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Jim Graves’ friends always have regarded him as a ‘prince of a fellow’.
Now, he’s being elevated to King. The Montgomery County Performing Arts society bestowed upon Jim its prestigious Mardi Gras King title.
His reign begins at the ball to be held Feb. 11 at La Toretta Resort and Hotel.
Three other notable gentlemen have ben honored during the short history of the MCPAS ball, including Roger Galatas,
a civic leader from the Woodlands, Montgomery Country Judge Alan (Barb) Sadler, and, most recently, Conroe automobile magnate John Wiesner.
Know for being fiercely loyal to his friends, Jim also owns an impeccable reputation for honesty and business acumen.
At Villa Graves, their Mediterranean style waterfront home in Walden, Jim and wife Angela have hosted countless fundraisers and
parties that assist national nonprofit charities and local arts organizations.
They are mainstays in the Walden Follies and have assisted arts boards such as Stage Right, and MCPAS.
Jim Graves, founder and CEO of GLNX Corporation of the Woodlands, has always been fascinated with trains – model trains, freight trains,
passenger trains – and tank cars, so it’s no surprise that he has spent the last 55 years involved with the railroad industry. His Great Grandfather,
James Matthew Graves, served in Bell’s Regiment in the War with Mexico and helped found the town of Melissa, where Jim Graves was born and raised.
Mr. Graves was the oldest son in a farming family with eight children. After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he was employed by
Magnolia Petroleum Co. in the Tank Car Department. He attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas where he received a Certificate in
transportation. After Magnolia Petroleum was merged with Mobil Oil in the late 1950s, he was transferred to Kansas City where he was in
charge of the Mobil rail car operations. During his 12 years with Mobil Oil, he gained considerable experience in the management and
operation of railroad tank cars. In 1964, Jim joined Celanese Corporation to manage Celtran, Inc. -- a start up transportation subsidiary.
Jim was responsible for all aspects of fleet administration including: mileage accounting, ad valorem taxes, UMLER, fleet sizing analyses,
routine maintenance, railroad running repairs, and handling of railroad claims.
For 15 years, Jim was a member of the transportation equipment committee of the Manufacturer's Chemists Association, served on the
Tank Car Committee task forces of the American Association of Railroads, and was actively involved with the development of federal regulations
governing the transportation of hazardous materials. While employed by Celanese, he developed the 35,000 gallon aluminum tank car with six axles
and 394,000 lbs on the rails which provided Celanese the ability to greatly reduce their transportation costs of acetic acid.
He travelled to derailments in the U.S., Canada and Mexico as part of a team investigating the causes of tank car derailments
and searching for ways to increase the safety of railcars.
Based on his expertise in the transportation and chemical industries, Mr. Graves formed a new company, GLNX Corporation, to manage rail cars
for private individuals who wished to invest in the ownership of rail tank cars. Currently, GLNX is one of a small number of corporations
in the U.S. operating a privately-owned fleet of tank cars for private investors and providing out-sourcing services. Jim is still actively
involved in the operation of the company as CEO and Chairman of the Board.
Jim is married to his beautiful wife Angela Myers Graves. For many years, Angela owned the Angela Myers Academy of Dance, a dance studio in Conroe.
She is still active in the performing arts. They live on Lake Conroe near Walden in a lovely Mediterranean style home they call “Villa Graves”.
This year GLNX is celebrating 35 years of service. Since 1975,
GLNX has provided value-added services to blue chip companies operating throughout
North America. We serve customers of all sizes; from Fortune 500 companies to medium
and smaller-sized companies that transport a wide variety of products used in the
oil and petrochemical, food, plastics and agricultural businesses.
GLNX offers full service operating leases for rail cars in general
service. For a monthly rate, GLNX will provide cars compliant with customer requests
and all applicable AAR and FRA requirements. GLNX processes mileage from the railroads
and provides assistance when cars require shopping. With a full service lease, the
shipper is free to focus on their primary business of producing and moving product
while leaving all of the issues of ownership to us.
Through our GLNX Fleet Services division, we provide fleet administration,
logistical supply-chain management, regulatory compliance (HM201, Rule 88, etc…),
insurance, mileage, accounting, ad valorem tax reporting and managed maintenance.
GLNX offers true, third-party independence from other fleet management companies
that also offer repair services or new car construction.
As long as the internet has been a viable source of data exchange
for business, GLNX has been developing tools to take full advantage of the benefits
of web-based-business. Over the years we have developed a state-of-the-art, web-based
fleet management system to assist companies with all aspects of fleet management
and transportation. Our web services include a suite of sophisticated tracking and
tracing programs, statistically-based trip analysis reports and fleet utilization
reports. The system also keeps track of car mechanical information, leasing and
sub-leasing data, shopping information, mileage data and historical repair data.
We designed the system to be flexible, quick and secure. System improvement is ongoing
and updates are made on a frequent basis.
For over 35 years, GLNX has developed and maintained strong relationships
with a national network of qualified railcar repair facilities, car builders, parts
vendors, railroads, AAR and FRA. GLNX is a member of the Railway Progress Institute
and the North American Freight Car Association and is actively involved in the rule-making
process through AAR committees.
GLNX is able to offer more personalized service due to our size,
our experience, the quality of our staff, and our commitment to fundamental values
of integrity and quality customer service.
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