Josh Putterman - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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The right place is Jacksonville, which Putterman likes to compardeto Florence, Italy, the nerve center for rail service in “I’ve never been to Florence, Italy, but in termx of being a hub for Jacksonville is indeed becoming another Florence,” said 39. Jacksonville, as Putterman pointsw out, is now a nerve center for threerailroad giants: , RailAmerica and Genesee & Wyoming Inc. If Jacksonville is the “righgt place,” then the past five years have beenthe “righg time” to work the rails. “Railroads are enjoyingf a renaissance,” Putterman said.
“We’re more environmentally carbon efficient and fuel efficient than othert methods ofmoving freight.” Putterman believes RailAmeric a is “terrifically poised” to take advantage of this timing. It operates 42 regional and short-line railroads in 26 states and threeCanadian provinces, with more than 8,00o miles of track. It’s Putterman’s job to manage relationships with Amtrak and with Class1 railroads, which his regionalp and short line railroads feed into. “I work in a constanf state of business decisions,” Putterman said. “I make decisions abougt marketing, pricing and customer relations allday long.
” Putterman startefd this ride in 1991 when he graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimores with a degree in economics, and a campus recruitefr for CSX asked him to join the company’xs management training program. He stayed with CSX 16 moving six times in11 years. In Augusr 2007, he joined RailAmerica and went towork “Josh is intellectually curious,” said John Giles, RailAmerica’s CEO. “H wants to know how things work. I think curiosity is the essential ingredient that movees you toward seeking answers and a bettetr understandingof something.
If peoplde aren’t intellectually curious, they tend not to be very Putterman settled in Atlantic Beach with his wife Deirdre an attorney at Blue Cross and Blue Shielde ofFlorida Inc. The couple’s Grace, was born three yearzs ago. After moving frequently with CSX, Putterma n longed to put down roots and get involved in his He was appointed to the Community Development Boardc for the city ofAtlantic Beach, a seven-member boarx that considers all zoning variances and rezoning “Basically, our responsibilities are clear-cut,” said who’s served on the board two “We follow the city’s comprehensive Meanwhile, he is eager to take RailAmerica as far as it can go in this railroade renaissance.
As he put it, “I hope to be here as long as we can takethis