Amtrak taps new CFO

[CHamilton]

Amtrak taps new CFO

Amtrak said on Wednesday that it was appointing Gerald Sokol, Jr. as its CFO.
Sokol was previously president of a direct mail and printing company known as Vertis Corporation.

The hire is the latest in a series of personnel moves Amtrak is undertaking at the behest of Congress.

Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman said he was excited to welcome Sokol to the rail business.

 

[the_traveler]

Does this mean we will be receiving more direct mail (spam) from Amtrak? :huh:

Jk. I'd love to receive mail saying "Take a train!" any day!

 

[afigg]

Does this mean we will be receiving more direct mail (spam) from Amtrak? :huh:

Jk. I'd love to receive mail saying "Take a train!" any day!

If you look at the Amtrak news release on Sokol becoming CFO, prior to the direct mail company, he spent 10 years at AOL in various finance and operation positions. He may have been hired for his finance experience with IT and internet projects. Modernizing the IT and internet areas have been a major component of Boardman's term the past few years with eTicketing, smartphone apps, expanding on-line reservation capabilities, electronic POS, etc. Maybe Amtrak is also looking at expanding direct mail campaigns, although I don't know if that is a growing business these days.

 

[Blackwolf]

Maybe Amtrak is also looking at expanding direct mail campaigns, although I don't know if that is a growing business these days.

Seems like a useful too all the same, especially considering that the world we live in has a lot of demographic data available to companies looking to find more customers. Its a relatively inexpensive way to advertize Amtrak's existence in an underutilized market. How many conversations have we had here where the phrases "And then they were surprised to find they could take the train there." or "Amtrak serves my town?" were stated?