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Railroader Breaks Glass Ceiling, Balances Career and Family


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 22 September 2017 - 10:49 AM

UPRR Inside Track, 9/20/17:

 

 

Railroader Breaks Glass Ceiling, Balances Career and Family

 

img_up_tami_johnsen_sup.jpg

The Council Bluffs, Iowa, train yard feels like home to 20-year railroad veteran Tami Johnsen.

 

It’s the first day at a new job, and the unisex bathroom door doesn’t properly shut. Tami Johnsen did what any good leader would do: she drove to a nearby hardware store, bought a new locking door knob and fixed the problem. Two decades later, Johnsen, Union Pacific’s general superintendent of the Harriman Dispatching Center, still tackles new challenges head on.

 

 

In her new role, Johnsen manages dispatchers who coordinate train movement across Union Pacific’s 12,000-mile Northern Region. She is the second female to hold the role in Union Pacific’s 155-year history.

 

“I’m a third generation railroad brat,” she said. “My grandfather and father were railroaders, and I have a sister who works for at Union Pacific as the director of Amtrak operations. Railroading is in our blood.”

 

SNIP

 

At age 20, Johnsen joined the family legacy and Union Pacific as a train dispatcher, the railroad’s version of Air Traffic Control. She volunteered for special projects and didn’t hesitate to work the “Extra Board.” Instead of having an assigned schedule and the same territory, the Extra Board covers vacations, sick days, etc., for train dispatchers across Union Pacific’s 23-state network.

 

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