2025 HONOREES
John Nardi
2025 Connie Award
John Nardi was appointed President of the New York Shipping Association in June 2013. He previously served as NYSA’s Executive Vice President since 2012. In 2018 John was the lead negotiator for the NYSA bargaining a strong six-year collective bargaining agreement between the NYSA and the International Longshoreman’s Association ensuring labor peace in the port through 2024.
In 2014, John co-chaired the Port of New York & New Jersey Port Performance Task Force which was created to bring stakeholders together to identify and resolve performance issues in the port which impact fluidity and growth. Today he is vice-chair of the Council on Port Performance (CPP) which is charged with updating the initiatives of the Task Force to help keep the port fluid and competitive now and in the future.
John is a 35 year veteran of the maritime industry, beginning his career with Atlantic Container Line. John’s experience at ACL started with their trucking division, Atlantic Coast Express and later its terminal operating affiliate Atlantic Coast Stevedores in Port Elizabeth, NJ. He was also the General Manager of Liner and Terminal Operations, responsible for Vessel Sharing Agreements and Terminal Operations in the U.S. and Europe for ACL’s liner business.
In 1994, John joined Hapag-Lloyd (America) Inc. where he held a series of management positions. As Executive Vice President of Corporate Operation, John was instrumental in successfully integrating CP Ships North American Operations with Hapag-Lloyd’s after CP Ships was acquired in 2005. He assumed full operational responsibility for Latin and South America in July 2009 when Hapag-Lloyd merged its North America and Latin America Operations.
John is a graduate of the State University of New York Maritime College where he completed a Bachelor of Science degree and earned his Third Mates License. He is a board member of the United States Maritime Alliance, the North American Maritime Safety Association. He has previously served as Chairman of the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association, the Board of Directors of Consolidated Chassis Management the Maritime Association of the Port of New York & New Jersey, and as a working group member of the World Shipping Council.
Steven Rothberg
2025 Lifetime Achievement Award
Steven Rothberg is the founding partner of Mercator International LLC, a management consulting firm focused on the planning, development, and financing of intermodal transportation infrastructure and operations. He has over 47 years of experience in freight transportation network design, ocean shipping economics, cargo market analyses, port infrastructure development, asset valuations, and strategic service planning.
Mr. Rothberg received a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Cornell University in 1976 and a master’s degree in transportation engineering from MIT in early 1978. He conducted various research studies for the Association of American Railroads while studying at MIT.
Mr. Rothberg entered the railroad industry full-time in 1978 as a service/operations planner for the Southern Pacific Railroad, where he designed and helped launch the first double-stack intermodal train services in North America. He subsequently joined United States Steamship Lines in 1982 to work on the operations planning, phase-in, and marketing of that carrier’s round-the-world Panamax deployment.
After a brief stint in corporate planning for United Airlines, he returned to the liner shipping industry in 1987, as Director and then Vice President of Finance and Planning for the Pacific Division of Sea-Land Service. While in that position, he planned and negotiated vessel sharing agreements between Sea-Land and other ship lines, including Maersk, APL, and P&O. Mr. Rothberg subsequently served as Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development for the whole company, and led or participated in multiple container terminal development projects, as well as planned and negotiated the first global vessel sharing agreement, for Sea-Land and Maersk. He later served as Sea-Land’s Vice President and General Manager for Southeast Asia/Australia.
Following the acquisition of Sea-Land’s international operations by AP Moller-Maersk, Mr. Rothberg and two other Sea-Land colleagues founded Mercator Transport Group in 2000, and provided advisory services to selected port authorities, ocean carriers, terminal operators and financial institutions. One of those financial clients was Macquarie Capital, and in late 2005, that Australian corporation decided to purchase Mercator in order to establish a new entity for acquiring and managing port infrastructure assets. In collaboration with a long-time Macquarie executive, Mr. Rothberg thereby co-founded and co-managed Macquarie’s Global Ports Infrastructure Investment Group, the first such organization in the infrastructure finance sector. This group invested in twelve separate marine terminals over the next three years, until the Global Financial Crisis led Macquarie’s senior management to curtail further infrastructure investments and disband the Group at the end of 2008.
Early in 2009, Mr. Rothberg and his original Mercator Transport Group partners, along with a former Maersk executive and a former SSA executive, re-launched their maritime consulting business, re-named as Mercator International LLC.
Since then, Mr. Rothberg has led or participated in more than 500 separate consulting assignments around the world, the majority of which have involved the planning, marketing, operations, financing, and sale/purchase of seaports, marine cargo terminals, and intermodal rail facilities.
A key focus of Mr. Rothberg’s work over the past 38 years – at Sea-Land, Macquarie Capital, and at Mercator – has been the expansion, development, and financing of container terminal infrastructure around the world. During those years, across five continents, he has helped develop 11 new greenfield container terminals, supported or led the acquisition of over 35 terminal concessions, advised on the sale of 24 such concessions, and helped raise debt finance on more than 30 container terminals. He also helped the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma form their marine cargo terminal joint venture – the Northwest Seaport Alliance.
THE 2025 CONNIE AWARDS NEWARK
December 8, 2025
Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott Hotel
newark, NJ
10:00 AM - scholarship reception
10:45 AM - cocktail reception
NOON - Luncheon and Awards Ceremony
Newark Liberty International AIRport Marriott Hotel
1 hotel road
newark, New Jersey 07114
(973) 623-0006
Book your group rate for CONNIE AWARDS LUNCHEON 2024
Book your group rate for Connie Award Luncheon
Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott for 145.00 USD per night
Last Day to Book : Monday, November 15, 2025