USSL representatives at the first round of negotiations included:
Team Leader: Senior Vice President, Ocean Shipping; and
Team Members: Assistant Vice President, Pacific Shipping; Director, West Coast Port Facilities; Director, International Sales; Director, Finance; Corporate Lawyer.
The Senior Vice President reports directly to the President of the Ocean Shipping subsidiary who, in turn, reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer of USSL who is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Assistant Vice President has responsibility for developing the Pacific maritime transportation strategy. The Director, West Coast Port Facilities reports to the Assistant Vice President, World-wide Port Facilities. The Director, International Sales reports to the Vice President for International Sales and has been briefed thoroughly concerning the importance of securing the contract with NAC. The Director, Finance reports to the Vice President, Finance of the Ocean Shipping subsidiary and has earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a MBA specializing in finance. Additionally, the Director, Finance, a certified public accountant, is rumored to be in consideration for the Vice President, Finance position when the incumbent retires next year. The Corporate Lawyer has slightly more than twenty years experience as in- house counsel for USSL. All members of the negotiation team have neither traveled to Japan nor done business with Japanese companies previously. They are not conversant in the Japanese language. They have been selected for their positions and the negotiation team, in part, based on their years of service working for USSL and its subsidiaries and recommendations from their immediate supervisors.