Advisory Board

Biography

As the President at MxV Rail — formerly Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) — Kari Gonzales leads the world’s premier rail research organization based in Pueblo, CO. Prior to assuming this role in 2021, Gonzales served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for TTCI where she was responsible for company-wide strategic planning and business functions associated with day-to-day operations. Gonzales, a Pueblo-native, has been a part of MxV Rail’s organization since 2000 when she started as a student intern and was later hired full-time as a research engineer upon completing her degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in December of 2002. She also holds a Master of Business Administration from Regis University, Denver (2015). During her time as a research engineer, Gonzales excelled in conducting research and managing a diverse set of projects in support of the industry’s Strategic Research Initiative (SRI) program and MxV Rail’s commercial customers. She contributed a body of work that resulted in authoring/co-authoring of over 25 technical publications. In early 2012, Gonzales was selected as the inaugural candidate for MxV Rail’s Railroad Exchange Program and spent a year as a visiting professional with BNSF Railway in Fort Worth, TX on the railroad’s Condition Based Maintenance team. This experience enhanced her understanding of railroad operations and extended her expertise in wayside inspection systems. Upon her return to MxV Rail, she managed the industry’s senior technical committee, the Equipment Engineering Committee, and revamped MxV Rail’s Internal Research and Development (IR&D) program. In 2014, Gonzales was selected as one of Progressive Railroading’s “Rising Stars.” In addition to her commitment to MxV Rail, Gonzales volunteers her time in several industry and community organizations. She is currently the Education Chair for the League of Railway Women and serves on several community boards.

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President and CEO, MxV Rail

Amy Hamilton has worked at Trinity Industries since 2010. She is currently a Senior Manager with a focus on Reliability and Regulatory Compliance and represents Trinity on multiple committees and task forces to develop industry rules and regulations.  Prior to assuming this role, she worked in New Car Engineering and served as the Director of Fleet Engineering and Reliability, supporting a fleet of 130,000 railcars. She actively participates with the AAR Tank Car Committee and the RSI Committee on Tank Cars Technical Sub-committee. She also serves as co-chair of the Women of Trinity employee resource group. Amy has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Methodist University. In addition to her role and activities at Trinity Industries, Amy currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Dallas Christian School and volunteers in several community organizations.

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Senior Manager, Trinity Industries

Biography

Dr. Fry is the Vice President of Fry Technical Services, Inc.  He has 30 years of experience in education, research, and consulting on the design and behavior of railway infrastructure and mechanical systems and the fatigue and fracture behavior of structural metals and weldments.  His research results have been incorporated into international codes of practice used in the design of structural components and systems including structural welds, railway and highway bridges, and high-rise commercial buildings in seismic risk zones.  He has extensive experience performing in situ dynamic testing of structural systems under live loading including railway rolling stock, railroad track, and railway bridges under high-speed passenger trains and heavy-axle-load freight trains.  His research, publications, and consulting have advanced the state of the art in structural health monitoring and structural impairment detection.

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Vice President, Fry Technical Services Inc.

Joey Rhine served 9 years in the us Navy, domestic and overseas.  After military service he worked for Union Pacific railroad until 2007 where he worked as a Manager of Locomotive Maintenance in East L.A., CA. In 2007 he started his career with the Federal Railroad Administration as a safety inspector in Southern California where he enforced 49 CFR regulations and investigated railroad accidents.  Starting in 2014 he began his career with the National Transportation Safety Board as a mechanical subject matter expert and as Investigator in Charge of multiple rail incidents.

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Mechanical Subject Matter Expert, National Transportation Safety Board

Nicolaas Jackie van der Westhuizen is a globally recognized rail technology executive and safety innovator with more than two decades of experience advancing railway safety, inspection technologies, and infrastructure reliability across North America, South America, Africa, and Australasia. He serves as Vice President of the Surface Transportation Group at ENSCO, Inc., where he leads ENSCO Rail, KLD Labs, ENSCO Rail Australia, ENSCO Technologies Brazil, and ENSCO’s Applied Technology & Engineering Division. In this capacity, he oversees operations at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Transportation Technology Center (TTC), the world’s largest facility dedicated to rail safety research, full-scale testing, and technology development.

Van der Westhuizen provides strategic leadership for multidisciplinary teams delivering innovations in autonomous track inspection, advanced sensing systems, vehicle/track interaction research, predictive analytics, and managed inspection services that support safer, more efficient, and data-driven railway operations. His work contributes directly to industry and regulatory efforts to reduce derailments, improve asset condition assessment, and accelerate the deployment of next-generation safety technologies.

With a strong background in academia, he previously served as Chair in Railway Engineering at the University of Pretoria, where he developed undergraduate and graduate programs, led national research initiatives, supervised postgraduate students, and delivered professional development programs for the rail industry. This experience informs his ongoing commitment to strengthening collaboration between academia, government agencies, and industry partners to advance railway safety research and workforce development.

Earlier in his career, van der Westhuizen co-founded e-Logics (Pty) Ltd, later contributing to the company’s growth into a multinational enterprise prior to its acquisition. He has authored numerous technical papers and presentations across TRB, IHHA, AREMA, and SAICE, and has served on Transportation Research Board committees and engineering advisory groups.

Van der Westhuizen holds an M.Eng. in Transportation Engineering (Cum Laude), a B.Eng. (Hons) in Management of Technology, and a B.Eng. in Civil Engineering from the University of Pretoria.

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Vice President of the Surface Transportation Group, ENSCO, Inc.

Charity Duran – Charity Duran is the Director of Data Engineering and Analysis at BNSF Railway.  Charity has been with BNSF since 2019.  She started her career in Railroading in 2001 at MxV Rail (Formerly TTCI).  She held various positions during her time at MxV Rail and became an expert in vehicle track interaction.  At BNSF she leverages that expertise in her role.  She oversees a team that uses the data collected by track measurement systems to help build a data driven maintenance and capital program.  She also  oversees various projects to evaluate and develop new technologies to help BNSF maintain its industry leadership.  Charity has an undergrad in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Data Science.

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Director of Data Engineering and Analysis, BNSF Railway