Stephen Gardner Appointed as Amtrak CEO

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jebr

jebr

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Amtrak press release:
WASHINGTON – Amtrak Board Chair Tony Coscia today announced that Bill Flynn will be retiring after leading Amtrak since April 2020 and that Stephen J. Gardner will be appointed as the company’s new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 17, 2022.

Gardner currently serves as Amtrak’s President, leading the railroad’s day-to-day operations, customer growth initiatives and strategies to modernize Amtrak’s products, services, infrastructure and fleet.

Flynn, who led Amtrak through COVID-19 recovery efforts, prioritized safety and customer experience initiatives, advanced major infrastructure projects, expanded the company’s diversity and inclusion and executed major equipment procurements, all to position the company for the future. Flynn will continue as a senior advisor to Gardner and the company for the remainder of the fiscal year following his retirement to support the transition.
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The last three CEO appointments were all caretakers - retired CEO's in their 60's who came in basically to keep the ship afloat. Gardner is different - mid 40's and a promote from within - not sure when that has happened before at Amtrak. He knows the organization; he knows how trains work. He also has a handle on the politics part of the job (and it's a big part) given his prior staff work in Congress and ties to President Biden. As long as the board stays in his corner, he could be around for a while.
 
One more nail in Amtraks coffin. Gardner will continue the lunacy that we are now accustomed to, he’s already been behind most of it anyway. He will bide his time until he gets his ulterior wish of an anti Amtrak Administration and/or Congress that lets him splinter Amtrak into a few clusters of corridors and nothing else. He’s a relatively young guy with an agenda so I feel strongly it’s plausible especially with his past actions.
 
Amtrakfflyer said:
One more nail in Amtraks coffin. Gardner will continue the lunacy that we are now accustomed to, he’s already been behind most of it anyway. He will bide his time until he gets his ulterior wish of an anti Amtrak Administration and/or Congress that lets him splinter Amtrak into a few clusters of corridors and nothing else. He’s a relatively young guy with an agenda so I feel strongly it’s plausible especially with his past actions.
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But there will be a new Amtrak board as per the infrastructure bill that might hold his feet to the fire in terms of the national network.
 
PRR 60 said:
As long as the board stays in his corner, he could be around for a while.
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The board is now about to undergo a major overhaul thanks to the IIJA and Re-Authorization bill. Which is and was desperately needed.

All I will say is that with the current board that's in place, they are under the impression that he'll be the longest tenured President of Amtrak. Once the board is officially reconfigured, that may change.
 
It remains to be seen how effective he will be, but at least he has some railroad background and, perhaps more importantly, has experience in dealing with Congress. This from a ‘Trains’ magazine report:

“Gardner, 45, has an extensive Capitol Hill background. He was a senior staff member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Surface Transportation & Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security. Before that, he was legislative assistant for transportation for Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Rep. Bob Clement (D-Tenn.). He also held operating and managerial positions with Guilford’s Maine Central Railroad as well as the Buckingham Branch Railroad.”
 

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