The President and Treasurer of the Illinois Western Railroad Company is Charles W. BarenfangerMr. Barenfanger holds a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois. He has over 12 years of experience in the railroad industry. He established a short line railroad company on trackage abandoned by the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad in Vandalia, Illinois. Barenfanger managed the daily operations of the Vandalia Railroad Company for 11 years. He aggressively marketed the railroad's services, resulting in an increase of over 2000% in revenue carloadings. He also pioneered the use of DTMF tones for control of grade crossing protection systems. In 1994, Barenfanger sold the Vandalia Railroad Company to Pioneer Railcorp of Peoria, Illinois. Charles Barenfanger is responsible for the general management of the Illinois Western Railroad Company. In addition, he is responsible for contact with connecting railroads and local industries. Barenfanger also handles customer service, providing accurate and efficient transportation service to customers.
Roland J. Rives, MAI CRE Mr. Rives has been active in the real estate business for more than thirty years. He began his career with the Chicago-based mortgage banking firm of McElvain-Reynolds Co. During a fifteen year association with the firm, he developed skills in real estate valuation and consulting, and was eventually appointed president and subsequently its vice-chairman. Following his departure from McElvain in 1980, Mr. Rives was associated with Baird & Warner in Chicago, serving as a vice president in the real estate finance department. In 1982, Mr. Rives joined the Chicago office of Landauer Associates, Inc. as a vice president in the Marketing and Financial Services Division, and subsequently was appointed manager of the Chicago office. During his eight years with Landauer, Mr. Rives performed a variety of counseling functions, such as real estate dispositions, asset portfolio evaluations, strategic planning for multi-national corporations, land utilization studies, financial feasibility analyses, site location and relocation studies, highest and best use analyses litigation support, and property valuations. In 1990, Mr. Rives joined Grubb & Ellis as the manager of the newly created Valuation and Consulting practice in Chicago where he and his colleagues expanded the practice to include a varied range of services for clients both domestic and abroad. Three years later, the internationally renowned firm of Richard Ellis, Inc. hired Mr. Rives to initiate its entry into real estate counseling and valuation in the United States. As a Managing Director of this 225 year old London-based firm, Mr. Rives conducted numerous assignments for foreign clients with US property holdings.
In 1997, Mr. Rives reactivated American Reality Consultants, Inc. with offices in Lake Bluff, Illinois where, as the firm's president, he continues his practice of providing counseling and valuation services to clients worldwide. Mr. Rives received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Northwestern University. He is and Illinois Licensed Real Estate Broker and Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, and holds the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute, and the CRE designation from The Counselors of Real Estate. Mr. Rives is a past president of the Chicago Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and past chairman of the Midwest Chapter of the Counselors of Real Estate. He is a member of Lambda Alpha International honorary land fraternity, the Realty Club of Chicago, the National Association of Realtors and the Chicago Association of Realtors.
John M. "Jack" Schultz is also involved in the management of the Illinois Western Railroad Company. He is Vice President and Secretary of ILW's sister railroad, the Effingham Railroad Company. Schultz holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University and is the founder and President of Agracel, Inc., an industrial development firm.
Michael Cheney serves as a consultant to the Illinois Western Railroad Company. He has 30 years of experience in railroad marketing, accounting and tariff publishing. He has 16 years of managerial and administrative experience. Cheney has provided services to railroads and prospective rail operators ranging from traffic analysis and revenue projections for prospective rail line purchases to tariff rate and division of revenue information, rail revenue accounting, tariff publication, contract and exempt rate negotiation and filing. He has also assisted in gathering engineering information, labor negotiations, and the purchasing of rail material and equipment.
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