People in the news

BNSF appointments

• BNSF Railway Co. announced Executive Vice President of Law and Secretary Roger Nober will assume responsibility for state government and corporate relations to succeed EVP of Public Affairs Jeff Moreland, who retired. The Class I also named Greg Fox VP of transportation; Dave Freeman, VP of engineering; Jeff Wright, region VP, North operations; Michael Shircliff, AVP of locomotive utilization; and Mark Kirschinger, general manager of the California Division.

At KCS...

• The Class I promoted Carl Harrison from senior manager of business solutions delivery to AVP of information technology and business solutions.

NS ranks

• Deborah Butler was named EVP of planning and chief information officer; and Fredric Ehlers, VP-customer service.

Another hat

• John Hellmann has added “chief executive officer” to his Genesee & Wyoming Inc. title. On June 1, the short-line holding company president took over as CEO from Mortimer Fuller III, who now will serve as executive chairman.

Transit-rail rosters

• MTA Long Island Rail Road named Helena Williams president.
• The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority named Shiva Pant chief of staff; and Dave Kubicek assistant GM, chief mechanical officer.
• The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon named Stephen Banta executive director of operations.

Supply side

• FreightCar America Inc. promoted Matt Kline, Ben Pentazer and Jeff Boring to service engineers, and appointed John Wagner customer service administrator. The rail-car builder also expanded SVP of Operations Kenneth Bridges’ plant-management responsibilities to include the firm’s Johnstown, Pa., facility; and named Charles Magolske VP-business development and strategy.
• Georgetown Rail Equipment Co. appointed John Huddleston director-service planning for the Eastern markets; David Hunsucker, director-Aurora integration; and R.T. Swindall, director-service planning.
• Alstom named Roland Kientz SVP, North Europe for the company’s Transport Sector; and promoted Jean-Jacques Morin to SVP of finance for Alstom Transport.
• Southwest Signal Engineering Co. named Denny Myers AVP of engineering; Darren Bruce, senior director of engineering; and Gary Banks and Joe Baldini, directors of engineering.
• Southeastern Frog & Switch Corp. named Bob Ryland sales manager.