Amtrak to Get New President and CEO on April 15

Amtrak will get a new president on April 15 and the passenger carrier has again dipped into the airline industry executive ranks.

William Flynn

William Flynn, who will replace Richard Anderson, is currently CEO of Atlas Air Worldwide but once worked as an executive at CSX.

Flynn’s appointment was announced late Monday morning after the news was broken by The New YorkTimes.

An Amtrak news release said Anderson, 64, a former CEO of Delta Air Line and Northwest Airlines, will continue at Amtrak as a senior adviser through the end of the year.

Flynn, 66, will be the third time Amtrak president and CEO in just over three years.

Charles “Wick” Moorman, the former CEO of Norfolk Southern, stepped down on Dec. 31, 2017 and Anderson, who had been co-CEO of Amtrak with Moorman since July 2017.

Moorman had joined Amtrak on Sept. 1, 2016. He replaced the late Joseph Boardman.

Flynn held several positions at CSX between 2000 and 2002, including the post of senior vice president of strategic planning and senior vice president at CSX Transportation.

He also held senior management positions at CSX subsidiary Sea-Land Services.

Atlas has three carriers, Atlas Air, Polar Air Cargo and Southern Air. It has 3,200 employees and operates in 89 countries.

It carries air freight and operates military and passenger charter flights.

Flynn has been at Atlas for 13 years and has four decades of transportation and logistics experience

One of Atlas’ customers is Amazon. News reports indicate that Atlas has has been embroiled in tense labor negotiations with its pilots over the past three years.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Flynn’s Amtrak salary will be $475,000 and he is expected to serve as CEO for five years.

That is relatively small amount compared to the $6.9 million in compensation, including base pay and bonuses, which Flynn earned at Atlas in 2018.

Flynn received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rhode Island and a master’s degree from the University of Arizona.

Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak CEO, Charles "Wick" Moorman, railroad executives, Richard Anderson, William Flynn