January 2022 —There’s not an equation that Watco Pricing Manager Leah Woods can’t solve. How does she do it? According to her teammates the answer is simple: It’s her expertise and strong work ethic.

With a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mathematics, Woods leads a relatively new team at Watco dedicated to pricing administration. Created five years ago to help sales managers with rate recommendations, one of her direct reports and supervisor recently credited Wood for the team’s success.

“Leah’s dedicated to making sure Watco receives the most accurate rates for the commodities we move,” Senior Pricing Analyst Shannon Parker said. “From customer billing to the final step of getting paid for a move, she understands the process better than anyone I know.”

Jana Austerman, Woods’ supervisor and director of commercial support and pricing, agrees. She said, “Leah is an expert at what she does. She’s trained the team very well on how to research rates. It’s never been easier for sales managers to quickly make a decision on price thanks to the recommendations from Leah and the pricing team.”

That’s not all. Woods serves as a Watco representative for the company’s partnership with RailInc Corp., a rail services company for rail data, information technology, and services. In this role, she successfully helped set up a rate electronic data interchange network certification for Watco’s five short line railroads on the interline settlement system that expedites rate notification, billing, and payment among railroads.

Parker praises Woods’ proactive partnership with Railinc. and said, “Leah is always willing to put the work in to ensure Watco has a voice. She’s not afraid to bring to light issues from a Watco standpoint that Railinc can improve on.”

She manages to juggle all her responsibilities while still taking on new projects, even if it falls beyond her job scope.

Parker said, “It doesn’t matter what the request is. Leah is always looking to provide solutions that will benefit Watco.”

Read about others like Leah who are making a difference at Watco and beyond. See more stories