The National Railroad Hall of Fame has received a $200,000 capital campaign gift from Henry I. Posner, III for the organization’s visitor attraction in Galesburg. Posner, Chairman of Railroad Development Corporation, chairs Iowa Interstate Railroad, RDC-Deutschland, EuroRail and his family investment firm, The Hawthorne Group.
“There are not a lot of entities that focus more on people than machines,” Posner said, adding that the NRRHF has come to national prominence by telling the stories of the people of American railroading.
“Henry has long contributed to our success by sharing his expertise on our national advisory panel,” said NRRHF Executive Director Julie King. ”Now his generous capital gift has helped put us over the top to meet our groundbreaking goal.”
A lifetime railroader, Posner entered full-time service at Conrail in 1977. He graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and earned an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School. He teaches undergraduate courses on rail deregulation and privatization at Carnegie Mellon University’s Pittsburgh and Qatar campuses, and has taught a graduate module at the Denver Transportation Institute. Posner’s philanthropic activities include serving as the Chairman of the Posner Foundation, whose activities have ranged from support of the Jewish community in the Former Soviet Union to Operation Lifesaver. He writes haiku and speaks English, Spanish, French and Russian.
In related news, Paul C. Miller is the newest member of the NRRHF Rail Industry Advisory Group. Miller retired from CN as Vice President of Safety, Sustainability and Network Transportation. He currently works as an independent consultant advising on rail and terminal operations, economics, and safety management. In accepting the Hall of Fame’s invitation, Miller said, “It would be my honor to be a small part of such an august body of rail industry icons, as they work to preserve the history of our industry.”
Miller also chairs The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in North America and serves as Adjunct Professor at the Canadian Rail Research Lab at the University of Alberta. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of New Brunswick/University of Maine and a Master of Science in Transportation Planning & Engineering from the University of New Brunswick.
The NRRHF Rail Industry Advisory Group includes rail industry leaders from Class I and Class II and III railroads, as well as leading scholars and transportation academics. The group provides expert advice on programming, inductee selection, oral history interview candidates, development efforts, and the story lines that will be presented in the visitor attraction.
