Progressive Railroading announces recipients of 2026 Rail Mentor Awards

Today, Progressive Railroading is unveiling the 29 honorees of the inaugural Rail Mentor Awards program.

The RMA program is an offshoot of the Women of Influence in Rail program, which launched in 2025 with five categories for recognition. One of them was mentorship. Recognizing how critical the role of mentorship is for the rail industry, Progressive Railroading plucked that category from Women of Influence in Rail this year to further develop it.

We asked rail companies and associations to nominate the people who are doing the crucial work of developing and guiding the next generation of rail professionals by taking part in (or leading!) established mentorship programs or initiatives. These are people who are known and recognized by their employers and their peers as having a meaningful impact on others’ rail careers and the North American railroad industry as a whole.

There are dozens of ways one can serve in a mentorship role — and you’ll see that in the June edition of Progressive Railroading, where we will profile each of this year’s 29 Rail Mentors.

We plan to continue to refine our criteria, application and selection processes, and the program in the future. For now, following are this year's honorees.

— Bridget Dean, Senior Associate Editor

• Manny Arambulo, Union Pacific Railroad 
• Steve Armbrust, CSX
• Kennan Beard III, Sierra Northern Railway
• Kirsten Bowen, Michael Baker International
• Darryl Capnerhurst, Tri Innovations
• Supriya Deshmukh, Union Pacific Railroad
• Leah Fletcher, Norfolk Southern Railway
• Arthur Fougner, MTA Long Island Rail Road
• John Gallagher, RailPros
• Marco Gamonal, Utah Transit Authority
• LeKeisha Gatson-Dunham, Loup Logistics/UP
• Heather Gravelle, CSX
• Matthew Grimm, CN
• Sarah Grimmer Yurasko, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association
• Mark Hanigan, Olsson
• Jesse Heimowitz, Tectonic Engineering
• Virginia Hoover, CSX
• Anisa Hossain, PNR Railworks Inc.
• Chuck King, Urban Engineers Inc.
• Bill Krueger, The Greenbrier Cos. Inc.
• Alan Matheson, Tacoma Rail
• Teresa Muti, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
• Marc Pavlica, CN
• Mitchell Petersen, CN
• Mike Renner, Patriot Rail Co.
• Jean-François Robitaille, Metrolinx
• Cappi Seidl, Norfolk Southern Railway
• Justin Vonashek, MTA Metro-North Railroad
• Denise Williams, League of Railway Women/Wabtec Corp.