TORONTO, Ont. — Markel Insurance Company has announced its speaker lineup for the 2008 Let’s Talk seminar series on Driving a More Profitable Business.

This is the second part of its popular cross-country seminar series on profitability. Topics will include: what shippers want; differentiating between fly-by-night load brokers and bona-fide 3PLs; minimizing claims costs; and what to look out for in shipper/carrier contracts.

The series visits four Canadian cities in May and will be moderated by trucking journalist John G. Smith (in English Canada) and Eric Descarries (in Montreal).

Speakers for the Toronto and London, Ont. events include: Ray Haight, MacKinnon Transport; Kevin Snobel, Caravan Logistics; Gene Orlick, Alberta Motor Transport Association; Allan Kelly, Casco Inc.; Neil McKenna, Canadian Tire Retail; Bill Tackaberry, Frate Savers; Miriam Isenberg, trucking lawyer; Rob Andreatta and Luis Costa, Markel Insurance; and Lou Smyrlis, Transportation Media.

In Alberta, guests include: Orlick; Carl Rosenau, Rosenau Transport; Bob Ballantyne, Candian Industrial Transportation Association; Tackaberry; Israel Ludwig, transportation lawyer; and Peter J. Au, Markel Insurance.

The Montreal seminar will feature: Eric Gignac, Transport Guilbault; Christian Langlois, Transport Alaim Giroux & Fils Inc.; Carol Greer-Bedard, ALCAN; Kimberly Wildenmann, Lantic Sugar; Simon Rainville, transportation lawyer; and Sylvain Tessier, Markel Insurance.

Each seminar runs from 9 a.m. til 3 p.m. and includes lunch and free parking. The cost is $249 (or $149 for Markel policyholders). For a full list of dates and locations visit www.markel.ca/Public/InformationSolutions/LetsTalk/ or call 888-627-5351.