Hellmann named Genesee & Wyoming CEO

Hellmann named Genesee & Wyoming CEO Short-line railroad conglomerate Genesee & Wyoming Inc. said its president, John C. Hellmann, has assumed the position of chief executive officer in accordance with a succession plan first announced in May 2005.
   Mortimer B. Fuller III, the current CEO, becomes executive chairman of the Greenwich, Conn.-based company.
   Hellmann joined GWI as chief financial officer in 2000 and became president in May 2005. During his tenure at GWI, the company has acquired more than two-dozen rail operations worldwide and grown from a market capitalization of about $50 million to $1.3 billion today.
   Fuller became CEO upon purchasing a controlling interest in GWI in 1977, when it owned 14 miles of track serving a single customer in Upstate New York — much as it did when his great grandfather Edward L. Fuller founded the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Co. in 1899. Revenue in 1977 was $4.4 million. With the acquisitions of 47 more rail operations since 1985, GWI posted revenue of $478.8 million in 2006.
   GWI operates short-line and regional freight railroads in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Bolivia. Operations include 48 railroads organized in 10 regions, as well as service at 12 U.S. ports, contract coal loading and industrial switching.