July 3, 2025 — The International Association of Maritime and Port Executives (IAMPE) is pleased to announce the addition of three new members to the IAMPE Board of Advisors. Joining the board is Gier-Eilif Kalhagen, MPE – Maritime Division Director, Texas Department of Transportation; Thomas Simmers – Deputy Secretary, General Stevedoring Council; and Dennis Wilmsmeyer, AMPE – Executive Director, America’s Central Port. The Board of Advisors reviews and approves IAMPE course programs, recommends improvements to IAMPE programming, supports course development, and provides general advice to the organization as a whole.
Geir‐Eilif Kalhagen has served as the Texas Department of Transportation’s Maritime Division Director since April 2020 and brings over three decades of direct experience in the global supply chain, with an emphasis and core proficiencies in the maritime sector, global logistics, and international commerce. Mr. Kalhagen’s global experience in the private sector, along with his tenure as CEO and Executive Director for a deep‐water Port Authority, has led Mr. Kalhagen to be an authoritative voice on the confluence of the private maritime industry and public port management. He served as the first vice president of the Americas for the International Association of Ports and Harbors and on caucuses and subcommittees for the American Association of Port Authorities. He is currently a member of the Managing Board for the Texas Lone Star Harbor Safety Committee and serves on advisory committees for the University of Houston Port of the Future conference and Lamar University’s Center for Advances in Port Management.
Thomas Simmers is a fifty-year veteran of the stevedoring and marine terminal industry. He is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY. Mr. Simmers has served as the President and CEO of two North American stevedoring companies (Ceres Terminals Inc., East Brunswick, NJ and Yusen Terminals, Inc, Los Angeles, CA.); as Executive Vice President of the United States Maritime Alliance; and currently serves as the Deputy Secretary of the General Stevedoring Council, a worldwide organization of stevedores and marine terminal operators. He has been on the Boards of numerous industry organizations including the United States Maritime Alliance, the New York Shipping Association, the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey, the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore, and the National Maritime Safety Association where he also served as President and the National Association of Waterfront Employers. In addition, he has served as Chairman of the Maritime Transportation System National Advisory Council reporting to the US Secretary of Transportation, as a member of the Marine Advisory Council to the US Occupational Safety and Health Organization and as a lobbyist on maritime and labor matters before the federal government.
Dennis Wilmsmeyer has served as the Executive Director of America’s Central Port since 2010. Prior to that time, he spent 11 years with the Port, six of those as General Manager. Mr. Wilmsmeyer joined the Port team in 1999 after 12 years in transportation planning and project management with the East-West Gateway Council of Governments in St. Louis, the City of Kansas City, and a private consulting firm in Missouri.
An active member in his community, Dennis has served as President of World Trade Center – St. Louis, President and Chairman of the Board for Inland Rivers, Ports and Terminals, President and Chairman of the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, a board member of the National Waterways Conference, and a member of the Marine Transportation System National Advisory Committee, and the Maritime Highway subcommittee. He currently serves as a board member of Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan Area Regional Planning Commission.
