2023 40 Under 40: Jeff Kessler

One word to describe yourself: Optimizer

Alma Mater: University of Pennsylvania: The Wharton School, School of Engineering & Applied Science and Penn Law

Fast fact about yourself: I’ve ridden the entirety of every rapid transit system in the contiguous U.S. and more than 80 percent of every commuter/regional rail route mile across the nation.

Jeff Kessler started at Keolis Commuter Services, the operator of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail, with an already impressive background in the transportation industry. Kessler started as an intern for Amtrak when he was 15 years old and continued with work spanning Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. During his collegiate career, he spent four years chairing an advisory board for SEPTA and served as the transit subcommittee co-chair for the Delaware River Port Authority Citizens Advisory Committee (on which he continues to serve as an Emeritus member). Academically, Jeff earned four degrees from the University of Pennsylvania:

1. A business degree from The Wharton School,
2. Undergraduate degree in systems engineering
3. Graduate degree in systems engineering
4.  Graduate degree in regulatory and technology law from Penn Law

This compilation of work also earned him the American Public Transportation Association Jack R. Gilstrap Scholarship, the highest award from the American Public Transit Foundation.

During Kessler’s time at Keolis, he has helped transform the organization in several ways, having served the organization in both the Digital Solutions and Service Delivery teams. Kessler crafted a solution that provided customers with real-time updates twice as frequently and implemented a system that made Keolis the first North American railroad to share contingency storm schedules in an app-based format.

Kessler created the logic to deliver customers a "single version of the truth" in messaging. He updated digital templates for an enhanced ADA-compliant experience. Kessler overhauled Keolis’ scheduling system data pipeline and building tools that have given the agency the ability to better plan, simulate and leverage schedule data to improve service across the network.

In 2021, Kessler took on a role leading the organization's innovation team and overseeing several critical initiatives. Kessler led the effort to transition to electronic job bidding for the railroad's 650 train and engine (T&E) crews in the midst of the pandemic. He led the initiative to become the nation's first railroad to provide dynamic seat availability metrics integrated into web timetables and to share this information with third-party developers. He conceptualized and designed the industry's first multi-platform ticket verification solution, making Keolis’ new fare gates the only fare gates to accept more than a dozen media providers and offering military members direct gate access using their Department of Defense IDs. Most notably, Kessler successfully led the RailInfo initiative to digitize the railroad's operating materials, becoming the first passenger railroad in the nation to fully digitize rulebooks and bulletins for all T&E crews, allowing for a nearly paperless operation with a greater than 95 percent elimination of paper, proven enhancements to safety and compliance and enhanced information-sharing with Keolis’ partner railroads.

Kessler has continued to serve as a leader in the industry in countless ways. He co-founded the Transportation Camp PHL "unconference" that has drawn hundreds of career professionals and engaged hobbyists for discussions at intersection of transportation, technology and urbanism, and has continued to serve as co-chair since. In 2020, he led the industry's first virtual transportation conference at the onset of the pandemic. In 2021, he was selected as the inaugural regional director of the Young Professionals in Transportation Mid-Atlantic Region, home to more than a third of the organization's international membership. He serves on several industry forums, ranging from the Northeast Operating Rules Advisory Committee to the Operational Data Standard Working Group and has mentored more than a dozen students interested in pursuing transportation careers.

Is there a specific experience that led you to where you are today?

I’ve always had a lifelong fascination with trains and transportation systems (although unlike others, I simply never grew out of it). The interest was cultivated by traveling weekly between Long Island and South Jersey by train during my middle school years, fortified by commuting daily on three modes of transit to/from high school and ultimately culminating in the beginning of my career as an intern for Amtrak when I was just 15 years old.

 What do you enjoy most about your job?

The transportation industry is one with a rich legacy. While this comes with its benefits, it often leaves the industry susceptible to following outdated practices. My role allows me to work with people from all facets of the business and make a difference in the entire breadth of our operations — be they highly-visible customer-facing enhancements or behind-the-scenes, but equally-important, improvements to our processes — to make a difference in our operations and customer experience. One of my favorite aspects is being able to unlock possibilities that people never thought possible, particularly when able to do so quickly, efficiently and with minimal cost.

 What’s the most challenging part of your job?

There’s never a dull moment, and no two days are the same, which certainly keeps things exciting. However, one of the most difficult aspects is being able to iteratively deliver incremental changes that amount to widespread transformations, all while most stakeholders are laser-focused on the day-to-day operational needs to keep things moving.

 A typical week involves engaging with front-line crew members, union representatives, stakeholders from countless internal teams, our organization’s executive team, multiple of our client’s counterpart teams at the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), elected officials and more. Being able to reconcile each of their differing interests while continuing to keep our communities connected is never easy but being able to see initiatives come to fruition that make a difference across the network makes it all worthwhile.

Accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?

I had the pleasure of leading our RailInfo project, whereby Keolis became the first passenger railroad in North America to use iPads and iPhones for rulebooks, bulletins and related operating materials.

Gone are the massive binders of books and paperwork but doing so was no easy feat. After working with our crew unions and the FRA to demonstrate the system’s safety, it has resulted in a system that puts the critical operating information at our crews’ fingertips in a way that was never possible with paper. Not only is this more eco-friendly, we’re also able to do so at a lower cost, and in a way, our crew members have described as “literally and figuratively a weight off of our shoulders.”

Since then, we’ve continued to lead the industry in making this happen, expanding the deployment to our counterpart operation of the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) network, brining multiple small carrier partners around the greater Boston region onto our system, and guiding others in the industry on similar deployments (both fellow NORAC railroads and others railroads in the northeast and beyond).

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t also mention SEPTA’s new “Key Advantage” employer partnership program. While the credit goes to their team for making this a reality, having led the team that galvanized the enabling tariff changes more than a decade ago, it serves as proof that people of any age can make a difference in the industry, and that incremental changes can easily compound to make transformational changes.