1998 — Present

With more than 30 years of combined experience in private legal practice and the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government, Hamberger is considered one of Washington’s most effective transportation policy advocates.

He began his career in transportation as general counsel of the National Transportation Policy Study Commission. He subsequently served as assistant secretary for governmental affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation and managing partner at Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell in Washington, DC.

2013 — Present

Jefferies leads the development, promotion and implementation of legislative priorities for AAR. Jefferies has more than a decade of experience working in government. From 2009 to 2013, Jefferies served as a senior policy advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Effective January 1, 2019, Jefferies will begin his new role as the AAR’s president and chief executive officer, in which he will continue to advocate for and work with member railroads to ensure the long-term viability of America’s railroad industry.

2015 — Present

Beginning her work with the Association of American Railroads in January 2015 as general counsel, Kathryn D. Kirmayer now serves as senior vice president, law and general counsel

Prior to AAR, Kirmayer practiced with an AmLaw 100 law firm for 25 years. Her practice focused on complex business litigation and arbitration, with specific expertise in antitrust, contract and business torts. During her tenure, she also served as chair of the firm’s litigation group and as vice-chair of the firm’s Finance Committee.

1980 — Present

Rush serves as the industry’s liaison with regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Homeland Security. Among other responsibilities, Rush oversees the rail industry’s interchange standards, homeland security plan and environmental protection and safety programs.

Prior to his current position, Rush served as associate general counsel. In this role, Rush counseled AAR and its member railroads on environment and safety issues and other corporate matters of concern. An expert in regulatory law, Rush represented AAR in various regulatory agency and legislative activities, testifying at hearings and drafting comments, briefs and Congressional testimony.

2008 — Present

Gray conducts and supervises economic, financial, statistical and cost studies dealing with various aspects of the rail industry.

Prior to joining AAR in 2008, Gray held commercial, operating, strategic and management positions at Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Burlington Northern Railroad, ARCO-Alaska and the Alaska Railroad. Gray also served in a faculty position at the University of Alaska. A veteran of the United States Army, Gray served as a commissioned officer and was based in Germany for four years.

2012 — Present

With more than 20 years in corporate and executive management, Marsh has expertise in financial management, corporate financial reporting, and risk and insurance management.

Prior to joining AAR, Marsh directed financial and treasury activities at the National Capital Reciprocal Insurance Company. In this role, Marsh also handled issues related to corporate governance, finance and accounting, policyholder services and loss reserve analysis and related matters of the professional liability insurance company.

2009 — Present

Kristin Smith is responsible for enhancing freight rail’s reputation and cultivating a favorable policy environment in support of industry initiatives. Smith oversees a highly-integrated, research-driven campaign that harnesses the power of traditional and cutting-edge media strategies and engages third-party validators to successfully influence policy decision-makers in a highly competitive political arena.

With more than 20 years of communications experience, Smith has overseen the creation of numerous award-winning campaigns, including AAR’s decade-long “Freight Rail Works” paid advertising campaign and Operation Lifesaver’s “See Tracks? Think Train.” safety PSA campaign.

2010 — Present

Stabler joined TTCI in 2010 as Vice President-Operations and Training.

Prior to TTCI, Stabler was assistant vice president of quality and reliability engineering at BNSF. During her tenure at BNSF, she was responsible for Supplier Quality, Freight Car Design, Track Measurement, Six Sigma Problem Solving, the Mechanical Quality System and Mechanical Best Way Processes. Mrs. Stabler also served as Chairman of AAR’s Advanced Technology Safety Committee. She came to BNSF RR from Delphi Corporation, where she had a number of assignments in Product Engineering, Quality Assurance and Strategic Planning.

2006 — Present

Since his appointment in 2006, Railinc has become a leading technology organization serving the freight rail industry with a customer-focused culture, a progressive, results-oriented workforce and leading technology infrastructure.

West has 25 years of experience in information technology and business management with leading companies in the transportation sector. Prior to joining Railinc, he was director of information technology for Sea-Land Service Inc., a subsidiary of CSX Inc. There he led technology teams in developing applications and business solutions for Sea-Land’s global operations. He has also held key leadership positions within Tenneco, Inc. and Norfolk Southern Corp.