AWO Elects New Chairman, Vice Chairman

The members of the American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association for the American tugboat, towboat and barge industry, elected Mr. Royce C. Wilken as Chairman and Mr. H. Merritt Lane as Vice Chairman on Friday, April 20 during the AWO Spring Convention in Washington. Mr. Wilken is President of American River Transportation Co. (ARTCO), headquartered in Decatur, IL, and served as vice chairman for the past year. Mr. Lane is President and Chief Executive Officer of Canal Barge Company, Inc., headquartered in New Orleans, LA. Wilken, in his remarks to the AWO Board of Directors following his election as chairman, explained his priorities for the coming year. His first priority will be to implement, as expeditiously as possible, the association’s Transformation and Transition plan, created after staff turnover in late 2006 resulted in an opportunity to reinvent AWO as a more efficient and effective organization.

Wilken has spent 30 years with ARTCO’s parent company, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), in both professional and senior management capacities in many various industries, and became President of ARTCO in 1999. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Business from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign