Passenger Trains > "Winbigler, Gardner join Amtrak in leadership roles"

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/commuterregional/winbigler-gardner-join-amtrak-in-leadership-roles/?RAchannel=news
 
"The Amtrak Board of Directors recently approved two leadership changes, as Tracie Winbigler has been tabbed to serve as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Stephen Gardner has been assigned the role of Chief Operating and Commercial Officer...."

Gardner is being groomed to replace Anderson at some point.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Gardner is being groomed to replace Anderson at some point.

Another NEC first synchopant?

Gardner's resume astonishingly thin for someone so rapidly advanced in the company. Other than a stint with Senate Dem. staff in the 2000s, his only employer has been... Amtrak.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-gardner-b761009

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

Is this good or bad news?  Any opinions?

I agree Mr Gardner's resume is very narrow in terms of former employers, and expertise in the industry. 

But, a robust rail related resume isn't necessarily a guarantee of success at Amtrak.  David Gunn was, arguably, among the best prepared CEOs for Amtrak.  Broad industry experience, well respected by the unions and Congress. WHAM!!

His successor, Alex Kummant, rose through the ranks at Union Pacific.  And, how long did he last at Amtrak?

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,1229672

Likely bad.

"“Stephen has played a pivotal role in Amtrak’s record operating performance, increased ridership and improved customer amenities,” 

• Ridership on NEC and corridors, probably true overall, down on LD due to OTP, weather, track maintenance outages, food service, baggage, station downgrades.
• Operating performance ? What is that - Financial ? OTP ? PRIIA-209 trains are off their books anyway, regardless of who rides them. The latter - not good, even on the Michigan line they control, increases costs, discourages ridership. 
• Improved Customer Amenities ? Nope. Status quo on the NEC and Corridors, down on LD. 

"WHAM" came to David Gunn for being successful overall, pulling the company out of near bankruptcy. But Mineta and Rosen wanted him gone for not letting Amtrak fail. However Gunn had been fired at some prior transit jobs for not kissing up to the right people. Andy Byford is not getting along with Governor Cuomo despite his competence and improved subway performance. Something nasty could happen there. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/19 10:42 by joemvcnj.

Peter principle.  

But, but, but Gardner's a "real railroad man."
See 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-gardner-b761009/ 
way down at the bottom.

"...Dispatcher and Trainman
Company Name   Guilford Rail System - Maine Central
Dates Employed  1999 – 2000
Employment Duration  1 yr
Location  Massachusetts and Maine
 
Brakeman and Trackworker
Company Name  Buckingham Branch Railroad
Dates Employed  1997 – 2000
Employment Duration  3 yrs
Location  Dillwyn, Virgrinia..."
 

On the other hand, Don Phillips has considerable hope (but I will say considerably less evidence) that in the top job Gardner would undo a lot of Anderson's initiatives. My personal view is Philips is engaging in wishful thinking. Gardner appears to be a cipher, and as Phillips freely admits, he talks a lot but says very little.

http://railfan.com/the-railroad-industrys-premier-conference/

I won’t go into everything that happened at the conference, particularly the presentation by Stephen Gardner, Amtrak’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer. The answers to my questions produced nothing from Gardner but weird answers such as “the Northeast Corridor is profitable.” That is nonsense because Amtrak’s special form of accounting doesn’t consider many items that add up to billions of dollars in expenses. Gardner artfully stepped around the weird answers in ways that would allow him to say he didn’t lie. You will hear more about Gardner and the strange Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson in future columns. For now, let me just say I have a much higher opinion of Gardner than do any of my friends.

http://passengertrainjournal.com/amtraks-next-president/

His name is Stephen Gardner, now executive vice president of Amtrak. At a meeting of the RailTrends conference in New York, Gardner was on the program and I did have a chance to ask him a couple of brief questions, but it quickly became clear that Gardner is a master of talking but saying nothing. Several of my friends in the conference kidded me later for letting him get away with too much, but I assured them I would have a chance later to question Gardner in private, and he would be forced either to answer or say some version of “no comment.”

My guess is that if he rises to the top, Gardner will reverse all the bad things Anderson has done. Almost immediately, those sickening quickie boxed meals on the Capitol Limited and the Lake Shore Limited will be history, and dining cars will return. (I will never eat one of those quickie “meals” again.) Such stupid ideas as splitting the Southwest Chief and using buses to transport passengers in the middle of the route will never be heard again. Rather than ignoring the press and television news, Gardner will have numerous interviews and press conferences. In short, I think Gardner could be-come one of the best Amtrak presidents in decades.

 

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

I disagree with Mr Phillips' assessment of Gardner.  I think Anderson is getting many of his ideas and talking points from Another View, er, Gardner now.  If anything, the rate of attacks on the LDTs will increase.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/19 11:14 by Waybiller.

If Anderson goes, better to have 1 of them to deal than 2. 
I don't think he has an affiliation with Chao and Mulvaney - Gardner is on the opposite side of the political aisle. 

I still belive that Gardner is the voice man behind Anderson and getting rid of Anderson gets us no improvment.

Hope I am wrong.

If Amtrak brass is not starting to hear that Congress is not well pleased, and if both continue to go in opposite directions I wonder who will win.

PRSL-recall Wrote:
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> If Amtrak brass is not starting to hear that
> Congress is not well pleased, and if both continue
> to go in opposite directions I wonder who will win.

Who butters Amtrak's bread ? Thus far House Appropriations gave them big numbers, but also with specificity such as station agents of those withdrawn in 2018 are to sell tickets. They are onto them, but have not yet pulled out the stick.

Enroute to Chicago on the Zephyr last week, I had occasion to talk with an off-duty Amtrak conductor who mentioned that a woman was joining the management team and would be supporting the national network. The fact that Winbigler is going to be responsible for the "company’s finance, treasury, accounting and control functions" might mean that she'll overhaul current accounting procedures that are anything but transparent.

Quoted from a Progressive Railroading article:
"Most recently, she [Winbigler] was CFO at Recreational Equipment Inc., where she led the financial, procurement, and asset protection teams for the $2.7 billion cooperative."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/19 16:11 by joemvcnj.

Cumbresfan Wrote:
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> Enroute to Chicago on the Zephyr last week, I had
> occasion to talk with an off-duty Amtrak conductor
> who mentioned that a woman was joining the
> management team and would be supporting the
> national network. The fact that Winbigler is going
> to be responsible for the "company’s finance,
> treasury, accounting and control functions" might
> mean that she'll overhaul current accounting
> procedures that are anything but transparent.

That news, if true, could be the most positive development for Amtrak in many a year.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

I hate to say this, but from what's been going on since last year on the downgrade in services and the attemnpt on splitting the Chief, I'm not holding my breath until positive reults finally show up, especially seeing Airline Boy get the boot!

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Gardner is being groomed to replace Anderson at
> some point.

On what basis?

Winbigler is a total outsider becoming an Exec VP, basically replacing Gardner. A "new position" is created for Gardner, where he reports directly (isolated from all other senior managers) to Anderson.

If Anderson really is leaving, then Winbigler is more likely to become CEO than Gardner. If he's staying, then with a marketing guy he brought over from Delta a month or two ago, Anderson is consolidating his power, and suppressing Gardner's influence within Amtrak.

My comment is speculation and at best hypothesis, and you need to do the same instead of making a blanket statement without explanation. Convince me of your position.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/19 20:58 by cchan006.