Rising Stars 2022: Lindsay Anderson

Lindsay Anderson, 34
Director of business analytics, Kansas City Southern

Nominator’s quote: “Lindsay has a unique ability to see a gap in data and drive to a solution. … [She] is recognized throughout KCS as the organizational expert in data and analytics and a leader in change management.” — Nicolas Klein, Kansas City Southern

Education: Bachelor’s in finance, University of Kansas; master’s in business intelligence and data analytics, Rockhurst University.

Job responsibilities: Responsible for supporting the business, with a strong focus on operations, by providing data and analytics to help solve problems and identify areas of opportunity. The team has been instrumental in KCS’s organizational shift of making decisions based on data and facts.

Career path: Started career at KCS in the customer solutions space; from there, moved to the service design group handling business development opportunities, capacity planning and creating many of the key performance indicators used to measure performance. With that experience, moved to the business intelligence group under IT to develop Power BI dashboards to track historical trends in metrics, including velocity, dwell and the creation of trip plan compliance. Later, started the business analytics team.

How did you get into the railroad industry? I moved to Kansas City to be closer to family in 2012 and began researching the best companies to work for. Kansas City Southern made the list for multiple years, so I decided to apply.

What is the best career advice you’ve received? As a leader, emulate the leaders that you have respected most throughout your career.

What advice would you give to a new railroader? Go experience the railroad: Ride a locomotive, tour a mechanical shop and spend time in the yards. This experience will make you a more valuable partner and allow you to understand what a data element in a table actually means in the field.

What was your very first job? My first job after college was [with] Teach for America, a program that confronts educational inequity by teaching for two years in under-resourced schools. The first year I taught sixth-grade math, and the following year I was a sixth-grade math special education inclusion teacher, where I led my students to 82% mastery of math standards as measured by district benchmarks.

Describe a fun fact about yourself. My husband and I opened a doggy day care and boarding facility on March 30, 2020 — two weeks into the pandemic. He operates the facility while I continue to work at my day job. We love being able to be part of the small business community in Kansas City. It has been a challenging but rewarding experience.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? Spending time with my husband and our now 1-year-old, Oliver. Going on walks to the park with our two dogs. Cooking new recipes and trying new food across Kansas City. We try to spend as much time as we can at the lake in the summertime.

How has the pandemic changed your view of career and life in general? For me, the pandemic has actually made my work more flexible with the ability to work remotely as well as in the office. Working full time as a new mom is not without its challenges, but having the ability to work more flexible hours has eased the transition.