Conversation with Linda Morgan: Leadership in Surface Transportation

Abstract

The rail industry over the past couple of years has faced a number of critical problems with merger implementations that created extensive transportation delays and corresponding shipper ill will. During implementation of the Union Pacific/Southern Pacific merger, the city of Houston, Texas was losing a million dollars a day because rail shipments were snarled as too many rail cars clogged terminals in the area. As Chairman of Surface Transportation Board (STB), Linda Morgan was at the center of the government's role to ensure that these mergers were "in the public interest" and managed properly.

The STB is an independent adjudicative body administratively housed within the Department of Transportation, responsible for the economic regulation of interstate surface transportation, primarily railroads, within the United States. The STB's mission is to ensure that competitive, efficient, and safe transportation services are provided to meet the needs of shippers, receivers, and consumers. The STB formation was a product of the elimination of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) on December 31, 1995. The STB's first Chairman was Linda J. Morgan, who remained Chairman until December 2, 2002.

Linda Morgan was the last Chairman of the ICC and joined that organization on April 24, 1994, and became its Chairman on March 23, 1995. When the ICC was terminated and the STB assumed many of its duties, she became the Chairman of the STB. In January 2001, she, a Democrat, was asked by the Bush Administration to stay on as chairman. By law, her term at the STB will end on December 31, 2003.

Linda Morgan has a great reputation in the rail industry as a no nonsense leader, respected for her fairness, openness, and ability to "get down to the issues. " In 1998, she was named by The Washington Post as one of the five "people to watch " for that year, and in December 1998, she received the Women's Transportation Seminar's "Woman of the Year Award." In April 1999, she received a Georgetown University Law Center "Alumna of the Year Award " for her contributions to the legal profession and society in general.

I caught up with Linda Morgan in Chicago a while back after she had daylong meetings with city and industry officials and toured a railroad yard that was the focus of some proposed changes. I wanted to know what sorts of skills are needed for a leader to succeed at the head of a government agency in a high-pressure environment such as the STB has faced on a day-to-day basis.