The Story and Team Behind RailState

RailState started its journey through deep collaboration with key partners to help address some of the toughest challenges in freight rail.

OUR MISSION

The RailState Story

Founders Jamie Heller and John Schmitter spent decades working with Class 1 railroads and with clients shipping virtually every commodity moved by rail. Through it all, one challenge always stood out: getting accurate data on what’s really happening on the rail network. 

At RailState, we’re here to make freight rail easier to understand. Our mission is to give shippers, operators, and planners clear, unbiased insights they can actually use. With better insights, we help simplify decisions, boost supply chain efficiency, and create more transparency—building a stronger rail network for everyone.

OUR TEAM

Meet the team

We are a team of software engineers, data scientists, logistics specialists, and rail industry veterans working across North America and Europe.

Jamie Heller

Jamie is CEO of RailState, which he founded with John Schmitter in 2019. He’s also President of Hellerworx, Inc., which he founded in 2002. Jamie has been a consultant for the past 40 years in the energy and transportation areas, and has deep knowledge of the US and Canadian rail transportation markets. He lives in Chevy Chase, MD and enjoys swimming, hiking, and biking.

John Schmitter

John is the Co-Founder and CCO of RailState, which he founded with Jamie Heller in 2019. He has over 30 years of experience in transportation, as well as deep consulting experience. John has two daughters and lives in Colorado with his wife, Pat. He enjoys skiing, golfing, and watching the Broncos.

Ondřej Pacovský

Ondřej Pacovský is CTO at RailState, where he oversees all things related to software. He formulates and executes the company’s development plans, taking into account customer and sales input, and manages RailState’s Czech team. He’s always up for a game of tennis, ice-hockey, soccer, squash, or badminton.

Charlie Mann

Charlie Mann is Chief Hardware Officer for RailState, and is part of the management team. He oversees the design, testing, procurement and production of the RailState sensor hardware, and has also been active in defining the software’s tasks and quality assurance.

Ron Farmer

Ron Farmer is RailState’s Director of Operations. As such, he focuses on all things “sensors.” He extensively researches satellite imagery and other resources, to optimize sensor locations. He also hires for – and manages – the installation and maintenance of the entire sensor network, and is responsible for negotiating and managing contractual relationships.

Adam Nori

Adam Nori comes to RailState with nearly 20 years of rail experience. He is currently the owner of Pacific Alpine Rail Advisors, a Calgary-based rail-focused consulting firm where he supports rail customers with fleet management, railcar procurement, and business development. Before creating Pacific Alpine Rail Advisors, Adam held key leadership roles with some of the most well-known companies in the rail industry, including Canadian Pacific Railway, Suncor, TrinityRail, and Standard Rail Corporation.

Nick Borders

Nick Borders brings more than a decade of experience in the rail industry and is the owner of Sequoia Rail, LLC, a rail transportation brokerage and consulting firm. Nick previously served as a business development manager at Standard Rail Corporation, following engagements at Rocky Mountain Transportation Services and Progressive Fuels Limited.

Dan Devoe

Dan brings more than 20 years of diverse experience to RailState. Having began a career as a litigation attorney, Dan transitioned to marketing to focus on building companies instead of managing legal disputes. Before joining RailState, Dan led marketing at a number of early stage startups in consumer apps (Drizly acq. by Uber), enterprise software (Image Relay acq. by Canto), and a legal services. Dan lives in Vermont where he serves as chair of his town’s zoning board and spends much of his free time gardening and adding to more than 50 world championship awards for vegetables.

Glen Doiron RailState

Glen Doiron

Glen Doiron brings over two decades of experience in transportation, rail, and logistics IT, and is the owner of GeoPrl Insights Corp, a business support consulting firm. Before founding GeoPrl, Glen held various product and project management roles, where he focused on solving business problems through technology. Glen specializes in bridging the gap between users and developers, bringing user use cases to life through systems and tools.

Chase McCauley RailState

Chase McCauley

As Deployments Manager at RailState, Chase McCauley keeps the wheels turning—literally. He oversees the full installation process of RailState’s train sensors, from hiring contractors to managing field deployments. Using a mix of on-the-ground coordination and satellite imagery, Chase will also scout and select strategic new sites to expand our sensor network.

Beyond the installs, he dives deep into image analysis to improve the quality and accuracy of RailState’s data—always looking for ways to sharpen the insights we deliver. When he’s not optimizing sensor coverage or leveling up our data, you’ll probably find him out on the golf course or playing sand volleyball.

Debra Donado RailState

Debra Donado

Coming soon.

Alyssa Roberts

Alyssa Roberts

Alyssa comes to RailState with a background in transportation and supply chain technology. She has prior experience managing key accounts and driving sales, and her goal has always been to help customers grow, because when customers grow, we grow. Its all about good partnerships.

Alyssa brings this same focus to RailState as she manages the full sale cycle for new and prospective customers.

OUR TEAM

Advisory Board

Abudi Zein RailState Advisor

Abudi Zein

Abudi Zein specializes in creating data solutions for investors, traders, and planners. His expertise extends from energy markets, to chemicals and shipping. As co-founder at AZA-Soyul, he focuses on curating, interpreting, and customizing data sets, to assess reputation and operational risks associated with companies’ environmental impact. Prior to co-founding AZA-Soyul, he co-founded ClipperData, a pioneer in the field of tracking the flow of goods and commodities.

Abudi has created and launched innovative information and data products throughout his career. He has worked in the information industry in Tokyo, Singapore, London, Houston and New York. He has held management positions in editorial, product development, marketing, sales, and general management. He was CEO at ClipperData and Argus Media, Inc, a Senior Vice President at Oxford Analytica, and Sales Director at Platts London. Abudi has a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Hanover in Germany, and a master’s in journalism from the University of Missouri – Columbia.

Dean Wise headshot. RailState advisor

Dean Wise

Since early 2017, Dean Wise LLC has provided strategic advisory services to the transportation, logistics, infrastructure, and geospatial sectors, with an emphasis on transformational technologies. His clients include transport/ infrastructure technology start-ups, transportation carriers and intermediaries, equipment suppliers, shippers, and infrastructure/private equity investment funds.

Previously he was vice president, Network Strategy at BNSF Railway, joining BNSF in February 2010, coincident with Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of the company. In this role, he oversaw BNSF’s strategy process, transformational technology initiative, regional franchise development including western Canada, shortline network (200 rail feeder lines), public-private partnerships (PPP), rail line sales and dispositions, and development of right-of-way for non-freight rail uses including fiber optics, cell towers, and electric transmission lines. He reported to the CEO and served on BNSF’s Executive Team.

Prior to his 7 years at BNSF, Dean had 32 years of consulting and industry experience. From 1995 to 2010, he served as president and managing partner at Norbridge, Inc., a management consulting firm focusing on the freight transport and logistics industry, based in Concord, MA. Before joining Norbridge, he was a vice president at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) in Lexington, MA (1983-1995).

Mike Lambert RailState Advisor

Mike Lambert

Mike has over 30 years of successful Executive (C-Suite) and Board Leadership in Canadian public and private companies, across various industries. Companies that Mike impacted include: Canadian Pacific Railway (as CFO), Calgary Co-op, Canadian Tire, the George Weston Loblaw Group (Real Canadian Superstores), The Southam Newspaper Group (The National Post), Mark’s Work Wearhouse, The Forzani Group (Sport Chek), Parkland Fuel Corporation, Yellow Pages Group, and Premium Brands Inc.

Throughout his career, he has been involved in a multitude of transformations. As a longtime advocate of Good Governance, he is the recipient of various Canadian awards, including Best Corporate Governance, Best Investor Relations, and Best Annual Report. He was also a recipient of the prestigious Canadian Dealmaker of the Year award while at Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), for their acquisition of the DM&E Railroad, linking CPR to The Kansas City Southern Railroad. Mike currently serves on Boards or Committees of a handful of for profit and not-for-profit entities.

Steve Holland RailState Advisor

Steve Holland

Steve has over 30 years of technology and business experience, and has held multiple C-Level roles at Fortune 50 companies. He has been Division CEO, CIO, CDO, and CTO, and has P/L experience with enterprise leadership in Analytics, Supply Chain, CRM, and Cyber. Steve’s deep skill set spans across IT strategy, real-time digital enablement, loyalty ecosystems, Data Analytics, and running enterprise-scaled organizations. He has also performed over a 100 mergers and acquisitions.

Steve’s notable responsibilities as Interim CIO at PG&E included preparing for the 2020 fire season, re-setting the IT roadmap, and accelerating plans to modernize IT systems (including cloud adoption). As Chief Information Officer and SVP for 7-Eleven, Inc., Steve created, led, and executed the digital transformation of 7-Eleven 10K stores, which host 3.4B guests per year. He championed 7-Eleven’s shift to a customer-centric focus, and figured out how to gather, leverage, and use data to drive customer loyalty — leading to a significant increase in sales.

Steve currently advises and/or invests in multiple startups in North America in the areas of Agriculture Analytics, AI, Retail and Telecom (5G). In his free time, Steve volunteers at the salmon hatchery, fishes and crabs in Puget Sound, and travels with his family.  

What Our Customers Say

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