Railway Age is celebrating eight years of recognizing women who not only excel at leadership but also serve the community and drive industry change, paving the way for the next generation. This year, 25 railroaders earned the publication’s Women in Rail award.
Established in 2017, the annual award is presented to railway industry women in the United States, Canada and/or Mexico for their outstanding leadership, vision, innovation, community service involvement and accomplishments. In an industry typically dominated by men, their professionalism and hard work set an example for many in the freight, passenger, government and supply sectors.
“All of us at Railway Age congratulate this distinguished group of women,” Railway Age Publisher Jonathan Chalon reported on behalf of the judging committee, which included Railroad Financial Corporation Senior Advisor Barbara Wilson, Commuter Rail Coalition CEO KellyAnne Gallagher and the Railway Age staff. “We are proud to honor these trailblazers who have a track record of breaking down barriers and helping to create industry opportunities for women.” In addition to the 25 honorees, seven women were selected for honorable mention in 2024.
In addition to the Railway Age staff, the judges are:
Barbara Wilson
Senior Advisor
Railroad Financial Corporation
Wilson served previously as President and CEO of short line holding company RailUSA, providing strategic leadership and implementing long-range goals, plans and policies. Prior to joining RailUSA in 2019, she was President of Wells Fargo Rail, where she led business growth by acquiring three industry competitors to build the largest railcar leasing business in North America. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and an MBA from Babson College.
KellyAnne Gallagher
CEO
Commuter Rail Coalition (CRC)
Gallagher is a public transportation policy professional and a strategic advisor to industry leaders. With more than 20 years serving across industry sectors, in 2019 she founded CRC, where she is shaping policy and driving the agenda of the association, which serves as the singular voice of the commuter rail industry. Previously, Gallagher was a member of the New York MTA’s senior leadership team, which she joined after 16 years with the American Public Transportation Association.
2024 Women in Rail Honorees
Sanchita Banerjee-Jimenez
Deputy Director, Operations and
Customer Experience
Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH)
In the course of her 20-plus-year career, Banerjee-Jimenez has served as GM of Kennedy Airport AirTrain in New York, as Operations Leader at Metrolinx in Toronto, as Assistant Director with the Port Authority Office of Chief Operations Officer, and, since January, in her current role executing initiatives to improve the daily commute for more than 55 million PATH riders annually and overseeing a staff of more than 550 professionals. She is implementing a new system of data collection and analysis, while developing innovative signage and visualization tools to help customers in-station and online as PATH pushes to modernize the facilities and technology of a 116-year-old system. Banerjee-Jimenez was instrumental in crafting a comprehensive response to proposed congestion pricing in New York City. Designed to dramatically reduce traffic in Midtown Manhattan, the proposal would also increase PATH ridership to fill the gap. In just a few months, Banerjee-Jimenez and her team devised a plan to provide a short-term operating schedule to start in June and build up to greater investment in railcar coverage, scheduling improvements, and resource allocation in October. While New York State pulled the plug on congestion pricing, PATH was ready to answer and will be again once congestion pricing is enacted.
Kristin Bevil
General Counsel and
Chief Legal Officer
Pinsly Railroad Company
Bevil is a transportation attorney who has spent her career advising rail clients in all aspects of the business. She got her start with Fletcher & Sippel, LLC, in Chicago, advising Class I, regional and short line railroad clients in the Midwest in matters involving FELA (Federal Employers Liability Act), grade crossing accidents, whistleblower claims, employment issues and commercial disputes. She transitioned to The Indiana Rail Road as its first General Counsel, providing advice on litigation, governance, regulatory compliance, labor relations, and commercial transactions. In 2019, Bevil joined the executive team of Pioneer Lines as General Counsel, managing 15 short lines, from time of acquisition through divestiture three years later. Now, in addition to her role at Jacksonville, Fla.-based Pinsly—owner six short lines with operations in Florida, Mississippi, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Massachusetts—she serves the industry as Vice President, Central Region for the ASLRRA (American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association) Executive Committee. She is also an authorized volunteer and the former Indiana Vice Chair for Operation Lifesaver Inc. Bevil earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and a law degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
Carol Boehm
Vice President, Client Account
Manager, Amtrak, FHWA, FRA
AECOM
Boehm’s career spans freight and passenger rail. With an understanding of each side’s goals and objectives, she has grown to become a collaborative leader, building partnerships among parties who often have conflicting priorities—a quality that has been a key to her success. Boehm joined Conrail’s sales management training program after college and worked her way up to leading the marketing team for the auto parts business line. In her initial position at Amtrak, she monitored host railroads’ performance and service, with the goal of reducing interference, improving Amtrak trains’ on-time performance, enhancing the customer experience, and, ultimately, increasing the railroad’s ridership and revenue. Later, she led negotiations for the project design agreement between Amtrak and New York MTA for the Penn Station Access project. Now, Amtrak is among Boehm’s clients, and during the past three years, she and AECOM teams have earned new projects with Amtrak in support of critical infrastructure replacement on the NEC. Boehm also created and led a firm program to identify cross-region leaders within the Transportation business line to pursue work generated by the FRA’s $12 billion Corridor ID program. An ally to all, Boehm serves Co-Champion for AECOM’s DEI group in the Philadelphia office.
Christina Booth-Jackson
Vice President,
Information Technology
R. J. Corman Railroad Group
Booth-Jackson has been instrumental in modernizing the R. J. Corman IT department. Under her leadership, it has played a key role in revamping the company’s Payroll, Emergency Services, Estimating Applications, Project Management Applications, Security Systems, Cybersecurity, Business Intelligence and more. She is committed to developing solutions that are effective and user-friendly, fostering a culture where employees are eager to embrace technological advancements. Under Booth-Jackson’s guidance, the IT team successfully transitioned to a cloud-based file-sharing solution, which has improved collaboration, security and accessibility. Outside of work, she is dedicated to service as a volunteer at her church, contributing to its media operations and establishing its network infrastructure; as an active member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, which is focused on IT governance, risk management, and cybersecurity; and as a technology mentor to youth and the elderly. Additionally, she has helped several nonprofits to establish and maintain an online presence, and actively supported and developed marketing materials for women’s shelters, children’s after-school food programs, fundraisers to support underserved communities, and breast cancer awareness.
Henrika Buchanan
National Practice Consultant,
Vice President, Transit and Rail Market Sector
HNTB
Buchanan is a strategic, results-oriented leader with more than 25 years’ experience in public transportation. As a senior executive at FTA for more than a decade, she led the agency’s pandemic recovery efforts, which included ensuring the industry’s successful stewardship of $70 billion in supplemental relief funding; Hurricane Sandy recovery work while simultaneously creating FTA’s emergency relief program; and efforts to develop and implement the $8.4 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act transit program. Also, she managed and oversaw a portfolio of $117 billion in federal grant investments; improved procedures for identifying and closing inactive FTA grants, resulting in the federal recovery of $397 million over five years and reinvested into shovel-ready projects nationwide; and led the effort to develop FTA’s Transit Award Management System. She has been recognized with the Presidential Rank award (2019), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. President upon senior executives; Outstanding Achievement Award (2020) from the USDOT for her COVID-19 leadership response; and as one of 10 Women Who Move the Nation (2023) by COMTO (Conference of Minority Transportation Officials). At HNTB, Buchanan provides strategic advice to WMATA, New York MTA, SANDAG and MBTA.
Shornda Cadore
Procurement Director Americas
Alstom
Cadore transitioned from the aerospace industry to the rail industry two years ago when she signed on to oversee the unification of Alstom Americas’ procurement organization. This involved coordinating efforts across 12 countries, 25 sites and a diverse team of more than 400 employees. Within the first year, she successfully streamlined procurement processes, resulting in enhanced operational efficiency and notable cost savings. Cadore collaborates with 5,000-plus direct and indirect active suppliers for a spend totaling more than 2.5 billion euros. This budget supports all Alstom Americas product lines and functions, including operations in North and South America, Rolling Stock and Components, Signaling, Services and Indirect Procurement. She recently spearheaded the inaugural Alstom Supplier Summit in North America, bringing together more than 80 suppliers and 200-plus attendees, and highlighting the significance of strategic collaboration within the industry. Cadore is committed to giving back. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Urban League of Greater Hartford and the Grenada Airports Authority, co-chairs the Grenada Diaspora Advisory Council, and is an Executive Sponsor for ABLE (Alstom Black Leaders of Excellence) employee resource group.
Tara Carpenter
Director of Revenue Accounting
Watco
As the lead project manager from Revenue Accounting, Carpenter has collaborated for seven years with Watco’s IT/Development team to create a new in-house rating, messaging and invoicing system for managing interline settlements—unifying all 46 Watco railroads into a single platform. She was responsible for mapping out the process from a revenue standpoint, including how messages would be transmitted to other rail carriers, the presentation of invoices to customers, the integration with Watco’s accounting system, and the reporting tools used by Watco Sales and Operations. The company completed the rollout June 1. For the Revenue Accounting department, the system has eliminated manual rate entries, resulting in fewer errors and improved settlement timelines and cash flow. It has also reduced the multi-million-dollar software expense associated with third-party services. In addition to serving as a leader at Watco, Carpenter is an industry leader, serving as Vice Chair of the Interline Revenue Committee at Railinc, where she also helps to develop new products, such as the Multi Level Pool Billing (MLPB) Data Exchange automotive rack billing process. She is now working on a proposal for a new product aimed at managing overcharge claims. Carpenter is a member of her local Rotary Club and regularly helps at a local food kitchen.
“Congratulations to our 2024 Women in Rail award winners and to Railway Age for celebrating these strong and successful women.”
— Barbara Wilson
Senior Advisor, Railroad Financial Corporation
Ari Ferrand-Goodwin
Director, Organizational Development
New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB)
(Railway Age Women in Rail 2023 Honorable Mention)
A five-year railroader, Ferrand-Goodwin trains management on professional development topics, has established recruitment practices to ensure the hiring of a diverse workforce and emphasizes employee engagement and recognition through such programs as Employee of the Quarter. Additionally, she leads monthly safety committee meetings and recently initiated an annual “Beat the Heat” event for employees on the importance of staying hydrated during the summer. Just months after Ferrand-Goodwin joined NOPB, the pandemic hit. She implemented strict safety measures and guidelines, prioritizing employee safety, ensuring that there were no disruptions in operations and maintaining the smooth functioning of the organization during this critical time. Ferrand-Goodwin is mindful of giving back to the community and lifting up others who need help. In 2022, she assisted with the establishment of an annual school supply drive for the New Orleans Women and Children’s Shelter, which not only assists community members while they are in the shelter but also supports them for 18 months after they leave, making sure that they have the resources they need to avoid returning to homelessness.
Laura Fuentes
Project Manager, Tlaxcala and Sahagun
The Greenbrier Companies
Fuentes has been a key team member across Greenbrier’s Mexico manufacturing operations since joining in 2006 as an administrative assistant. She has risen through the ranks, taking on roles at all three facilities. From 2009 to 2011, Fuentes served as Materials and Warehouse Manager at Greenbrier GIMSA. In 2011, she became Project Manager at Greenbrier Sahagun, expanding operations and facilitating the construction and introduction of Greenbrier Tlaxcala. In 2015, she became the first female Production Manager at Greenbrier Sahagun, overseeing implementation of a boxcar production line. Fuentes gives back by offering tools and resources and sharing her knowledge with her team and coworkers, and motivating other women to take on more opportunities to aid in their personal and professional growth. During the pandemic, when supply chain constraints impacted all companies, Fuentes spearheaded Greenbrier’s insourcing expansion project in Mexico, which aimed to reduce outsourcing, further control quality standards, minimize the risk of supply chain constraints or material delays and bolster internal component refurbishment to reduce new steel use and provide a sustainability benefit. Fuentes was among the first to join the LRW (League of Railway Women) when it expanded to Mexico in 2022.
Amanda Hongisto
Director Design Engineering
CSX
Hongisto plays an important role in the design of CSX projects and is dedicated to improving processes and procedures to make them more efficient. She joined the railroad as an engineering intern while receiving her bachelor’s degree in Construction Management from Michigan Technological University, and was hired in 2007 as a Project Engineer. In 2010, she became Public Project Engineer and in 2011, Project Manager, handling coal-related projects from internal CSX Service Design and Network Planning departments. Later, Hongisto transitioned to Senior Design Engineer, managing consultants and coordinating cross-functional teams within the company to create preliminary engineering plans on capacity projects. During that time, she was part of a team that received the CSX Chairman’s Award for Excellence for a joint project with BNSF in Smithboro, Ill. to help relieve Chicago congestion. Hongisto took on her current role in 2023. She has served as volunteer mentor for women in engineering and took part in the Penn State-led program, encouraging women’s participation in rail engineering. Hongisto is also involved in the “OnTRACK 2024: Here SHE Grows” program at CSX, which aims to provide training and support to empower more women to take on leadership roles. She received an MBA in project management from the Florida Institute of Technology.
Katie Hower
Vice President Network Strategy,
Service Design and Innovation
BNSF Railway
During her nearly 20-year rail industry career, Hower’s top organizational, marketing and communication skills have enabled her to build powerful teams and develop new products, markets and customer solutions. In her most recent prior role at BNSF, Vice President Domestic Intermodal Marketing, she was responsible for more than $5 billion in revenue and more than 57% of BNSF volumes, and instrumental in revising ETA calculations and methodology and developing new processes and programs to provide better visibility and information for customers. She led a cross-functional team in developing a new cross-border intermodal product with Grupo México Transportes connecting the Monterrey, Silao-Bajio, and Pantaco-Mexico City regions through the Eagle Pass, Tex. border to all major U.S. markets within a span of three months. Volume has grown 71% since the January launch. She also collaborated with J.B. Hunt to allow customers with service-sensitive freight to benefit from the cost savings of intermodal. Named to her current role in September, she has direct responsibility for more than $500 million in annual capital expansion, strategic land, facility and railcar investments. Additionally, Hower established and is the Executive Sponsor for BNSF’s newest Business Resource Group, the Disabilities Inclusion Alliance.
Tiffani L. Jenkins
SVP, Communications and Signaling,
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
(Railway Age Honoree, 25 Under 40 Program for 2022)
Jenkins initially joined WMATA in 2006 as a Power Systems Engineer and now leads the Communications and Signaling team, which recently completed the return to ATO (Automatic Train Operation) at WMATA, and is responsible for development and management of the Automatic Train Control capital program. Following Jenkins’ promotion from Vice President, Signal System Renewal Program to her current role in 2022, her team grew from 80 employees to more than 600, many of which are union-represented maintenance crews. Jenkins has worked to develop relationships with the union president and representatives to ensure collaboration and a unified message. Additionally, she encourages team members to present projects to executive leadership for exposure and development and ensures that underrepresented staff are able to attend conferences. She has an open-door policy, which most of her team never experienced before, and initiates frequent town hall and all-hands meetings. Jenkins has also led the development of department community engagement efforts to support the underserved. To date, her team has worked with SOCKS (So Others Can Keep Striding), The Maryland Book Bank and Capital Food Bank Fill-A-Bus events.
Sharon Khan-Kellman
Director, Occupational Safety Projects
MTA Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)
Throughout Khan-Kellman’s 27-year transit and commuter railroad career, she has investigated environmentally sustainable materials; performed studies (hazard and operability); conducted assessments (risk and exposure) and audits; improved training materials; developed and implemented safety mitigation strategies; thought “outside the box” to find solutions, such as implementing a barcode tracking system for 55-gallon drums; and developed her staff. “She provides support, words of inspiration, insight from her experience and allows everyone to be themselves to grow,” according to one of her two colleague nominators. “When mistakes are made, Sharon is supportive and helps her staff work through lessons learned to prevent similar future mistakes. Sharon has even supported me to grow as a professional and individual.” Khan-Kellman is a pioneer in the areas of Job Safety Analyses—developing a program for the Operating department—and Fatigue Risk Management—originating LIRR’s Fatigue Potential Analysis tool that is being incorporated into its Federal Railroad Administration-mandated Fatigue Risk Management Program. Additionally, she has participated in rail safety, grade crossing safety and escalator safety awareness days to educate the public. Khan-Kellman earned a Master of Chemical Engineering from City College of New York and an Executive MBA from St. Joseph’s College.
All Photographs Courtesy of the Respective Companies.
