Alexander K. Kummant (born 1962) was named by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

on August 29, 2006, as the railroad company's new

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

effective September 12 of that year. He succeeded

David L. Gunn David L. Gunn (born June 21, 1937) is a transportation system administrator who has headed several significant railroads and transit systems in North America. He was director of operations of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA ...

in this position who was dismissed in November 2005, and

David Hughes David Hughes may refer to: Arts *Dave Hughes (born 1970), Australian comedian *Dave Hughes (producer), American television producer and editor *David Hughes (illustrator), British illustrator *David Hughes (Emmerdale), fictional character in the I ...

who had been serving as interim president. Kummant submitted his resignation from Amtrak on November 14, 2008. He graduated from

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

's engineering school in 1982. Before working for Amtrak, Kummant had worked as an executive for

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

(UP) where he fulfilled several Vice President roles. After UP, Kummant also served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Komatsu America Corporation. Before that, he was president of

BOMAG ''Bopparder Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft mbH'', better known by the acronym BOMAG, is a German company and a global market leader in compaction technology and manufactures soil, asphalt and refuse compaction equipment, as well as stabilizers and rec ...

, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

manufacturer of

road roller A road roller (sometimes called a roller-compactor, or just roller) is a compactor-type engineering vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations. Similar rollers are used also at land ...

s and other construction material compacting equipment. As Amtrak president and CEO, Kummant was more conciliatory towards the survival of Amtrak in its current form than Congressional Republicans had been during the early 2000s. During his term, he did not support Congressional proposals to split the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

(the segment from Boston to Richmond) from the rest of Amtrak's operations; nor did he envision shedding the long distance east-west routes of Amtrak. Kummant submitted his resignation on November 14, 2008. Upon his resignation, Amtrak

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

William Crosbie assumed the role of interim CEO, but was succeeded on November 25 by former

FRA A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

administrator

Joseph H. Boardman Joseph Houston Boardman (December 23, 1948March 7, 2019) was an American transportation executive who served as President and CEO of Amtrak from 2008 to 2016. Boardman was the longest-serving Commissioner of the New York State Department of Trans ...

. Don Phillips claims that inside sources indicate that Kummant did not in fact resign voluntarily, but was made to quit because of a dispute with the board of directors about debt restructuring. In October 2012, Kummant was recruited by QR National in Australia, becoming Executive Vice President Strategy.

References

1942 births Living people Amtrak presidents 21st-century American railroad executives {{US-rail-bio-stub

See also

References