Amtrak CEO Resigns

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Here is the press release from Amtrak: 

News Release
	National Railroad Passenger Corporation 60 Massachusetts Avenue NE Washington, DC 20002 www.amtrak.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ATK-08-096 Contact: Cliff Black (202) 906-3860November 14, 2008
Amtrak Statement
WASHINGTON - The National Railroad Passenger Corporation today announced the resignation of its President and CEO, Alex Kummant. "On behalf of the entire Board, I'd like to thank Alex for his leadership over the past two years," said Donna McLean, Chair of the Board. "During the past two years, the company experienced exciting economic times, strong ridership and revenue growth, solid profit and loss performance, and the advancement of the Amtrak brand overall. He also successfully oversaw the completion of labor agreements with all of the unions representing Amtrak's employees. We are grateful to Alex for his contributions to the company. We wish him well in his future endeavors." Alex Kummant reflected that he was "proud of what the management team at Amtrak had accomplished over the last two plus years and that [he believed] Amtrak had a strong operational and financial base to get through the coming turbulent times." He continued that he "would help in any way to make this a smooth transition." "I'd like to thank Alex for his commitment to Amtrak over the past two years," said Hunter Biden, Vice Chair of the Board. "Our Board is committed to keeping Amtrak on an aggressive path of performance improvement. Current economic conditions highlight the need for us to continue finding ways to drive quality and customer service across the system. We are moving forward with the development of an aggressive long-term plan for the company, based on the recent legislation passed by Congress." After record ridership and revenue in FY08, a downturn in the economy and new legislative requirements present challenges as well as opportunities. In the coming years, Amtrak will need leadership to maximize its potential and utility to the traveling public, while increasing the efficiency of the whole operation. The Board is confident that this transition will be seamless, with William Crosbie, Amtrak's Chief Operating Officer, as Acting President and CEO for an interim period.

[WMAveteran]

Thank you for the news.  I wonder why he would resign now that there is a new adminstration that favors renewed funding for AMTRAK and a more balanced funding plan for transit?

[Scrabbleship]

Maybe Vice President-elect Biden has some plan up his sleeve... Something that might lead to traveling to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia perhaps?

[WMATAGMOAGH]

David Gunn is not coming back, be honest.

Supposedly the straw that broke the camel's back had to do with debt restructuring.  Kummant wanted to pay off the debt, the debtors are friends of the Board and therefore the Board isn't nearly as interested in doing so.  Unfortunate since Kummant has done quite well and Amtrak stands to improve over the next 4-8 years.