating and interpreting all trucking-related regulations – safety, legislative, and otherwise – to the membership of TCA and our congressional representatives on Capitol Hill.

Heller regularly develops and authors comments regarding trucking industry mandates based upon association policies and principles, and serves as staff liaison for all federal and state legislative and regulatory issues pertaining to the Department of Transportation and other related federal agencies. As a routine part of his job, he supports the association membership in the resolution to technical inquiries on the trucking industry, with particular emphasis on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). As evidenced by his participation in FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC), Heller has become a recognized industry expert in trucking and also one of the few association executives who has earned his certification from the North American Transportation Management Institute (NATMI) as a Certified Director of Safety (CDS). 

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Heller has appeared multiple times on the Dave Nemo Show and Road Dog Trucking News with Mark Willis to explain TCA’s position on key legislative and regulatory issues and has spoken on issues to multiple industry-based trade associations. He is regularly approached for comment on industry-relevant matters by top trucking trade publications and offers a quarterly webinar to TCA members that provides updates to important industry issues such as Infrastructure, Hours of Service, and Testing for Drugs and Alcohol.

Mark Bylsma is President and Managing partner at Spring Creek Carriers and Logistics Inc.  In 1995, without a nickel to their names, Mark along with a college friend, launched Spring Creek Carriers Inc.  Lacking any previous knowledge or experience in the transportation industry they bought their first truck.  Specializing in asset based cross-border LTL they have grown Spring Creek to 42 power units and 52 trailers with revenues exceeding $17 million. 

 
Spring Creek actively supports and contributes to the industry and our community to promote their positive image.  As an active member of the OTA, CTA and TCA,  Mark is on the Executive of the OTA and a board member of the CTA.  Spring Creek supports several charities in the Niagara Region and across the globe.  Spring Creek is also an industry partner with the “Trucks For Change Network” 

Mark has a BA in Business Administration from Calvin University.  He has served 2 terms as a Niagara Regional Councillor (2006-2014), and is currently transitioning into the role of Chairman of the OTA.  When not being challenged by our industry in the “day to day”, you will find Mark spending time with family and friends, volunteering in the community, or sitting on his lawn mower “tuning out the world”. 

Nathan Janzen is an Assistant Chief Economist, leading the macroeconomic analysis group. His focus is on analysis and forecasting macroeconomic developments in Canada and the United States. Nathan has been with RBC since 2008 with a focus on covering the macroeconomic outlook for Canada and the United States. He has a MA in economics from McMaster University and a BA in economics from the University of Regina.

David Tumber is the President and Chief Operating Officer at Kriska Transportation Group (KTG). He joined KTG in 2015 as the Director of Commercial Development and now has the responsibility of managing 9 Canadian trucking and logistics business units, representing $350MM in sales.  In addition to managing the operational performance of KTG’s businesses, David is actively involved in all M&A related activities, from valuation and due diligence to strategic implementation.  

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Prior to joining Kriska, David led the Canadian sales team at Schneider National, as the Commercial General Manager. There he managed an outside sales team carrying a portfolio of over $90MM in sales, delivering cross-border solutions for both over the road as well as intermodal customers. 

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David is actively engaged in a number of industry clubs and associations.  He is a current board member of the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) and a Director with the Toronto Transportation Club (TTC). 

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David holds an Honours BA in Economics from McMaster University, an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a CPA CMA designation. He resides in Oakville, Ontario, with his wife and two young boys. 

Steven Brookshaw joined TFI International in 2014 through the acquisition of Contrans, a specialized truckload and logistics company.

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Steven was appointed Vice President of Contrans Flatbed Operation in 2007 and Vice President of Contrans in 2017. He was named Executive Vice President of TFI International in January 2018 and then was promoted to Senior Executive Vice president in 2023.

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He is primarily responsible for TFI International's Contrans truckload and specialized truckload operations.

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Steven graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1987 with a BBA and received his CPA and CMA in 1990.

Trevor Kurtz was born into the trucking industry. From riding around as a child in his father’s truck and now 40 years later, with his three brothers, running the safest fleet in North America under 25 million miles. Trevor is currently General Manager of Brian Kurtz Trucking.
He, his father, and three brothers look after 70 trucks and 125 trailers, delivering products all across the US and Canada. Specializing in temperature control and hazerdous goods means Kurtz Trucking has to stay on top of the everchanging world of regulations. Trevor was insturmental in helping Kurtz obtain their Fast, Ctpat, Pip, and membership in the Smartways environmental carrier program.

Dave joined Bison in July 2002 after spending 10 years with Maxim Transportation Services. Dave graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with an honours bachelor degree in commerce. 

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Dave has held various operational and maintenance roles in his time at Bison. He relocated from Winnipeg to join the Mississauga team during the summer of 2019. In his current role, Dave is responsible for all aspects of Bison’s Eastern Operations team, focused on the development and improvement of operational, customer service and Driver experience programs. 

Peter Stefanovich is the President and co-founder of Left Lane Associates, a Toronto-based investment bank focused solely on the transportation and supply chain industry throughout North America. His team of over 20 employees have helped both acquirers & sellers in the supply chain industry execute over 70 transactions ranging from 1M-912M in Enterprise Value since 2016. Before co-founding Left Lane Associates in 2016, Peter Stefanovich spent over 8 years in operations and sales for Radiant Logistics (formerly Wheels Group) in Toronto and RMS, a construction/maintenance company in the Chicago area. Peter spent several years working with the Canadian Government in various capacities while attending graduate school at the University of Carleton. Before attending graduate school, Peter Stefanovich graduated Suma Cum Laude in both Business Finance and Political Science from the University of Western Ontario (Huron College). Peter’s extensive connectivity across the supply chain industry continues to grow through his positions on industry boards such as the Toronto Transportation Club, Ontario Trucking Association, and the Canadian Trucking Alliance. Most recently, he has been a featured speaker at the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), Business Transitions Forum (BTF), the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and the Benesch Investing in the Transportation & Logistics Industry Annual Conference. 

James Steed is president of the Stratford-based Steed Standard Transport, a fourth generation, family-run fleet founded in 1913.  

 After completing his post-secondary education, James enrolled in the Motor Carrier Administration program at Sheridan College (Oakville); and, in 1990 received his AZ from Markel’s driving school in Guelph. After completing these programs, James purchased the company’s day-to-day operations in 2000. 

 As a fleet owner who began as a driver – and still drives and delivers freight to the US – Steed’s passions are driver welfare, recruitment, and solving the driver shortage.  

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 In 2022 James was appointed chair of the Ontario Trucking Association. During his tenure he has been passionate about overseeing some of the OTA’s long-standing polices, such as the implementation of ELD enforcement and the next phase of the fight against the Driver Inc, Employee Misclassification scheme. In addition, he has continued to emphasis programs that attract the next generation of entrants by increasing funds to training and ensuring enhanced immigration programs while continuing to invest in media initiatives like the Canadian Trucking Alliance’s social media image campaign. 

In his personal life, Steed is a champion of charitable causes and has spent years promoting the Canadian Cancer Society’s, Plaid for Dad fundraising campaign. James lives in Stratford with his wife, Chantal, daughter Danielle and Lab Leo. 

John G. Smith is an award-winning journalist with 35 years of experience in publishing and corporate environments. Long recognized as one of the leading commentators on Canada's trucking industry, Smith is Vice-President - Content and Design at Newcom Media, Canada's leading B2B publisher and trade show producer. In that role, he leads editorial and creative teams behind publications and websites that serve the trucking, financial services, insurance, dental, and retail sectors. 

Craig recently celebrated 37 years with XTL, steadily moving up through the ranks in various operations, sales & leadership roles, before taking on his current role of COO in 2019.  XTL is a family owned business providing fully-integrated supply-chain solutions across North America through 3 key service offerings: asset-based transportation, logistics and distribution and will be celebrating 40 years in business, in March 2025. By investing in their people, XTL has been successful in building a winning culture by combining strong family values with a drive to grow and perform. This culture is well reflected in the 850 + group of talented & diverse individuals that make up their essential workforce.