Ken

Ken retired from Norfolk Southern with 36 years’ service in Engineering, Material Management and Sourcing.  Later he spent two years as Director Purchasing for Progress Rail’s EMD division where he was charged with restructuring their purchasing activities to better match the current business environment.

Ken has direct experience with maintenance of track structure, in both line and program maintenance roles.  Ken worked on three operating divisions at NS before moving to a Material Management position at the Charlotte Roadway Equipment Shop where he ran the distribution center.  Later, Ken moved to NS headquarters for a centralized purchasing role with track material.

Ken has extensive purchasing experience, spending 14 years, purchasing Engineering materials including track, bridge and roadway equipment.   He then transitioned to purchasing material for the Mechanical Department, buying locomotives, their associated parts, freight cars and freight car parts along with diesel fuel and materials associated with locomotive servicing.  For the last 12 years of Ken’s NS career, he was Director Purchasing for the Mechanical and Transportation Departments, interfacing extensively with Senior Management on locomotive, railcar and fuel purchases.  During this period, he managed annual purchases of approximately $2.0B.

At Progress Rail, Ken was instrumental in restructuring the purchasing function at their EMD subsidiary.  During this period, he successfully directed the organization to move to a centralized purchasing function which provided superior service and resulted in lowers costs to both internal and external customers. 

Ken holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (BBA) from Roanoke College, Salem, VA and attended the Advanced Management Program at the Darden School of Management, University of Virginia.

Sevices provided:

Parts Sourcing Strategies

Reducing Replacement Parts Cost

Crankshafts