Rick Webb Receives Award for Industry Achievements

Watco’s Executive Chairman Rick Webb was presented with the 2022 Railroad Innovator Award last month at the annual RailTrends® conference in New York. Progressive Railroading and RailTrends announced in April that Webb would receive the honor.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement in the rail industry, where Webb has spent a nearly 40-year career. Besides receiving his honor at the RailTrends conference, Webb was featured in the November issue of Progressive Railroading magazine. https://buff.ly/3gYB1Pi

“I’m humbled by the recognition,” said Webb. “It really goes not to me but to all the people of Watco over the years.”

Webb, whose late father Dick Webb founded Watco in 1983, joined his father in 1984 and began learning the business by cleaning box cars. He went on to hold management and other leadership positions in operations, purchasing, marketing, accounting, and financial management during the first half of his career. His strategic vision and knack for taking smart risks propelled him to chief executive officer, a role he assumed in 1998. For the next 20 years, Rick Webb would continue to drive business development, advancing Watco, its customers, and the industry.

In 2018, he became Watco’s executive chairman, handing the role of CEO to Dan Smith. “I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside Rick Webb since 2009,” Smith said. “Throughout my career, in both transportation and baseball, I have never known a more remarkable leader or coach. Rick’s humility, integrity, and ability to make those around him better has inspired thousands of people to work each day to find a better way to serve others.”

Chuck Baker, president of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), has known Webb for years and has seen his influence firsthand. “Without Rick Webb, I’m not sure that the modern short line industry looks like it does now,” said Baker. “He and the family-owned company he has built exemplify everything we hold dear about short lines: the hustle, the entrepreneurial culture, the ‘whatever it takes to serve your customer’ attitude. He’s humble, so he’ll hate all of this, but the culture he has developed has not only permeated through Watco and its alumni but also throughout the whole industry. Short-liners all over the country talk about earning the right to serve your customers, about adapting and growing with customers, about your word being your bond, about being long-term stewards of critical infrastructure playing a crucial role in the country’s economy, and I think an awful lot of that comes from Rick.”

Webb has distinguished himself throughout the freight transportation industry. He has served in leadership roles for organizations such as the Association of American Railroads, the National Industrial Transportation League, and the Surface Transportation Board’s Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council.