Distinguished Service Award

Named for former ASLRRA Chair Thomas L. Schlosser, this award will be presented on an annual basis to recognize an individual for their long-term significant service to the ASLRRA.

To view the criteria for this award, please click here.

Congratulations to the 2025 Recipient, Ed McKechnie

Before he was active in the short line industry and helping guide ASLRRA member parent company Watco though a period of tremendous growth, Ed McKechnie spent years in public service, first in the Kansas Governor’s office, as a congressional staff member in Washington D.C., and then as a member of the Kansas Legislature.

After graduating from Pittsburg State University in 1986, McKechnie held several different jobs with political offices before he decided to run for the Kansas state legislature in 1990. In the decade he held his seat, McKechnie served on a number of different committees including transportation, appropriations, Legislative Post Audit, governmental organization and higher education.

His Legislative and business career has been focused on driving transformational change in every organization he has been involved with.

McKechnie decided not to run for re-election in 2000, instead joining Watco as head of government affairs. At Watco, McKechnie was promoted to lead commercial and business development, focusing on growing the business and finding new opportunities in the transportation industry. Representing ASLRRA member Watco in Association work, McKechnie brought his talents back to Washington to influence Congress.

In 2003, McKechnie was elected chair of ASLRRA’s Legislative Policy Committee (LPC), and it was at the helm of that committee that McKechnie pushed for the creation of a tax credit that would assist short line railroads in upgrading and updating their infrastructure. The passage of the federal 45G short line railroad tax credit, which happened a year later, began a two-decade-long drive for a permanent solution. Today the short line tax credit is permanent and is widely considered one of the most successful public-private partnerships. It has driven nearly $9 billion to date in private investment – investment that would not have been possible without the credit.

While at Watco McKechnie continued to be active with ASLRRA and elsewhere in the rail industry. He was a member of ASLRRA’s Railroad Industry Working Group and Finance & Administration Committee and served on the Executive Committee in various capacities. Then, in 2013, McKechnie was elected chair of ASLRRA’s Board of Directors.

As ASLRRA chair, one of McKechnie's biggest projects was establishment of the Short Line Safety Institute (SLSI), which began as a pilot program in 2014. Formed as a direct result of the Lac Megantic disaster in 2013, McKechnie gathered support at the Federal Railroad Administration and in Congress for the funding of an organization that would focus on safety culture for short line railroads. McKechnie and others at ASLRRA were instrumental in developing SLSI and hiring the institute’s first coordinator and group of safety assessors.

In 2018 McKechnie joined lobbying firm Chambers, Conlon & Hartwell (CC&H) as a partner. At the time, ASLRRA was one of CC&H’s transportation clients. McKechnie was one of the original members of the Surface Transportation Board’s Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee (RETAC), which formed in 2007, and remains in service today representing the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad.

McKechnie continues to do consulting work with short lines like the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, maintains connections with many at ASLRRA and in the short line industry and is still a fierce advocate for the nation’s small railroads.

While working in different private-sector roles, McKechnie continued to serve his home state of Kansas. He was secretary-treasurer of the Kansas Bioscience Authority and a member of the Kansas Board of Regents for four years, spending one of those years as board chair. In recognition of his accomplishments, Pittsburg State University awarded McKechnie the Meritorious Achievement Award in 2016. His service to Kansas was documented as part of the Kansas Oral History project.

Much of McKechnie’s passion for public service involves education. He is special assistant to the vice president, business development and government relations at Pittsburg State University. In this role he leads federal affairs and strategic planning in efforts around deeper and job-creating applied science across the institution.

McKechnie has also served for seven years on the Pittsburg Unified School District (USD) 250 School Board where, combined with his work at Pittsburg State, he was the original author of legislation, called the Kansas Literacy Blueprint, that was signed into law in 2024. Under the blueprint all elementary school teachers and staff in Kansas will be retrained in structured literacy with the goal to improve reading skills of students across the state.

McKechnie has two sons, both of whom have attended ASLRRA events throughout the years. Austin is a junior at the University of Arkansas, and Jackson is a sophomore at Emporia State University.

Previous Thomas L. Schlosser Distinguished Service Award Winners