Passenger Trains > New Amtrak CEO

Richard Anderson, former Delta and Northwest airlines chief executive. Just announced. Effective July 12th.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/17 10:01 by IAMTRAKN2.

Source?

I see nothing on Google News or Trains Magazine.

Internal Amtrak statement.
New CEO Announcement – Richard Anderson
Fellow Amtrak employees,
When I agreed to join Amtrak last September, I made a promise to our
Board of Directors and to my wife that I would be here for only a short
period of time. And I started on Day One with three goals.
First, I wanted to make the company more efficient. I believe the new
organizational structure we announced in January will help us do that.
Next, I wanted to help develop a stronger safety culture. I believe our
new “Safety Starts with Me” initiative and others will help raise our
performance here.
And finally, I wanted to work with the Board to find the right executive
to lead Amtrak over the long term. And we’ve found him.
I am pleased to announce that Richard Anderson will become our next
president and CEO, effective July 12. To ensure a smooth transition,
Richard will serve in a co-CEO capacity with me through Dec. 31,
2017, at which time I’ll step down from this role.
We are very fortunate to have someone of Richard’s caliber join
Amtrak. Richard is a 25-year veteran of the transportation industry. As
the former chief executive of both Delta and Northwest Airlines,
Richard has a proven track record of driving growth while enhancing
the customer experience. What I really admire about Richard is he
faces difficult challenges head-on. He has helped companies navigate
bankruptcy, a recession, mergers and acquisitions, and 9/11. In total,
Richard is a leader with the strategic vision and tactical experience
necessary to run a railroad that benefits our partners, our customers
and our employees. He also comes from a Santa Fe Railway family, so
he knows a thing or two about railroading.
Richard will also bring us senior leadership stability. He intends to stay
with Amtrak into the foreseeable future as president and CEO. He and
his wife Sue currently live in Texas, and they will be relocating to the
Washington, D.C., area soon.
In the meantime, with his appointment in place, my focus this summer
will be on welcoming Richard aboard and closely watching our work at
New York Penn Station, where I will be very involved in making sure
our infrastructure renewal project is completed safely and successfully.

June 26, 2017 • Page 2 of 2
I want to tell you that leading the Amtrak team continues to be a great
honor. I knew coming into the job that we had good people. As I
recently told Richard, what he will find very quickly is that we have the
best people.
Our future is incredibly bright. We are a good company that is in the
process of taking steps to become great. And with Richard, we have
exactly the right leader we need to take the next steps on that journey.
We are in the business of moving people. And very soon, we’re going
to be led by someone who is one of the all-time greats in this business.
Richard knows how to create a great customer experience and build
customer loyalty, which is exactly what we need to grow our business.
He is also going to work with our entire team on making sure we
become the safest and best-run railroad in the entire industry. I’m
excited for what lies ahead for us.
Please join me in welcoming Richard to Amtrak. And thank you once
again for all that you do for the company.
Sincerely,
Wick Moorman
President and CEO


Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/17 10:20 by IAMTRAKN2.

"Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman is stepping down at the end of the year, and will be replaced by former Delta CEO Richard Anderson, according to knowledgeable sources and confirmed Monday by Amtrak..."

http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2017/06/26/amid-penn-station-meltdown-amtrak-gets-a-new-ceo-113037

Are you sure it's not a new Chairman of Amtrak?

Mr Moorman said he "expected his career at Amtrak to be short" but 10 months is very short.

Anthony Coscia, the chairman, is a political appointee of the Obama administration and a former NJ/NY connected guy. I figured he was a short timer as of November 9.


EDITED to add:

This is pretty amazing, Wick was true to his word. he'll have about 15-16 months in the CEO's job when he pulls this pin.

One thing to remember about Mr Anderson is that he was a relative short timer at Delta, which was long known for hospitality, good treatment of customers, and efficient operation. He arrived there as the top guy at Northwest Air, when Delta took over NWA. NorthWorst wasn't known by many folks for hospitality, good treatment of customers, or efficient operation in the 20 years I traveled with them.

Rattle trap old DC-9 aircraft. Patched together. Flight attendants keeping order with baseball bats. Customer service people whose idea of serving you was to shout NEXT! when they decided your reservation situation wasn't their problem. The model for Con Air...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/17 12:23 by Lackawanna484.

Darn, Rick was the best thing for Amtrak....I wanted him to stay on through the Trump budget cuts....

There are rumors that Moorman got fed up by how bad a ClusterF*ck was left behind
by Joe Boardman.

He openly said his wife did not want him to take the job; with the added stress
of having to fix everything that was broken, including the "profitable" Northeast
Corridor which isn't, who can blame him?

Now in the WaPo:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/06/26/amtrak-names-new-chief-executive/?utm_term=.b20ca937720c

Official Amtrak statement:

Amtrak Names Transportation Veteran Richard Anderson President and CEO
June 26, 2017
by Christina Leeds, Amtrak


> WASHINGTON – Amtrak announced that it has named Richard Anderson, a
> 25-year veteran of the aviation industry, as its next president and
> chief executive officer. Anderson, former chief executive officer of
> both Delta and Northwest Airlines, will begin his role on July 12.
>
> To ensure a smooth transition, Anderson will serve in a co-CEO
> capacity with current CEO Wick Moorman through Dec. 31, 2017, at
> which time Moorman will become an advisor to the company. Moorman
> joined Amtrak in September 2016 as a transitional CEO tasked with
> improving the company’s operations, streamlining the organizational
> structure, and helping recruit his successor.
>
> “Richard brings to Amtrak his experience running one of the largest
> global commercial air carriers. The board believes he is the right
> leader at the right time to drive the quality of customer service
> that our passengers, partners and stakeholders expect and deserve
> while continuing our path towards operational and financial
> excellence,” said Amtrak Chairman of the Board Tony Coscia. “The
> board also appreciates all that Wick continues to do to improve
> Amtrak’s safety culture and strengthen our operating performance,
> including the important renewal work at New York Penn Station.”
>
> Anderson, 62, most recently was executive chairman of the Delta Air
> Lines board of directors after serving as the airline’s CEO from 2007
> to 2016. He was executive vice president at United Healthcare from
> 2004 to 2007 and CEO of Northwest Airlines from 2001 to 2004, which
> later merged with Delta. Anderson also served in the legal division
> at Continental Airlines and was a former county prosecutor.
>
> “It is an honor to join Amtrak at a time when passenger rail service
> is growing in importance in America. I look forward to working
> alongside Amtrak’s dedicated employees to continue the improvements
> begun by Wick,” said Anderson. “Amtrak is a great company today, and
> I’m excited about using my experience and working with the board to
> make it even better. I’m passionate about building strong businesses
> that create the best travel experience possible for customers.”
>
> “Richard is a best-in-class industry leader and isn’t afraid to face
> challenges head-on. He has helped companies navigate bankruptcy, a
> recession, mergers and acquisitions, and 9/11,” said Moorman. “He’s a
> leader with the strategic vision and tactical experience necessary to
> run a railroad that benefits our customers, partners and stakeholders
> nationwide.”
>
> Anderson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of
> Houston at Clear Lake City and a Juris Doctorate at South Texas
> College of Law. He is a native of Galveston, TX, where his father
> worked for the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
>
> Anderson was named Aviation Week’s Person of the Year in 2015. In
> 2014 he was recognized as one of the World’s Best CEOs by Barron’s
> magazine and was ranked among the Top 25 Most Influential Industry
> Executives by Business Travel News. In 2013, he was recognized in
> Fortune magazine’s Top People in Business list.

Bold new changes are coming to Amtrak's industry-trailing seat pitch standards, Anderson will bring his noted airline experience to cut the seat pitch distances in half and finally stem Amtrak's losses. Moreover, once 10 more rows of seats are crammed into every amfleet and horizon car, Amtrak can put off ordering new equipment for years!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/17 11:24 by inCHI.

Oh no. This guy might kill Amtrak as we know it. Utterly destroy the experience.

teebone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh no. This guy might kill Amtrak as we know it.
> Utterly destroy the experience.


Or the opposite. Imagine being an industry leader in the airline business, but then actually realize you can offer customers amenities on Amtrak that you could have only dreamt about on airplanes...

I think even he knows you don't treat passengers on a 20 hour train trip the same as on a 3 hour flight.
I'd look for maximizing revenue at minimal cost, so maybe right-sizing some trains, lengthen some, shorten others, greater use of cut cars to maximize assets, perhaps add a car line to a frequency when booked weeks in advance. I don't think you'll see flowers in the dining car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/17 11:39 by joemvcnj.

Yeah, if he is able to bring the agility of the airlines in allocating right sized equipment to match relative demand that could be a huge gain. So we'll see. Of course he will need to work within the different set of equipment renewal (or lack thereof) constraints at Amtrak, unless he is able to pull some rabbit out of a hat with Congress. But I suspect his first full budget exercise will be for FY2019. FY2018 will pretty much be Moorman's

It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to take this job!

Three thoughts:

1) The Wick's tenure at Amtrak is a short-burning candle.

2) As "co-CEO," Senior Anderson is strictly a makee-learn. He'd better learn quick.

3) Apparently, the Amtrak that Moorman inherited is in even worse shape than its biggest doubters could have imagined.

As 2 "co_CEO's", that makes 2 of them who can talk back to Congress at hearings, and they are both respected individuals. Each will have a different perspective and specialty to cover all bases, and fill in for what the other didn't say.

The FRA bureaucrat and the various NJT and NJ-DOT alumni over the last 20 years were all disasters. Competency matters most, as does picking direct reports who can do the job, not so much be a "railroad man" himself.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/17 12:29 by joemvcnj.

Anderson is eminently RR DNA-qualified:

"...He is a native of Galveston, TX, where his father
worked for the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway..."

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As 2 "co_CEO's", that makes 2 of them who can talk
> back to Congress at hearings, and they are both
> respected individuals. Each will have a different
> perspective and specialty to cover all bases, and
> fill in for what the other didn't say.
>
> The FRA bureaucrat and the various NJT and NJ-DOT
> alumni over the last 20 years were all disasters.
> Competency matters most, as does picking direct
> reports who can do the job, not so much be a
> "railroad man" himself.

No excitement here, but I don't treat this as bad news.

If I'm reading between the lines correctly, Moorman needs help in identifying cancer in the organization, and Mr. Anderson might be the right person in finding the cure. Yup, there will be major changes, and my guess is that most of that will be internal.

If and when that succeeds, then we can talk about improvements to customer service. Bureaucracy can still "win" and continue Amtrak in its path of self decay.

As for Boardman, let people blame the kitchen sink on him while I chuckle in amusement. He was pushed into an interim CEO position which lasted way beyond the expiration date. The problem is far bigger than Boardman himself - who (or which group of people) picked him, anyway? I don't think Mr. Anderson is equipped to fix that far bigger problem, so there's danger of celebrating too early. At least, there's enough healthy cynicism in this thread.

How will he accomplish this on the chicken feed that Amtrak gets? All he's going to be able to do is try to keep the ship afloat. It will take a lot of capital to make significant improvements.