2026 Symposium Speakers

Keynote Speaker: Dianne Barnett, AVP - Mechanical, Norfolk Southern


Dianne Barnett is a second‑generation railroader with more than 27 years of experience in locomotive and freight car maintenance, derailment response, terminal operations, coal pier resiliency, and system reliability. Her career reflects a deep commitment to safety culture, operational excellence, and data‑driven performance.

Before her current role, Dianne served as Senior Director of Mechanical Operations & Support, leading the Mechanical Department’s data‑driven war rooms that reduced service interruptions and improved fleet reliability. She partnered across departments to analyze failure trends, address recurring component issues, and implement targeted countermeasures that significantly decreased line‑of‑road failures. She also directed the Car Maintenance war room, streamlining terminal inventory processes. Dianne strengthened resiliency at the Lamberts Point coal pier by establishing a centralized outage‑tracking system that enabled targeted maintenance, modernization of aging assets, and long‑term capital planning.

As Assistant Vice President–Mechanical, she leads strategic initiatives that reinforce a performance culture grounded in safety, analytics, accountability, and collaboration. Her derailment response expertise has shaped her ability to lead under pressure, coordinate cross‑functional teams, and restore operations safely and efficiently. She is a team‑focused leader dedicated to developing talent and driving continuous improvement.

Career Highlights • Served on Norfolk Southern’s Women in Operations Steering Committee. • Directed Mechanical Department war rooms, reducing wayside‑related train stops and cutting non‑running‑repair bad‑order cars by 25% despite major flooding events. • Improved resiliency at Lamberts Point coal pier, reducing equipment‑failure outages by more than 40% and increasing production. • Managed mechanical operations during NS’s 2016 acquisition of the former D&H South Line, ensuring a seamless transition at Binghamton Terminal.

2026 Symposium Speakers

Livia Bicalho

Global Leader of Talent Management, Wabtec

Livia Bicalho is the Global Leader of Talent Management at Wabtec, based in Atlanta, Georgia. She leads global strategies across succession planning, leadership development, performance management, and enterprise wide talent initiatives, partnering closely with senior leaders to build diverse, future ready organizations.

With extensive experience in global HR and talent roles within large, multinational organizations, Livia brings a truly global perspective to leadership and people development. Originally from Brazil and now working globally, she is known for her structured, data driven, and human centered approach—connecting business strategy, leadership capability, and employee experience to drive sustainable results.

Melissa Cardinal

Talent Acquisition, CN

Melissa Cardinal from CN is a Talent Acquisition professional with 16 years of experience and a deep rooted passion for people. She studied Human Resources at Université du Québec à Montréal and began her career at Adecco, where she spent seven years partnering with diverse clients across multiple industries. She later joined CN, further strengthening her expertise within the transportation sector. Driven by meaningful connections, Melissa has made it a personal goal to continuously meet, learn from, and collaborate with people throughout her career. Outside of work, she enjoys long walks with her Great Dane, Achille, and staying current on the latest developments in Talent Acquisition. 

Judy Covington Poole

Technical Director, CSX

Judy Covington Poole is a transformative technology leader whose career spans more than two decades of leading organizations through some of the most complex digital shifts of their time. She has driven cloud modernization at scale, reimagined enterprise systems, and guided global teams through multimillion-dollar transformations that reshape how businesses operate. 

As a Director at CSX, Judy has led mission-critical initiatives that power one of the nation’s largest transportation networks—odernizing legacy platforms, elevating safety systems, and partnering directly with leaders to shape the company’s long-term technology vision. Her leadership blends strategic clarity with a deep technical foundation, and she is known for bringing out the best in people, building high-performing teams, and championing innovation across every layer of the organization. 

Judy’s experience spans healthcare, financial services, government, and transportation, with a consistent focus on data, architecture, and enterprise modernization. She holds an MBA, multiple industry certifications, and is a leader in organizations such as the Information Technology Senior Management Forum, Leadership Jacksonville, and the National African American Women Leadership Institute. 

Beyond her professional achievements, she is a passionate mentor, community advocate, and champion for expanding access to STEM education and leadership opportunities. 

Judy is a visionary technologist, a strategic thinker, and a leader committed to shaping the future of digital transformation.

Michele Hughes

Talent Acquisition Manager, Wi-Tronix

Michele Hughes is the Talent Acquisition Manager at Wi-Tronix, where she leads recruitment strategy across the full organization, from engineering and operations to executive leadership. With deep expertise in full-cycle recruiting and workforce planning, Michele partners with leadership to build scalable hiring processes that position Wi-Tronix to compete for top talent in one of the most specialized markets in the country. Her data-driven approach and commitment to candidate experience are helping shape the teams driving innovation and safety in rail, one strategic hire at a time.

Jessica Karcz

AVP of General Equipment and Asset Management - Fleet Department, TTX Company

Jessica Karcz has been with TTX Company for more than 18 years, serving in a variety of roles throughout her career. Following TTX’s relocation from Chicago, Illinois, to Charlotte, North Carolina, she now serves in the Fleet Department as Assistant Vice President of General Equipment and Asset Management. She and her team oversee more than 70,000 pooled general equipment railcars and manage the movement of TTX railcars removed from service for maintenance, modification, or retirement.

Jessica is committed to creating growth opportunities for her team at a pace aligned with each individual’s interest and capability. Throughout her career, she has also mentored many colleagues as they defined and pursued their own paths to success.

Jessica holds a Master’s Degree in Transportation Management from the University of Denver. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Lisa Matta

Chief Innovation Officer, Wi-Tronix

Lisa Matta is the Chief Innovation Officer at Wi-Tronix. As a leader in technology for over 25 years, Lisa creates solutions that solve critical issues faced by the rail industry. She combines a talent for invention with a passion for education, providing a pathway for future innovators and leaders in her field. As one of the founders of Wi-Tronix, Lisa is named in five patents and has been instrumental in spearheading the design, development, test, and launch of new software and products since Wi-Tronix’s beginning.

She continues to cultivate engineering skills in students at all levels through her volunteer work as President of Chicago Alumni Chapter of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and a mentor in the STEAM youth organization, Destination Imagination.

Dr. Karen Philbrick

Executive Director, Mineta Transportation Institute
An award-winning scholar and frequently invited keynote speaker, Dr. Karen Philbrick is the executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San José State University. She leads two competitively selected multi-university consortia focused on improving the mobility of people and goods. These include the California State University Transportation Consortium, which unifies the surface transportation research and workforce development efforts of the 23-campus California State University system, which represent and support the geographical, cultural, racial, and socioeconomic diversity that makes our state and nation strong, and the Climate Change and Extreme Events Training and Research Program funded by the FRA.

Ayesha Qureshi

Rail Systems Integration Delivery Lead, Arcadis

Ayesha Qureshi is a Rail Systems Integration Delivery Lead at Arcadis, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, where she partners with rail and transit agencies to solve complex system integration challenges across technology, operations, and organizational change. Her 15-year career spans network operations at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway, one of North America's largest freight railways, enterprise IT leadership at ONxpress Operations Inc — and now systems integration delivery at Arcadis, where she specializes in bridging the technical and human dimensions of transit modernization. She holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, PMP, ITIL 4 Foundation, and SAFe Scrum Master credentials, and is completing an MBA in Strategy at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University.

Beyond her professional work, Ayesha is a Director at BurlingtonGreen, a grassroots climate advocacy charity, a mentor for women in transportation through WTS Toronto, and a mentor for newcomer employment through the Calgary Region Immigrant Employment Council.

Denise Williams

Senior Commercial Operations Manager, Wabtec Corporation

Denise Williams leads digital strategy and cross-functional execution within Wabtec’s Digital Intelligence P&L for global rail and mining customers. With 20+ years across rail and contract management, she is known for connecting strategy to execution in complex environments—grounded in people, partnership, and real-world impact. Before Wabtec, Denise spent 6½ years with KCS/CPKC in roles including Purchasing Compliance Manager and Project Manager, Industrial Development, and completed the three-year LEAD Program across HSE, Operations, and Leadership Development. She serves in Women of Wabtec, League of Railway Women, Rail Professionals of Kansas City and was named a 2026 Rail Mentor Honoree by Progressive Railroading.