Mr. Schmidt oversees all matters involving procurement and supply chain management (shipping, transportation and logistics) for Stahlschmidt's projects and ongoing activities. Schmidt also serves as CEO of Stahlschmidt Online Solutions, a division of the company that handles information management, internet and online solutions including Stahlschmidt's proprietary online commodities trading platform. [Stahlschmidt is a privately held management services, investment and asset management company with activities dating back to its inception in Toronto, Canada in 1983. Its current corporate headquarters are located in Cleveland, Ohio. The Company has offices in Chicago; Houston; Toronto; London, England; Singapore, and in Switzerland. Its origins in the international trading of metals, minerals and energy as well as subsequent tailored supply chain management, structured trade finance and management services engagements have influenced the Company’s current investment strategies. Today, Stahlschmidt’s investment portfolio is primarily focused on the steel, oil & gas, renewable energy, general aviation, e-commerce, and property management sectors both in the United States and abroad.]

Mr. Schmidt serves as member of Stahlschmidt Incorporated's board of directors.[Stahlschmidt is a privately held management services, investment and asset management company with activities dating back to its inception in Toronto, Canada in 1983. Its current corporate headquarters are located in Cleveland, Ohio. The Company has offices in Chicago; Houston; Toronto; London, England; Singapore, and in Switzerland. Its origins in the international trading of metals, minerals and energy as well as subsequent tailored supply chain management, structured trade finance and management services engagements have influenced the Company’s current investment strategies. Today, Stahlschmidt’s investment portfolio is primarily focused on the steel, oil & gas, renewable energy, general aviation, e-commerce, and property management sectors both in the United States and abroad.]

As member of the steering committee, Mr. Schmidt provides input for the development of transport and logistics modules of KeyCommodities with JV partners KPMG and other strategic alliance partners.

In January 2011, Mr. Schmidt proposed and was subsequently entrusted with the concomitant responsibility as industrial project cargo lead for all project matters in the Americas region of the Hellmann Worldwide Logistics' (HWL) network. To this end, Schmidt served as primary regional liaison to his 3 counterparts in other HWL regions. Schmidt's responsibilities mirror the project development scope successfully rolled out previously for ABX LOGISTICS in both the Asia-Pacific and North American regions including implementation of standard project procedures and systems, project marketing and sales strategies as well as structuring and managing a regional project team. Schmidt oversaw all project staff and activities within the HWL Americas region and ensured proper coordination amongst respective regions for project tenders, operations and client relations.[Founded in 1871, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics (HWL) had grown consistently over the years to a robust network of 16,500 dedicated professionals based in 443 offices in 157 countries. With an annual turnover at the time of €2.47 billion, HWL was ranked 26th globally amongst international freight forwarders. At the time, the company was owned and actively managed by the Hellmann family and was the largest privately-owned freight forwarding group in the world. Areas of activity included road transport network, international air- & sea-freight forwarding, project logistics, contract logistics/warehousing, just-in time distribution and complete supply chain logistics management.]

In order to fill a vacancy in the management of HWL's south Texas/Louisiana territory, Mr. Schmidt temporarily took on the additional responsibility of managing HWL's Houston office while a thorough search for a properly-qualified and well-suited full-time manager could be conducted.[Founded in 1871, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics (HWL) had grown consistently over the years to a robust network of 16,500 dedicated professionals based in 443 offices in 157 countries. With an annual turnover at the time of €2.47 billion, HWL was ranked 26th globally amongst international freight forwarders. At the time, the company was owned and actively managed by the Hellmann family and was the largest privately-owned freight forwarding group in the world. Areas of activity included road transport network, international air- & sea-freight forwarding, project logistics, contract logistics/warehousing, just-in time distribution and complete supply chain logistics management.]

Mr. Schmidt was brought on board Hellmann Worldwide Logistics' (HWL) U.S. management team by the President & CEO to take charge of the Hellmann Project Cargo division and to drive its growth. HWL's project cargo division focused on the planning and execution of complex shipments of plant equipment and machinery for turnkey industrial plant construction and maintenance works.Schmidt's responsibilities mirror the project development scope successfully rolled out previously for ABX LOGISTICS in both the Asia-Pacific and North American regions including implementation of standard project procedures and systems, project marketing and sales strategies as well as structuring and managing a regional project team. Schmidt directed all project operations, including responsibility for P&L management, personnel, planning, tendering, project sales & marketing, project implementation including chartering arrangements, subcontractor relations, etc.[Founded in 1871, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics (HWL) had grown consistently over the years to a robust network of 16,500 dedicated professionals based in 443 offices in 157 countries. With an annual turnover at the time of €2.47 billion, HWL was ranked 26th globally amongst international freight forwarders. At the time, the company was owned and actively managed by the Hellmann family and was the largest privately-owned freight forwarding group in the world. Areas of activity included road transport network, international air- & sea-freight forwarding, project logistics, contract logistics/warehousing, just-in time distribution and complete supply chain logistics management.]

Mr. Schmidt was brought on board the North American management team by ABX LOGISTICS' Managing Director Air & Sea Worldwide together with the regional President and CEO to restructure project activities and stimulate growth in what had been until then an underperforming product sector in North America. Schmidt's responsibilities mirror the project development scope successfully rolled out previously for ABX LOGISTICS in Asia-Pacific including implementation of standard project procedures and systems, project marketing and sales strategies as well as formation and management of a regional project team. See below for further details.Schmidt directed all project operations, including responsibility for P&L management, personnel, planning, tendering, project sales & marketing, project implementation including chartering arrangements, subcontractor relations, etc.[ABX LOGISTICS was a wholly-owned subsidiary of 3i, Europe’s leading private equity and venture capital company, and a leading international logistics company with an annual turnover of €2.5 billion. Specializing in providing “one-stop shopping” of logistics solutions via its network of 10,000 employees spanning 100 countries worldwide, ABX LOGISTICS' areas of activity included road/rail transport network, international air- & sea-freight forwarding, project logistics, warehousing, just-in-time distribution and complete supply chain logistics management. In September 2008, DSV acquired ABX LOGISTICS.]

Parallel to the regional project activities outlined above, Mr. Schmidt was appointed general manager of the local country organisation and charged with overall management of the day-to-day operations of the Malaysian organisation comprising a team of 130 people and 8 offices.Schmidt's responsibilities included P&L management, business planning & budgeting, sales & marketing, personnel, IT/EDP, tender management and operational oversight.Schmidt also locally spearheaded the regional programme to establish the contract warehouse logistics business segment, a product previously only offered by ABX in Europe. As part of this campaign, Schmidt successfully secured and executed a contract with a division of multi-national oil & gas giant Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell Car Care International) for a regional distribution hub based in Malaysia.During Schmidt's tenure, ABX Malaysia successfully secured and managed business for such key clients as Siemens, Technip, BASF, BASF PETRONAS Chemicals, Kværner, to name a few. Schmidt is proud to have achieved, together with the Malaysian team, a record profitability in 2004 prior to his departure.[ABX LOGISTICS was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Belgian railways group SNCB (Société nationale des chemins de fer belges), and a leading international logistics company with an annual turnover of €2.5 billion. Providing “one-stop shopping” of logistics solutions via its network of 10,000 employees spanning 100 countries worldwide, ABX LOGISTICS’ offerings included road/rail transport network, international air- & sea-freight forwarding, project logistics, warehousing, just-in-time distribution and complete supply chain logistics management.]

After several years’ involvement in operational project activities plus a supportive role in regional project development activities, the Asia-Pacific CEO entrusted Mr. Schmidt with the responsibility to oversee regional project development activities. At the time, ABX LOGISTICS' Asia-Pacific region comprised 10 countries. To this end, Schmidt relocated to Kuala Lumpur to establish a new Project Development Group, a team that would be dedicated to project business acquisition through general project marketing activities; pre-qualification of group companies with major EPC contractors and project owners; regional project tender management; both inter- and intra-regional coordination of Group activities; provision of centralized project resources such as negotiation of heavy-lift vessel chartering, preparation of transportation feasibility studies using AutoCAD software.Schmidt's responsibilities included oversight of sales, tender bids, negotiations, customer service as well as project planning, implementation and handover to local project execution teams.In addition, as part of the project mandate, Schmidt was a driving force in the development of a global Purchase Order Management System (POMS), a system that provides customerswith real-time, online status of purchase order expediting activities and shipment status, andan indispensable tool for planning of just-in-time deliveries.[ABX LOGISTICS was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Belgian railways group SNCB (Société nationale des chemins de fer belges), and a leading international logistics company with an annual turnover of €2.5 billion. Providing “one-stop shopping” of logistics solutions via its network of 10,000 employees spanning 100 countries worldwide, ABX LOGISTICS’ offerings included road/rail transport network, international air- & sea-freight forwarding, project logistics, warehousing, just-in-time distribution and complete supply chain logistics management.]

Upon finalization of the Syriamar agency agreement and completion of the Beirut projects (see below), Mr. Schmidt was brought on board the Asian team by the regional CEO to take charge of the coordination of the largest project ever handled by Thyssen Haniel Logistics in Asia (a nickel processing plant expansion project at a remote-location in Indonesia for account of Fluor Daniel/INCO/ABB/ELIN/Voest-Alpine/GE Hydro/Astaldi/Thiess) in addition to other general project business.Schmidt directed all project operations, including responsibility for P&L management, personnel, logistics planning, chartering, subcontractor relations and operational execution.[ABX LOGISTICS was established in 1993 as a local transport company, part of the Belgian railways group SNCB (Société nationale des chemins de fer belges). After securing its position within the Belgian market, the company expanded between 1998 and 2001 on a global scale with the acquisition of three long-established European companies: Thyssen Haniel Logistics/Bahntrans in Germany (founded in 1800), Saima Avandero in Italy (founded in 1746), and the Dubois Group in France (founded in 1912). These 3 companies were supplemented by other smaller acquisitions in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in order to complete the global network. The acquisition strategy transformed the Belgian local operator into the global leader in freight forwarding and logistics.]

Half way through the Management Trainee Programme, Mr. Schmidt was entrusted by the German Management Board with the special assignment of finalizing an exclusive agency agreement with the Syrian General Authority for Maritime Transport (Syriamar), the Syrian state forwarding company. To this end, Schmidt relocated to Damascus, Syria to engage the client in local discussions and negotiations. As part of this task, Schmidt was responsible for establishing and managing THL’s Levant representative office in Damascus. Other concurrent activities included:• acquiring and analyzing leads on Syrian and Lebanese ad hoc project tenders/opportunities;• negotiating and finalising contracts of carriage from world-wide origins for a wide range ofSyriamar shipments totalling in excess of 90,000 revenue tons;• acting as THL representative to Hochtief-CCC, Beirut for matters relating to ongoingshipments for the Beirut International Airport project being handled by THL; and• assessing various forwarding companies in Lebanon for suitability to act as THL’sexclusive network agent.[Thyssen Haniel Logistic GmbH, founded in 1800, was the logistics and transportation subsidiary of major German conglomerate Thyssen AG (now ThyssenKrupp AG).]

Mr. Schmidt was selected to participate in a select, 2-year rotational Executive Management Trainee Programme that would expose him to diverse business units of the Thyssen Haniel Logistics Group with the goal of providing a strong foundation in the scope and activities of the company and ability to develop and exploit corporate synergies in future international management assignments.Location: Barcelona, SpainFocus: sea-freight import/export operations and salesLocation: Frankfurt, GermanyFocus: air-freight import/export operations, express/courier services, finance/controllingLocation: Duisburg, GermanyFocus: inland waterway/coastal shipping and charteringLocation: Duisburg, GermanyFocus: heavy-lift/special cargo, international road transport, warehousing, EDP/ITHighlight: The planned two-year executive management trainee programme was concluded early after only one year when a business need arose in Syria and the German Management Management Board deemed Schmidt qualified and ready to be elevated to active duty.[Thyssen Haniel Logistic GmbH, founded in 1800, was the logistics and transportation subsidiary of major German conglomerate Thyssen AG (now ThyssenKrupp AG).]