David L. Gunn

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For other persons also named David Gunn, see article David Gunn.
David Gunn (right) with Senators Biden and Carper touring Amfleet dinette 28351's dining facilities.
David Gunn (right) with Senators Biden and Carper touring Amfleet dinette 28351's dining facilities.

David L. Gunn (born 21 June 1937) is a transportation system administrator who has headed several important railroads and transit systems in North America.

Gunn was born in Boston to parents of Canadian ancestry who had emigrated to Massachusetts from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

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[edit] Education

Gunn was educated at Phillips Academy in Andover and received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Harvard College in 1959. He served in the United States Navy Reserve from 1959-1962. He received a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1964.

[edit] Career

Gunn has the following work experience:

[edit] Toronto Transit Commission

Gunn has a philosophy called "state of good repair" where the first priority is to maintain infrastructure and equipment, making regular repairs where needed and retiring equipment from service at the end of its life-cycle. This brought him in frequent conflict with TTC chairman Howard Moscoe, who advocated the use of funds for improving TTC accessibility. Gunn's tenure at the TTC was also marked by changes in management structure, which were criticized by some (including his successor, Rick Ducharme, in a July 1999 Toronto Star article). He also argued against new subway construction.

Toronto's only fatal subway train accident, the Russell Hill subway accident that claimed 3 lives in 1995, happened only 8 months after Gunn became head of the TTC.

[edit] Amtrak

Gunn assumed the presidency of Amtrak on May 15, 2002, and was fired by the board of directors on November 9, 2005.[1]

Gunn came to Amtrak with a reputation as a strong, straightforward and experienced operating manager. During his tenure at WMATA (Metro) from 1991-1994, Gunn's refusal to "do politics" put him at odds with Metro's board of directors, which included representatives from the District of Columbia and suburban jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia. His work as president of the New York City Transit Authority from 1984 to 1990 and as Chief General Manager of the Toronto Transit Commission in Canada from 1995-1999 earned him a great deal of operating credibility as these two agencies were each the largest transit operations of their respective countries. In New York City, most people consider his most notable achievement to have been the complete eradication of graffiti on NYCTA trains, a task most New Yorkers thought impossible.

During his administration at Amtrak, Gunn was polite, but very direct in response to congressional criticism, and is seen as more credible than several past Amtrak presidents by the Congress, the media, and many Amtrak supporters and employees. Perhaps more than any past president of Amtrak, Gunn seemed willing to publicly oppose the political and budget positions of the President of the United States.

The view of the Gunn administration at Amtrak was that no form of mass passenger transportation in the United States is self-sufficient as the economy is currently structured. It said that highways, airports, and air traffic control all require large government expenditures to build and maintain, although some of those taxpayer dollars are gained for other modes under the guise of user fees and highway fuel and road taxes. Before a Congressional hearing, Gunn answered a demand by leading Amtrak critic Arizona Senator John McCain to eliminate all operating subsidies by asking the Senator if he would also demand the same of the commuter airlines, upon whom the citizens of Arizona are much more dependent. McCain, usually not at a loss for words when debating Amtrak funding, did not reply[citation needed].

Gunn was very proactive in reducing layers of management overhead and has eliminated almost all of the controversial express business. He stated that continued deferred maintenance will become a safety issue which he will not tolerate. This has improved labor relations to some extent, even as Amtrak's ranks of unionized and salaried workers have been reduced.

On November 9, 2005, Amtrak's Board of Directors fired Gunn. Chairman of the Board David Laney stated that "Amtrak's future now requires a different type of leader who will aggressively tackle the company's financial, management and operational challenges." Recent problems had included suspension of Acela service in the northeast corridor. A report issued by the Government Accountability Office one week before his dismissal stated that Amtrak needed to improve the way it monitors performance and oversees its finances in order to achieve financial stability.

[edit] Retirement plans

A dual citizen of the US and Canada, Gunn has retired to his family home on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. He has become associated with the Free Congress Foundation and Paul Weyrich since his separation from Amtrak.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ (November 9, 2005), Amtrak Board Releases Gunn. Retrieved November 9, 2005.
  2. ^ "Arrivals & Departures" (March 2006). Trains Magazine 66 (3): p 11. ISSN 0041-0934. 

[edit] External links

[edit] Multimedia

  • CBC Archives David briefly talking about a Toronto subway accident.

[edit] Websites

Preceded by
Al Leach		 Chief General Manager of the Toronto Transit Commission
1995–1999		 Succeeded by
Rick Ducharme
Preceded by
George Warrington		 President of Amtrak
2002-2005		 Succeeded by
Alexander Kummant