Region native Ryan McCoy is the new director of the Ports of Indiana Burns Harbor.
McCoy, who resides in Valparaiso, will lead port operations and business development for the Northwest Indiana port beginning April 26. He takes over for Ian Hirt, who held the post since March 2017, but was announced by the Ports of Indiana in January that his last day would be May 3.
McCoy has nearly 20 years of experience as a mid- to senior-level manager in the agriculture, steel, maritime transportation, and logistics sectors. He most recently served as a multi-facility manager at Cargill Inc., a global grain elevator company and a tenant at the Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor.
“I am a big proponent of the ports and its mission to develop and maintain a world-class port system,” said McCoy. “I am looking forward to offering a new perspective and network and to lead the Burns Harbor port community that has been such a large part of my professional career.”
McCoy specializes in supply chain management, community and business development, multimodal transportation, logistics and capital deployment. According to the Ports of Indiana, McCoy led Cargill’s efforts to become the first organic certified grain facility in the county and nearly six years ago brought the first imported organic corn shipments into the Midwest market.
The Ports of Indiana also announced Tom Fifer was hired to a new position as the director of planning and project delivery.
Fifer brings 30 years of experience in construction management and engineering with global healthcare and large industrial companies as well as more than two decades of experience serving as a hospital clinical engineer with the Air Force Reserves. As the Ports of Indiana’s director of planning and project delivery, which began in February, Fifer will lead project planning and delivery process from start to finish at all three port locations, along with the Port’s engineering team.
Fifer most recently served as the global director of engineering and maintenance for Envigo, a life sciences research and development company. He was responsible for facility operations and preventative maintenance for clean room facilities in the U.S., UK, Europe and Asia.
The Ports of Indiana said it created the director of planning and project delivery to emphasize the importance of improving the entire project delivery process.
“There are a lot of incredible things happening at the Ports of Indiana, and I’m looking forward to helping further develop the scope of projects dedicated to growing Indiana’s economy,” said Fifer.
The Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor has nearly 600 acres of land and 30 port companies, including 15 steel-related businesses and three steel mills. The port handles approximately 10,000 rail cars, 75 ships, 325,000 trucks, 450 barges and 200 Great Lakes vessels annually.
