Who We Are

Hal Johnson is the kind of advisor that serious organizations retain for decisions that cannot be reversed. Over a career spanning more than three decades, he has guided some of the most complex and consequential industrial location decisions in the United States — not by offering the most options, but by identifying the right one. His counsel is sought because it is grounded, methodical, and consistently accurate.

As Founding Principal of Industrial Strategic Partners and a licensed broker specializing in Industrial Projects with NAI Ready, Hal brings the rare combination of economic development leadership, infrastructure expertise, and transactional depth that most organizations require but rarely find in a single advisor. He created ISP's proprietary RAPP Framework — the infrastructure-first evaluation methodology that has become the firm's defining contribution to the field of industrial site selection.

His career at the highest levels of economic development shaped his conviction that infrastructure determines outcomes. As President and CEO of the Upstate SC Alliance, he led one of the Southeast's most recognized regional economic development organizations, attracting major capital investment and building the infrastructure-driven positioning strategies that drew global manufacturers to the region. Before that, his roles at the Orangeburg County Development Commission and the South Carolina Department of Commerce gave him direct experience in how policy, infrastructure, and capital interact — experience that informs every ISP engagement.

Hal holds the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors designation (SIOR) — one of the most respected credentials in commercial real estate — and has served as Chairman of the Southern Economic Development Council. He was named Economic Developer of the Year by the South Carolina Economic Development Association in 2013. He has held leadership roles on NAI Global's Elite Corporate Services and Logistics Teams, reflecting his standing within the broader industrial real estate community.

His client roster reflects the scale and diversity of the work: BMW, Magna, Walmart, Toyota Tsusho America, Oatly, Pet Supply Plus, AFL Communications, Lennox International, Food Lion, Husqvarna, and Zeus, among others. Projects have ranged from 50,000 to over 800,000 square feet, spanning greenfield development, expansion, and consolidation across manufacturing, distribution, and logistics sectors. In every case, the work begins with infrastructure — and ends with a decision the client can defend.

Hal builds the strategic clarity that makes the right transaction inevitable. His clients know where a project stands at every stage — because he ensures there is never a reason not to.

Trish Haver has built, reorganized, and de-risked more multimodal infrastructure than most practitioners encounter in a career. She brings almost 30 years of experience across freight and passenger rail, port operations, federal infrastructure programs, and executive leadership — and she brings it with the authority of someone who has seen what works and what fails at scale.

As Chief Commercial Officer of the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR), she led Strategic Planning, Government Relations, Economic Development, Real Estate, Engineering, Safety, Construction, and Communications. Under her leadership, NCRR achieved 65% revenue growth through deliberate line-of-business diversification. She secured a $105 million federal CRISI grant — the first in the organization's history — and launched a nationally recognized FRA-approved Track Protection Program that expanded to 12 states, generated more than 200% revenue growth in its second year, and recorded zero incidents. She also led infrastructure recovery operations in Western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. She was the first woman to lead engineering at NCRR and has been recognized with the Women in Rail Innovation Award.

As CEO of Pyxis Associates, she held executive oversight of $250 million in industrial and multimodal infrastructure projects, with clients including the Port of New Orleans, Port of Mobile, Metro Ports, Grand River Railway, ElementUS, Avondale Global Gateway, Dreamstar Lines, and ConGlobal.

Her tenure as Vice President of Strategy and Industrial Development at the Port of New Orleans and Public Belt Railroad further illustrates the breadth of her capabilities: she engineered a six-month financial turnaround that eliminated operating losses, developed a 10-year rail capital strategy that supported a $1.5 billion container terminal investment, and secured $7.3 million in CRISI funding that drove 25% intermodal growth and 33% productivity gains.

Before these executive roles, Trish spent more than 20 years at Norfolk Southern Railroad, advancing to Senior Port Development Manager and managing major East Coast port relationships while facilitating over $100 million in capital investment.

Her ability to read the nuances of complex infrastructure systems and execute — regulatory, operational, financial, and political — is what clients retain her for. Throughout her career, Trish excels at aligning stakeholders, building durable partnerships, and ensuring that strategy leads to practical, measurable outcomes.

Trish has earned the respect of every room she has entered.

Jacob Crist specializes in port and logistics projects, industrial sales and leasing, and valuation services. With 17 years of experience — 12 in the public sector and 5 in the private sector — he brings a well-rounded, practical perspective and the ability to manage multiple roles across complex projects.

Jacob drives revenue growth by sourcing, structuring, and executing industrial transactions and development initiatives. His 12 years at the Port of New Orleans gave him direct command of operations, real estate, business development, and management — experience that shapes how he evaluates every industrial opportunity in a coastal or intermodal context. His current work in corporate services at Colliers adds transactional depth across brokerage, advisory, development, and valuation.

As ports modernize and expand, property decisions become increasingly critical. Jacob helps clients understand true market value to set appropriate lease rates, align tariffs, and benchmark performance effectively — combining expertise in port operations, public and private sector real estate development, and valuation finance.

He is known for navigating transactions that others find too complex to close. Clients do not engage him for his market knowledge alone — they engage him because he acts on it.

The companies ISP advises make infrastructure decisions that reshape their cost structure for decades. Miles Tedder has made those decisions and lived with their consequences across four industries, multiple C-suite roles, and 35 years of operating at scale.

Miles is a senior executive with more than 40 years of experience leading supply chain strategy and enterprise transformation across manufacturers, distributors, and multi-unit retail organizations. He specializes in designing and optimizing end-to-end supply chains that integrate the physical flow of products with the systems and data that drive visibility, efficiency, and decision-making. He has worked with multiple Private Equity firms to unlock and drive value.

As Chief Operating Officer at Pet Supplies Plus, he oversaw a supply chain that purchased and managed more than $1 billion in inventory annually, built four distribution centers, and grew EBITDA from $5 million to over $100 million over a decade. He has designed logistics networks, negotiated freight at every mode — truckload, LTL, parcel, and international — and managed the technology infrastructure that ties it together. He has also sourced directly from several countries, including Asia, managing thousands of containers annually through the port and customs infrastructure his ISP colleagues advise on.

He brings deep expertise in aligning information systems with operational execution — connecting procurement, distribution, transportation, inventory, and customer demand through scalable platforms that enable real-time insights and improved performance. His work spans enterprise system assessment, selection, and implementation, with a consistent focus on accelerating time-to-value and ensuring adoption across complex organizations.

Miles is known for his ability to evaluate business challenges quickly, identify high-impact opportunities, and lead cross-functional initiatives that deliver measurable results. His approach combines disciplined operational rigor with creative, forward-thinking problem solving, enabling organizations to unlock efficiencies, improve service levels, and drive sustainable growth.

Throughout his career, he has built and led high-performing teams while partnering with executive leadership and investors to enhance enterprise value. He has a strong track record of developing supply chain strategies that not only meet business objectives but frequently exceed expectations — delivering outsized returns through improved scalability, resilience, and customer experience.

That operational depth is what he brings to ISP. When a client receives a RAPP Score, Miles is the one who can translate what it means in practice — what a power interruption does to a distribution operation, what airport access costs a sourcing team, what the wrong rail decision does to landed cost for the next thirty years.

He holds an MBA in International Business from Mercer University and completed the Executive Session on Channels to Market at Harvard Business School.

Miles works with clients who are making infrastructure-dependent decisions at enterprise scale and need someone who has already made them.

Kenny Thompson brings a disciplined, intelligence-driven approach to industrial site selection and transaction advisory. As a licensed broker specializing in Industrial Projects with NAI Ready, he works directly with clients to identify, evaluate, and execute on industrial opportunities — translating market data into decisions that hold up under scrutiny.

Kenny's foundation in commercial real estate was built at NAI Earle Furman, where he developed an early command of property operations, market dynamics, and client service. He applies that same rigor at ISP — combining deep market research capabilities with active deal execution across industrial sectors.

Kenny's value to clients is precision at every stage: the right sites surfaced, the right questions asked, and the right terms negotiated.

Ellen Johnson runs the internal engine that keeps ISP and its sister firm, Path to Profit Partners, organized, aligned, and moving forward. As Hal’s wife — and, as the team will tell you, his handler — she keeps priorities straight, follow-through tight, and the right information in the right hands at the right time.

Her focus is operations, financial coordination, legal logistics, marketing, and research — so the principals can remain focused on client work. Her background spans executive operations, marketing strategy, and financial services, including time as a Certified Financial Planner at Merrill Lynch, which means she enters every engagement with a financial discipline the work demands.

Inside ISP, Ellen serves as integrator and marketing lead: managing internal financials and legal coordination, stewarding the website and brand presence, and driving the research that supports business development and major decisions. She is the connective tissue between ISP’s industrial real estate practice and the sustain-tier services clients need once their sites are operational.

Through Path to Profit Partners, Ellen supports the Sustain block — building and managing the systems, communications, and vendor relationships that keep post-project work organized and on track. If a client is working with ISP, Ellen is the one making sure the relationship continues past activation.

She has served on multiple advisory boards, emceed the 10th Anniversary DIG SOUTH Tech Summit, and spoken at major business and entrepreneurship conferences. Her ability to blend operations, marketing, finance, and relationships makes her the steady operational force behind both firms.

A natural connector, Ellen links clients, partners, and vendors in ways that make projects smoother and relationships stronger — turning strategy into execution, and intention into outcome.