Gregg Ruhl
President and Chief Executive Officer
Gregg Ruhl is responsible for the overall strategic direction of Algoma Central Corporation. Gregg joined Algoma in November of 2015 as Senior Vice-President, Technical, became Chief Operating Officer in 2017 and in 2019 assumed the role of President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Ruhl has over 30 years experience in the transportation industry, including over 25 years in marine transportation.Prior to joining Algoma in 2015, Mr. Ruhl was the Managing Director of the marine division of Canadian National Railway Company (CN) in Duluth, Minnesota and previous to that held increasingly senior positions within the marine, port terminals and rail industries. Between 2004 and 2009, Mr. Ruhl was the Director Sales & Marketing, Vessels and Docks, also for CN. Prior to 2004, he held increasingly senior positions within the marine and rail industries.
Mr. Ruhl is currently co-chair of the Marine Transportation Advisory Council (MTAC), director on the board of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), and a member of the Domestic Ship Owners Committee (DSOC) of Canada’s Chamber of Marine Commerce (CMC).
Mr. Ruhl is a degreed Mechanical Engineer from Grove City College with a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Ruhl was elected to the Board of Algoma in 2023.
Peter D. Winkley, CPA, CA
Executive Vice-President & Chief Financial Officer
Peter Winkley directs the financial strategy for Algoma, and is responsible for monitoring the financial performance of the company and its investments. Mr. Winkley is also responsible for capital structure, investor relations, risk management and the Company’s business information systems.
Mr. Winkley is the Chairman of the Canadian Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association, chair of the audit and investment committees of The Standard Compensation Act Liability Association, and sits on the Member's Board of the NorthStandard P&I Association.
Prior to joining Algoma in 2010, Mr. Winkley was CFO of Therapure Biopharma Inc., a Canadian biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer, and a senior financial executive with MDS Inc., a publicly listed Canadian life sciences company.
Mr. Winkley is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto
J. Wesley Newton
Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Business Development
Wes Newton directs the corporate development, legal and regulatory affairs of the Company including government and industry relations. Mr. Newton is also Corporate Secretary for the Company.
Prior to joining Algoma in 2011, Mr. Newton held a position as senior corporate counsel with the Canadian subsidiary of a large international express air shipping company and had practised litigation and commercial law in private practice.
Called to the Ontario Bar in 2004, Mr. Newton holds a BAH in History from Queens University and an LLB from the University of New Brunswick.
Mr. Newton is a member of the Canadian Maritime Law Association.
Bart Reynolds
Executive Vice President, Operations & Technical
Bart Reynolds is responsible for the Operations, Engineering and Technical teams at Algoma and focuses on business optimization and strategic priorities.
Bart has a breadth of marine experience that spans many different markets (commercial ferries, tug and barge, offshore service vessels) and global industries including Canada. Bart started his maritime career with Tidewater Marine progressing through various roles, managing up to 40 vessels and operating in a number of different areas including West Africa and the Mediterranean. He then moved to Gulfmark Offshore, responsible for 30 vessels operating in Brazil, Trinidad, Mexico and the US Gulf of Mexico. In his most recent role with Seaspan, as President, he was responsible for Seaspan Marine and Seaspan Ferries, comprised of over 160 marine assets. In these roles, he has successfully led business, market and geographic expansions, developed and implemented strategies to improve operational excellence and championed a safety culture transformation.
Bart has a BA Economics, BBA International Management, Marketing and an MBA, General Management.
Steve Wright
Senior Vice-President, Technical
Steve Wright is responsible for the Technical and Purchasing groups, Fleet Personnel and the New Build Team. As Vice-President, Technical, Mr. Wright focuses on Algoma's key strategic priorities including green house gases, ballast water treatment systems, fleet optimization, contractor relationships as well as initiatives that develop our talent and culture Steve has 35 years of experience in the marine industry in both operating and technical positions.
Prior to becoming part of the Algoma team Steve was Director Technical (Projects), and Director Operations with Seaway Marine Transport. Steve started his career as a Marine Engineer with Upper Lakes Shipping and was General Manager Special Projects prior to joining Seaway Marine Transport.
Steve holds a 1st Class Combined Marine Engineering Certificate and spent 13 years as an Engineering Officer, 6 as a Chief Engineer, prior to moving into shore based management positions.
Mario Battista, CPA, CMA
Vice-President, Finance and Process Innovation.
Mario Battista directs all aspects of accounting operations, overseeing all transactions related to general ledger, receivables, payables, payroll and financial reporting. Mr. Battista is responsible for the Corporation’s Business Information systems and their continual development and enhancements to meet the needs of the Company.
Mr. Battista joined Algoma Central Corporation in 2003 and was Corporate Controller from 2003 to 2011 and Director, Business Systems from 2011 to 2017. In August of 2017, Mr. Battista was promoted to the position of Vice President, Finance and Process Innovation.
Mr. Battista is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Brock University.
Charlie Bungard, CEng, FIMarEST
Vice-President, Operations
Charlie Bungard is responsible for all deck, cargo and engineering operations with Algoma’s domestic fleets. Mr Bungard has more than 30 years of experience in the marine industry, having been involved in a broad range of maritime activities and operations in various sectors of this industry. Mr Bungard initially joined Algoma Central Corporation in 2015, was appointed Assistant Vice-President, Technical Operations in April 2020 and on September 1, 2022 assumed the role of Vice-President, Operations.
Charlie started his maritime career as an Engineering Cadet with Cunard Line, and progressed over 15 years at sea to the rank of 1st Engineer with Disney Cruise line. In 2005 Charlie joined an offshore support company in the UK as Superintendent, and since then has been employed in various senior technical operations and management roles in the international marine industry. This has included work with vessels employed in Offshore Support, Tug/Barge, RoRo/RoPax, Dry Bulk, and Oil Tanker operations. Prior to joining Algoma Charlie held positions as Technical Manager with Northern Marine, a subsidiary of Swedish ship owner Stena; and McKeil Marine as Senior Director for Technical Operations.
Charlie is a registered Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Marine Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology. He was educated at South Tyneside College in the UK and holds an unlimited Class 1 Certificate of Competency in Marine Engineering.
Jeffrey M. DeRosario, P.Eng
Vice-President, Commercial
Jeff DeRosario is responsible for the development of commercial strategy and market analysis for the Domestic Dry-Bulk business. Prior to joining Algoma, Mr. DeRosario held progressively more senior engineering and sales management roles over 10 years in the mining and steel industries, for Norcast Castings Company, Essar Steel Algoma, and ME Elecmetal.Mr. DeRosario joined Algoma in 2013 as Director - Sales, holding commercial account responsibility for a significant portion of the Company's Domestic Dry-Bulk customer base. Mr. DeRosario was promoted to Assistant Vice-President Marketing in January, 2018.
Mr. DeRosario is a licensed Professional Engineer, with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Queen's University.
Christopher A. L. Lazarz, CPA, CA
Vice-President, Corporate Finance
Christopher Lazarz is responsible for all corporate finance aspects of Algoma Central Corporation including external financial reporting, corporate taxation, accounting practices and internal controls, financial planning and analysis, monitoring of financial performance and treasury.Mr. Lazarz joined Algoma in 2011 as Controller of Algoma's Real Estate segment and in 2016 became Director, Corporate Finance for Algoma Central Corporation. In August 2017, Mr. Lazarz was promoted to Vice-President, Corporate Finance.
Prior to joining Algoma in 2011, Mr. Lazarz was Senior Manager with Deloitte LLP and prior to Deloitte was the Casino Accounting Manager for the Niagara Casinos.
Mr. Lazarz is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant, and holds a Bachelor of Accounting with Honours degree from the Brock University.
Cathy Smith
Vice-President, Human Resources
Cathy is responsible for Corporate Human Resources at Algoma. In this role, Cathy works closely with other members of the leadership team and is responsible for the corporate human capital strategy and related programs as well as general oversight for all aspects of corporate recruitment and selection, talent management and development, employee relations, compensation and benefits, disability management, diversity and inclusion and community involvement.
Cathy joined Algoma in 2008 as Director, Human Resources, supporting both staff and fleet personnel in all aspects of human resources including labour relations, acting as Chief Negotiator for Algoma for a number of collective bargaining renewals. In 2018, Cathy was promoted to her current position transitioning to a role with greater focus on corporate human resource initiatives.
Cathy has acquired extensive experience in strategic human resources in her 20+ year career. Prior to joining Algoma, Cathy led the human resource department at manufacturing facilities for two large multinational food manufacturing companies. To complement her experience, Cathy holds a BA in Psychology and a Human Resource Management post grad diploma.
Kelly Humes
Assistant Vice-President Technical & Purchasing
Kelly Humes is responsible for both the Technical Services and Purchasing teams at Algoma. Kelly’s key focus lies with developing procurement strategies, providing asset management of the domestic fleet, driving special projects and participating in revenue generation strategies.
Kelly joined the Algoma team in 2007 as Manager, Tech Services. Her journey with Algoma has taken her to Director of Technical Services in 2017 and subsequently adding the portfolio of purchasing in 2019. Kelly assumed the role of Assistant Vice-President, Technical and Purchasing in September, 2022.
Kelly graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland with a Bachelor of Engineering, Naval Architecture degree and prior to joining Algoma spent 13 years in private marine consulting. During her consulting years Kelly had the opportunity to work in many facets or the marine transportation marketplace including inspection, asset preservation, and project management.
Joshua H. Juel, MILR
Assistant Vice-President, Marine Operations & Fleet Personnel
Joshua Juel directs all aspects of the Fleet Personnel function for Algoma’s domestic fleets, which consists of nearly 30 vessels.
Prior to joining the company in 2018, Mr. Juel was a Manager for the marine division of the Canadian National Railway Company (CN), with a particular focus on Great Lakes Fleet and Compagnie de gestion de Matane (COGEMA). Before that, Mr. Juel worked in the cruise line industry in positions of increasing responsibility, the most recent of which was with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) as a Human Resources Director.
Mr. Juel served as Vice Chairman of the Lake Carriers’ Association from 2017 to 2018, and holds degrees from the Great Lakes Maritime Academy and Cornell University. He also earned his license as a U.S. Merchant Marine deck officer for vessels of unlimited tonnage, in addition to marine pilotage from Duluth, Minnesota to Cape Vincent, New York. Mr. Juel is also a certified Class I Railroad Conductor.
Robin Waldie
Assistant Vice-President, Engineering
Robin Waldie is responsible for the Engineering management of Algoma’s Domestic dry-bulk Fleet technical aspects and will be championing the team’s operational initiatives. Prior to joining Algoma, Mr. Waldie worked for the Canadian Coast Guard (Cadet), Stelco, and then Upper Lakes Shipping.
Mr. Waldie joined Algoma in 1993 in the Vessel Computerization Project and started working shipboard in 1995 progressing through every engineering officer position until 1999 where he was promoted to Chief Engineer with Algoma. In 2012 Mr. Waldie accepted a position ashore as a ship manager and has advanced through the dry-bulk Engineering positions until promoted to Assistant Vice-President in September, 2022.
Mr. Waldie graduated the cadet program from Georgian College and has a Fourth Class Steam and First Class Motor, Certificates of Competency from Transport Canada.